When Belief Costs Something

¹Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.

²It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

³The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.”

⁴But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.”

⁵Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

⁶When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was.

⁷Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let’s go into Judea again.”

⁸The disciples asked him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you. Are you going there again?”

⁹Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

¹⁰But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.”

¹¹He said these things, and after that, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep.”

¹²The disciples therefore said, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”

¹³Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep.

¹⁴So Jesus said to them plainly then, “Lazarus is dead.

¹⁵I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.”

¹⁶Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s also go, that we may die with him.”

¹⁷So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.

¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.

¹⁹Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.

²⁰Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house.

²¹Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.

²²Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”

²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.

²⁶Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”

²⁸When she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling you.”

²⁹When she heard this, she arose quickly and went to him.

³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him.

³¹Then the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”

³²Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

³³When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled,

³⁴and said, “Where have you laid him?”

³⁵Jesus wept.

³⁶The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!”

³⁷Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”

³⁸Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

³⁹Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”

⁴¹So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me.

⁴²I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”

⁴³When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

⁴⁴He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.

⁴⁵Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him.

⁴⁶But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.

⁴⁷The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs.

⁴⁸If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

⁴⁹But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,

⁵⁰nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”

⁵¹Now he didn’t say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,

⁵²and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

⁵³So from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death.

⁵⁴Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples.

⁵⁵Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.

⁵⁶Then they sought for Jesus and spoke with one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think—that he isn’t coming to the feast at all?”

⁵⁷Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had commanded that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, that they might seize him.