John 11:1 There was a man who had fallen sick. His name was El‘azar, and he came from Beit-Anyah, the village where Miryam and her sister Marta lived. 2 (This Miryam, whose brother El‘azar had become sick, is the one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent a message to Yeshua, “Lord, the man you love is sick.” 4 On hearing it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may receive glory through it.”
5 Yeshua loved Marta and her sister and El‘azar; 6 so when he heard he was sick, first he stayed where he was two more days; 7 then, after this, he said to the talmidim, “Let’s go back to Y’hudah.” 8 The talmidim replied, “Rabbi! Just a short while ago the Judeans were out to stone you — and you want to go back there?” 9 Yeshua answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a person walks during daylight, he doesn’t stumble; because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if a person walks at night, he does stumble; because he has no light with him.”
11 Yeshua said these things, and afterwards he said to the talmidim, “Our friend El‘azar has gone to sleep; but I am going in order to wake him up.” 12 The talmidim said to him, “Lord, if he has gone to sleep, he will get better.” 13 Now Yeshua had used the phrase to speak about El‘azar’s death, but they thought he had been talking literally about sleep. 14 So Yeshua told them in plain language, “El‘azar has died. 15 And for your sakes, I am glad that I wasn’t there, so that you may come to trust. But let’s go to him.” 16 Then T’oma (the name means “twin”) said to his fellow talmidim, “Yes, we should go, so that we can die with him!”
17 On arrival, Yeshua found that El‘azar had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Beit-Anyah was about two miles from Yerushalayim, 19 and many of the Judeans had come to Marta and Miryam in order to comfort them at the loss of their brother. 20 So when Marta heard that Yeshua was coming, she went out to meet him; but Miryam continued sitting shiv‘ah in the house.
21 Marta said to Yeshua, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” 23 Yeshua said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Marta said, “I know that he will rise again at the Resurrection on the Last Day.” 25 Yeshua said to her, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life! Whoever puts his trust in me will live, even if he dies; 26 and everyone living and trusting in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
28 After saying this, she went off and secretly called Miryam, her sister: “The Rabbi is here and is calling for you.” 29 When she heard this, she jumped up and went to him. 30 Yeshua had not yet come into the village but was still where Marta had met him; 31 so when the Judeans who had been with Miryam in the house comforting her saw her get up quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Miryam came to where Yeshua was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Yeshua saw her crying, and also the Judeans who came with her crying, he was deeply moved and also troubled. 34 He said, “Where have you buried him?” They said, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Yeshua cried; 36 so the Judeans there said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “He opened the blind man’s eyes. Couldn’t he have kept this one from dying?”
38 Yeshua, again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying in front of the entrance. 39 Yeshua said, “Take the stone away!” Marta, the sister of the dead man, said to Yeshua, “By now his body must smell, for it has been four days since he died!” 40 Yeshua said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you keep trusting, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they removed the stone. Yeshua looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I myself know that you always hear me, but I say this because of the crowd standing around, so that they may believe that you have sent me.” 43 Having said this, he shouted, “El‘azar! Come out!” 44 The man who had been dead came out, his hands and feet wrapped in strips of linen and his face covered with a cloth. Yeshua said to them, “Unwrap him, and let him go!” 45 At this, many of the Judeans who had come to visit Miryam, and had seen what Yeshua had done, trusted in him.
46 But some of them went off to the P’rushim and told them what he had done. 47 So the head cohanim and the P’rushim called a meeting of the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do? — for this man is performing many miracles. 48 If we let him keep going on this way, everyone will trust in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both the Temple and the nation.” 49 But one of them, Kayafa, who was cohen gadol that year, said to them, “You people don’t know anything! 50 You don’t see that it’s better for you if one man dies on behalf of the people, so that the whole nation won’t be destroyed.” 51 Now he didn’t speak this way on his own initiative; rather, since he was cohen gadol that year, he was prophesying that Yeshua was about to die on behalf of the nation, 52 and not for the nation alone, but so that he might gather into one the scattered children of God.
53 From that day on, they made plans to have him put to death. 54 Therefore Yeshua no longer walked around openly among the Judeans but went away from there into the region near the desert, to a town called Efrayim, and stayed there with his talmidim.
55 The Judean festival of Pesach was near, and many people went up from the country to Yerushalayim to perform the purification ceremony prior to Pesach. 56 They were looking for Yeshua, and as they stood in the Temple courts they said to each other, “What do you think? that he simply won’t come to the festival?” 57 Moreover, the head cohanim and the P’rushim had given orders that anyone knowing Yeshua’s whereabouts should inform them, so that they could have him arrested.
Imagine it.
Four days into mourning, Yeshua arrives to find many people had gathered to console Mary and Martha. Death has come upon Lazarus and Yeshua was a bit too late to do anything about it.
It’s clear we are beyond the window of healing and if only He had been there sooner…
Yeshua (perhaps purposefully) delayed 2 days before going to see Mary and Martha. Why?
Had He arrived when Lazarus had been dead only 2 days, He would have “only” needed to get the blood flowing again like he had with the young girl and the son of the widow. But this one required something greater. He had to bring back his soul. Well, at least He needed the people there to think that’s how it works.
The Talmud is supposedly the oral Torah given at Sinai that was (finally) written down about 1500 years ago (500 years after Yeshua was on the earth). The trouble with this is that we can’t say for 100% certain that what was written was fully believed during Yeshua’s time but we could assume it’s kind of close because it hasn’t changed much in the 1500 years since it was put down on paper.
Here’s a commentary that describes one view held by the Talmud:
Accompanied by divine messengers and conscious of its origins, the soul enters the womb at the time of conception (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 60b). When people sleep, the soul ascends to heaven, returning renewed in the morning (Genesis Rabbah 14:9). Although the soul protests its birth into the world, it also protests the body's death. It lingers near the body for three days, hoping that it will return to life (Tanhuma, Miqetz 4; Pequdei 3). After three days, the soul returns to God to await the time of resurrection (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 90b-91a). During the first twelve months after death, the soul remains in contact with the disintegrating body (Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 152b-153a). After this, the souls of the righteous go to paradise ( gan eden, the Garden of Eden) and the souls of the wicked, to purgatory ( gehinnom ). Yet, even there, the soul has a chance to be purified, with the exception of those guilty of heinous crime.
The detail to extract from this passage is that after 3 days, the soul returns to God. If this was a commonly held view, a 4 day delay would be the breaking point for just about everyone. They are actually dead because no one recorded in the Torah outlived a couple of days in this state.
Someone was dead for a day or two? Ok, that’s impressive but we have some theology that allows the soul to re-enter the body and get them up on their feet again. Even though it isn’t common, there are examples that give us a bit of an explanation.
There are three instances in the Tanakh where people were raised from the dead:
Then we have 2 more in the New Testament:
Reading through these examples we see that either the people had yet to be buried (meaning it was very recent) or were just buried (again, meaning pretty recent). But here? Four days AFTER death!
Elijah brought people back to life, as did Elisha. Up until this point, Yeshua had only done what the prophets before Him had done. Impressive, yes, but we had a precedence.
What happens here, however, had never been seen before. This Man is not just a prophet, He’s gotta be so much more. All of the miracles before helped to build a reputation and most certainly mounded up a lot of suspicion but this one solidified it: He must be the Messiah.
If a soul that had departed to the Father can be called back, we’re dealing with a spiritual authority that goes well beyond simply commanding the physical body to fire back up. Getting the flesh that had started falling away to come back into shape is 100% miraculous. Putting broken bodies into alignment is something modern science has been working diligently on but reattaching decayed flesh is well beyond what they can do in a lab.
Yep, this is weird.
On hearing it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may receive glory through it.”
He knew exactly what this miracle would do. This was the watershed moment that pushed people to one side or the other. No more living with one foot in the Pharisee camp and the other in the God’s Kingdom. We have reached the point of decision.
The idea is that once you see there exists someone that has power that reaches into the dwelling place of God, you can’t help but choose Him.
“it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may receive glory through it”
You would think that this term “Son of God” is quite commonly used throughout the Gospels. It kind of is, but only when the demons address Him or when the Pharisees ask if that’s who He is. The more common moniker is “Son of Man”.
Up until this point, Yeshua only referred to Himself as the Son of God once:
John 5:14 Afterwards Yeshua found him in the Temple court and said to him, “See, you are well! Now stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you!” 15 The man went off and told the Judeans it was Yeshua who had healed him; 16 and on account of this, the Judeans began harassing Yeshua because he did these things on Shabbat.
17 But he answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I too am working.” 18 This answer made the Judeans all the more intent on killing him — not only was he breaking Shabbat; but also, by saying that God was his own Father, he was claiming equality with God. 19 Therefore, Yeshua said this to them: “Yes, indeed! I tell you that the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; whatever the Father does, the Son does too. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does; and he will show him even greater things than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 Just as the Father raises the dead and makes them alive, so too the Son makes alive anyone he wants. 22 The Father does not judge anyone but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever fails to honor the Son is not honoring the Father who sent him. 24 Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever hears what I am saying and trusts the One who sent me has eternal life — that is, he will not come up for judgment but has already crossed over from death to life! 25 Yes, indeed! I tell you that there is coming a time — in fact, it’s already here — when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen will come to life. 26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has given the Son life to have in himself. 27 Also he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Don’t be surprised at this; because the time is coming when all who are in the grave will hear his voice 29 and come out — those who have done good to a resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to a resurrection of judgment. 30 I can’t do a thing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is right; because I don’t seek my own desire, but the desire of the one who sent me.
He uses both references to Himself in this passage. And it’s surrounded by talk of a coming resurrection. Not accidental.
This prophetic declaration was two-fold. First, a real person would hear His voice and come out of the grave within a short time - Lazarus. The second, all of us will be called out either into a resurrection of judgment or a resurrection of life.
This whole event was not just to bring Lazarus back to life. It was to prove He was the Son of God AND show us what will actually happen on the Last Day.
Even Martha uses this language in her conversation with Yeshua.
23 Yeshua said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Marta said, “I know that he will rise again at the Resurrection on the Last Day.”
This is the first clear comment on the resurrection that will occur on the Last Day. It was obviously taught along the way because Martha is casually recounting knowledge she had already received.
The language and the event itself are woven together to reveal to absolutely everyone that He is the Son of God.
But you already know that. Right? Right?!
What are we to pull from this story for our own lives?
While we believe Yeshua can do the miraculous, we struggle with wrapping our heads around what will happen on the Last Day. The realization of that event is beyond what most of us can truly receive. We can cerebrally comprehend and know what will happen, but can you really see it?
Martha knows what will happen on the Last Day but she’s still struggling:
21 Marta said to Yeshua, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” 23 Yeshua said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Marta said, “I know that he will rise again at the Resurrection on the Last Day.”
She had the knowledge but that only applies to some time way off in the future. What about today? The tumbling in her mind between what she knows versus what she sees and feels -- this is the tension we get when trying to reconcile our trust with the truth.
But there is no difference between now and the future. Yeshua reminds her of exactly that:
25 Yeshua said to her, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life! Whoever puts his trust in me will live, even if he dies; 26 and everyone living and trusting in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“I AM…” -- this is what closes the door on it all. Believing for the future is not something we’re tasked with doing. We are to believe now. He was, is, and will be: “I AM”.
Thinking that somehow our lives in this instant is disconnected from the Last Day is a rookie mistake. The Last Day is now. You are either full of life or judgment now. To assume this decision is sorted on the Last Day alone is a grave error in judgment.
There is never a moment in your life where life and death are in question. We all know there is no guarantee of tomorrow but we don’t really believe that, do we? We always assume there is time to repent later. We can forgive another day. We can serve someone next week. We can speak life to that person some other day. We can stop our addiction at New Year.
You need to understand that you are currently standing in the Valley of Decision. Martha was facing it right there at that moment. Is Lazaraus alive or is he dead? Seriously. What was before her eyes was not real but her perspective and feelings had skewed truth.
Yeshua gave her the truth and asked her if she believed it.
She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
That’s all she needed. Bringing the Last Day into today. In doing so, the Messiah is revealed -- to everyone.
And that will tick a lot of people off so be prepared to experience death. But that’s ok because:
Yeshua is saying to you, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life! Whoever puts his trust in me will live, even if he dies; and everyone living and trusting in me will never die. Do you believe this?”