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Lazarus lived in [[Bethany]], which is now a suburb of [[Jerusalem]], but back at that time it was apparently 2 miles away from Jerusalem. The picture on the screen shows Bethany 150 years ago. Travelling to Bethany would have seemed quite dangerous to Jesus’ disciples[[disciple]]s. There had been growing pressure on him and his disciples by the religious leaders, and they were probably quite worried by this stage. But Jesus asks them the rhetorical question, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight?” by which I think he is suggesting that He and they are safe until God’s appointed time.The response of Thomas initially seems quite puzzling however. Thomas will unfortunately always be remembered for wanting to feel the scars on the resurrected Jesus, and so be known as “Doubting Thomas”. But his response here shows that he was a man who was courageous enough to face death with Jesus. In [[John 11:16|verse 16]], Thomas says, “Let us go and die with him.” I don’t think the “him” is referring to Lazarus. I think he is referring to Jesus, and is saying, “Let us go and die with Jesus” – that is “Let’s follow Jesus into the danger zone and be prepared to die with him”. ===[[Martha(sister of Lazarus)|Martha]]=== Another character worth examining is Martha, the sister of Lazarus.  We are told in [[John 11:17|verse 17]], that by the time Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead for 4 days. Many Jews of that era believed that the soul of a dead person stayed near the body for 3 days in the hopes of a resuscitation, but on the 4th day it departed. This belief would have made the coming miracle appear even more amazing. On arriving in Bethany, Martha came out to meet Jesus. I find it quite interesting that Martha went out to meet Jesus, rather than wait for him to come and find her, which is what would seem more natural to me. I think this is something I can learn from. When things are tough and times are bad, this verse reminds us to go and meet our [[Lord]], to pray to him.When Martha meets Jesus she cries out that if only he were there, Lazarus would have lived. [[John 11:21|Verse 21 ]] tells us :''"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." '' 

 :''I am the [[resurrection ]] and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?'' The [[gospel of John ]] records Jesus stating “I am” “[[I am]]” a number of times. 

 :''I am the bread of life'' 

 :''I am the light of the world'' 

 :''I am the gate'' 

 :''I am the good shepherd'' 

 :''I am'' 

 :''I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.'' 

 ===Jesus=== 

:''When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled…'' :''Jesus wept.'' :''Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"'' Jesus was “deeply moved in spirit” we’re told. The [[Greek ]] word for "deeply moved" is a powerful one. It speaks both of great emotion and of the physical expression of that emotion. Elsewhere the word is translated as “groaned” and also “being angry”. In German Bibles the verse reads "Jesus became angry in spirit and troubled." But why would Jesus become angry?

[[Death ]] hurts people. Death is the result of [[sin]]. [[Romans 6 ]] reminds us that “the wages of sin is death”. I think Jesus was angry because he has a profound awareness of all the hurt that comes from sin.

But whatever the reason, it is clear that the death of Lazarus and the grief of his family and friends stirred Jesus deeply. This is a very important part of the story. The God whom Jesus reveals cares deeply about us. He is not apathetic. He is sympathetic. And he shares our pain. That is part of the meaning of love. [[John 11:5|Verse 5 ]] said that Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters. [[1 Corinthians ]] says that love does not rejoice in what is wrong. If God loves us beyond human love, then He grieves and shares our pain more powerfully than any human grief or sympathy. And so we are told quite simply, “Jesus wept”. I think that this is beautiful and amazing.

And so Jesus had the stone rolled away, and in [[John 11:44|verse 44 ]] we are told

:''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 around his face. ''

==The on-lookersonlookers==

I’m a sceptical person by nature. Driving into work recently I heard John Edwards Edward being interviewed on the radio. You may have heard of his television show, “Crossing over”. He claims to speak to the dead relatives of people in his audience. He might say something like, “I’m getting a voice from someone called Rebecca. There is something about water too. Does that mean anything to anyone here?” And sure enough, someone yells out, “Oh, I have a dead sister called Rebecca. And she loved swimminglived by the ocean!” I’m convinced he uses a combination of statistics, being vague and judging people’s facial expressions to make up a convincing sounding story. Surely someone here knows about a person called Rebecca, and water is suitably vague so that everyone could think of some sort of link (I have cousin called Rebecca, and she has a pool). So yes, I’m very sceptical by nature. Of course, my Christian beliefs don’t allow for spirits of dead people floating around waiting to talk to their living relatives. But even if I wasn’t a Christian, I know that I wouldn’t believe a word of what John Williams Edward says in a million years.

Now I’m sure there were people like me in [[Palestine ]] 2,000 years ago. There must have been many people in the crowd who were sceptics. Yet, nowhere in the passage is there any hint that anyone denied this [[miracle]]. No-one is recorded as having said, “He wasn’t really dead. It’s all a hoax!” It seems that the reality of this miracle was beyond doubt in the minds of those who saw Lazarus come to life. And they responded in one of two ways. [[John 11:45|Verses 45 ]] and [[John 11:46|46]]:

:''Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done''

The story climaxes in the meeting of the [[Sanhedrin]]. The response of the rulers and leaders is quite incredible. You would imagine that the leaders would rejoice that a man had been brought to life. Or that at least they would stand in awe. But, somehow they completely looked past the miracle and saw only problems. In [[John 11:47|verses 47 ]] and [[John 11:48|48 ]] the chief priests are quoted saying

:''“Here is this man performing many miraculous 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 place and our nation.”''

They were worried that the Romans will take away their “place”. Their place may have meant the [[temple]], which is quite ironic. The temple was thought to be the dwelling place of God. As they worried about losing the dwelling place of God, all the time, God in Jesus was dwelling among them. They were so blind that they couldn’t recognise God’s sonSon. They would read in [[Genesis ]] that God created the man, breathing life into him. Yet they couldn’t make the link that if Jesus was bringing a man back to life, maybe he was telling the truth when he said that he and the Father were one.

But the even greater irony is, that their solution to the man who brought life, was to destroy life. By bringing life to Lazarus, Jesus had set into motion the specific plan to kill him, as it says in [[John 11:53|verse 53]]

===[[Caiaphas]]===