요한복음 Chapter 11

Translation: ESV

3

So the sisters sent to him, saying, 'Lord, he whom you love is ill.'

Key Message

When those we love are suffering, bringing the situation before God while trusting in his love is the true posture of prayer.

▸Mary and Martha inform Jesus of Lazarus' illness but do not make a direct request for healing.

Mary and Martha inform Jesus of Lazarus' illness but do not make a direct request for healing. They say only, 'He whom you love is ill.' This is not a request but a report of the situation, an appeal to Jesus' love. This concise message shows the essence of prayer: bringing the situation before God while trusting in his love.

Related Verses

For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
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.'

Key Message

God's glory is displayed even more greatly after passing through suffering and death; the ultimate purpose of this event is not death but the glory of God.

▸Jesus says that Lazarus' illness 'does not lead to death,' yet Lazarus actually dies.

25

Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,'

Key Message

Jesus personally makes present the future event of resurrection, and those who believe in him live even though they die.

▸This is the fifth 'I am (egō eimi)' declaration.

35

Jesus wept.

Key Message

The fact that the almighty Jesus sheds tears before human grief shows that he is one who deeply empathizes with our suffering.

▸The shortest verse in the Bible.

43

When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out.'

Key Message

Jesus conquers death by command and is the one who calls each person by name and raises them.

▸He calls Lazarus 'with a loud voice (φωνῇ μεγάλῃ).

44

The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, and let him go.'

Key Message

It is the mission of the church to unbind and set free those whom Jesus has raised.

▸Lazarus comes out still wrapped in grave clothes.