"11 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.”12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died,15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days."
John 11:1-17
It can hardly be questioned that this is one of the most dramatic chapters in all Scripture. It is a tremendous story. It would be true to say that many of the New Testament accounts of the miraculous have great dramatic content, but this one stands in a category by itself. It is clear from the record that this must have been an eye witness account of what happened, for there are a number of references that add local colour so to speak - almost incidental touches, which make us say, 'The man who wrote this must have seen it happening'. We need to interpret the story in the context of John's over-all presentation of the gospel, rather than take it by itself and expound it simply as another miracle - though this would yield much fruitful instruction. For John presents it to us as the last of his selected signs which demonstrate the Messiahship of Jesus, and what he is saying is that this is the meaning of the gospel: the raising of the dead to life. This is not to spiritualise away the miracle in the physical realm; it is rather that John sees the meaning of this tremendous act as being the message of the gospel in spiritual terms. It is a demonstration of the mighty power of the word of Christ. John means to indicate to us that the words, 'Lazarus, come forth' (43) are part and parcel of - and a logical sequence from - his earlier statements in chapter 1: 'In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us....and Jesus said, Lazarus, come forth'. With this as a key to interpretation, we shall now proceed to examine the chapter.