Why did Jesus wait two days after hearing Lazarus was sick?

Jesus’ delay was not neglect but purpose. When He heard Lazarus was sick, He said the sickness was “for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified.” By waiting, He allowed Lazarus to die and be in the tomb four days, so there would be no doubt he was really dead. Then the miracle of raising him would clearly show God’s power and strengthen the disciples’ and the crowd’s faith. This shows that even when help seems late, God may be working out a deeper plan for His glory and our belief.

What does Jesus mean by saying, I am the resurrection and the life?

When Jesus tells Martha, “I am the resurrection, and the life,” He is not just talking about a future event but about Himself. He is saying that real life and victory over death are found in Him. Whoever believes in Him, even though they die, will live, and whoever lives and believes in Him will never truly die. Physical death is not the end for those who trust Him. This promise comforts Martha in her grief and teaches that eternal life is tied to a person, Jesus, not just to a distant future day.

Why did both Martha and Mary say, Lord, if you had been here?

Martha and Mary each say, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” Their words show deep grief mixed with faith. They are sure Jesus could have healed Lazarus, but they do not yet grasp His power over death itself. These words sound like a gentle complaint, but they also reveal trust in His care and His ability to help. Jesus meets each sister where she is: He teaches Martha about resurrection and openly shares Mary’s tears. Their honest sorrow becomes the setting for a stronger faith in who Jesus is.

Why did Jesus weep at Lazarus’s tomb if He knew He would raise him?

Jesus wept because He truly shares in human sorrow. When He saw Mary weeping and the others with her, He was deeply moved and troubled. His tears show real compassion and love for His friend and for the grieving sisters. Even though He knew He was about to raise Lazarus, He did not stand apart from their pain. He enters it. This tells us that grief itself is not wrong, and that Jesus is not cold or distant. He is powerful enough to defeat death and tender enough to cry with those who suffer.

What is the meaning of Jesus calling Lazarus’s death sleep?

Jesus first tells His disciples, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth,” and they think He means natural rest. He then explains plainly, “Lazarus is dead.” Calling death “sleep” shows that, for those who belong to God, death is not the final end. Just as people wake from sleep, God can and will raise the dead. In this story, Jesus literally “wakes” Lazarus by calling him from the grave. The picture of sleep reminds believers that death is temporary in God’s hands, and that resurrection is as sure as waking when God speaks.

What does this passage teach about suffering for those God loves?

The story shows that being loved by Jesus does not mean a life without suffering. The text says clearly that Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, yet He still allowed Lazarus to become sick and die. This was not because He loved them less, but so that God’s glory would be seen and faith would grow. Suffering here becomes a stage for God’s work, not a sign of His absence. For believers, this encourages patient trust when God seems slow to act, knowing His timing and purposes are wiser than what we can see right away.

Why were the disciples afraid to go back to Judea with Jesus?

The disciples remind Jesus that the Jews there had recently tried to stone Him, so they fear returning to Judea. From their view, going back means real danger, maybe even death. Jesus answers with the picture of twelve hours of daylight, showing that as long as He walks in the light of His Father’s will, He is safe in that purpose. Thomas speaks up, “Let us also go, that we may die with him,” showing a mix of courage and misunderstanding. This part of the story shows how following Jesus can involve risk, but also trust in God’s guidance.

What is the significance of Lazarus being in the tomb four days?

The detail that Lazarus had been in the grave four days stresses how final his death was. Martha even warns that by this time there would be a bad smell. There is no room here to think Lazarus was only faint or recently gone. When Jesus raises him after four days, the miracle stands out as a clear act of God over real death. This timing helps those watching see the “glory of God” Jesus spoke about, and it points forward to the hope that no grave is too strong for God’s power to overcome.

How did people respond after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead?

Those who saw Lazarus come out of the tomb reacted in different ways. Many who had come to comfort Mary believed in Jesus when they saw what He did. The miracle confirmed His words about being the resurrection and the life. But some went to the Pharisees and reported what had happened, which stirred more opposition. The same act that brought faith to many also hardened others. This shows that the works of Jesus call for a response. Some receive Him and trust Him, while others turn away and resist what His power reveals.

How can the raising of Lazarus comfort someone facing death or grief today?

This story meets people right in the pain of loss. It shows that Jesus is not far from sorrow; He comes close, listens, and even weeps. It also shows that He is stronger than death. When He says, “I am the resurrection, and the life,” and then calls Lazarus from the tomb, He backs His promise with action. For someone grieving, this passage says that tears are seen by Jesus and that death is not the end for those who believe in Him. It points beyond the grave to real hope of life with Him forever.

John.11.1

John 11:1

NIVUK

Now a man named Lazarus was ill. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

The Death of Lazarus

The Death and Resurrection of Lazarus

1 Now a man named Lazarus was ill. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

(This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay ill, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.)

So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is ill.’

When he heard this, Jesus said, ‘This illness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.’

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed where he was two more days,

and then he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go back to Judea.’

‘But Rabbi,’ they said, ‘a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?’

Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the day-time will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light.

It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.’

After he had said this, he went on to tell them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.’

His disciples replied, ‘Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.’

Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

So then he told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead,

and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’

Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,

and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

‘Lord,’ Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.’

Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’

Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’

Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’

‘Yes, Lord,’ she replied, ‘I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.’

After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. ‘The Teacher is here,’ she said, ‘and is asking for you.’

When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.

Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.

When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.

‘Where have you laid him?’ he asked. ‘Come and see, Lord,’ they replied.

Jesus wept.

Then the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’

But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.

‘Take away the stone,’ he said. ‘But, Lord,’ said Martha, the sister of the dead man, ‘by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days.’

Then Jesus said, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?’

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.’

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’

The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth round his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go.’

Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

Conspiracy to Kill Jesus

Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. ‘What are we accomplishing?’ they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many signs.

If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.’

Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, ‘You know nothing at all!

You do not realise that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.’

He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation,

and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.

So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover.

They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, ‘What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?’

But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.

Cross References

No cross references available for this verse.