"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
The picture that John gives us is as follows: on the one hand, we have the sickness and death of Lazarus, with all the anxiety, mystification, questioning, sorrow and grief that this involved - a real human situation, that comes soon or late to every door - a parable indeed of the human predicament in this death-ridden, broken world of ours. And over against this - and this is the real message the chapter has for us - the word of Christ, the reality of Christ, God's answer to the human predicament. Consider the following statements: 'for the glory of God' (4); '...he sleepeth...' ('What has happened to him is in my control; death cannot touch him if I say it no') (11); 'he shall rise
again' ('evil does not have the last word in the human situation') (23); 'I am the resurrection and the life' (25); 'Where have ye laid him?' (34); 'Take away the stone' (39); 'Said I not unto thee...?' (40); 'Lazarus come forth' (43). Over against all the darkness, grief, despair and helplessness of that stricken family, the word of Christ! This is John's point, the Eternal Word, by whom all things were made in the beginning, is made flesh, in order to stand once more as the Creator God in the midst of the dead and call forth life by His glorious power. That this is John's message is surely clear from the details that are recorded in these verses. For when news came to Jesus that Lazarus was sick, He seems deliberately to have delayed going to Bethany for two days (6). And, in the event, when Lazarus died, it was four days before Jesus reached the sorrowing home (17). Is this a normal reaction, from one who was supposed to love Lazarus as a special friend. How otherwise can we explain this except by concluding that He wanted Lazarus to be dead, and unmistakably so, so that He could demonstrate His glory and power in calling him back to life, demonstrate His Lordship over death itself in the miracle He was to perform.