John 11

John 11 is the eleventh chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the raising of Lazarus from the dead, a miracle of Jesus Christ, and the subsequent development of the chief priests' and Pharisees' plot against Jesus. The author of the book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that John composed this Gospel.

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. (11:1)
Chapter 10 ended with Jesus leaving Jerusalem as the Jews threatened to stone him, and travelling to the east of the river Jordan. The evangelist's introduction of Lazarus of Bethany at this point (John 11:1) leads to the discussion of whether Jesus should return to Judea (Jerusalem) in the face of the growing plot against Him. Mary and her sister Martha appear to have been better known than their brother Lazarus, as he is introduced by reference to them. Theologian Joseph Benson therefore suggests that "It is probable [that] Lazarus was younger than his sisters".

(This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) (11:2)
Verse 2, which many translations put between parentheses, is at the centre of much scholarly controversy. New Testament scholars try to establish how John's narrative of the raising of Lazarus and the subsequent feet anointing of Jesus by Mary of Bethany (John 11:1–12:11,17) was composed by seeking to explain its apparent relationships with the older textual traditions of the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke). The author of John seems to have combined elements from several – apparently originally unrelated – stories into a single narrative. These include the unnamed woman's head anointing of Jesus in Bethany (Mark 14, Matthew 26), the sinful woman's feet anointing (and hair wiping) of Jesus in Galilee (Luke 7; these first two may have a common origin, the Lukan account likely being derived from Mark), Jesus' visit to Martha and Mary in the unnamed Galilean village (Luke 10), Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16), and possibly others involving Jesus' miraculous raising of the dead (the raising of Jairus' daughter and the raising of the son of the widow of Nain). Meanwhile, other elements were removed or replaced; for example, Simon the Leper/Simon the Pharisee was replaced by Lazarus as the host of the feast in Jesus' honour, and Bethany in Judea was chosen as the setting, while most elements of John's narrative correspond to traditions that the Synoptics set in Galilee. Scholars pay particular attention to verse (and verse ), which may represent an effort by the author or a later redactor to stress a connection between these stories that is, however, not found in the older canonical gospels. They further note that the actual anointing will not be narrated until verse , and that neither Mary, nor Martha, nor the village of these sisters, nor any anointing is mentioned in the Gospel of John before this point, suggesting that the author (or redactor) assumes the readers already have knowledge of these characters, this location and this event, and wants to tell them that these were connected (which he apparently knew the readers did not commonly know/believe yet) long before giving the readers more details. The sisters send messengers to Jesus, so his location cannot have been entirely secret, "firmly expect[ing] that he, who had cured so many strangers, would willingly come and give health to one whom he so tenderly loved". The words of their message made reference only to Lazarus' sickness, leaving unexpressed, but "to be inferred, the consequent, therefore come to our help". Johann Bengel notes that John often expects the reader to make such inferences, such as in John 2:3 (KJV): "When they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto Him, 'They have no wine' [leaving the consequent unexpressed, but implied, Do Thou relieve them]". understand that the sisters expected Jesus would come to Bethany despite the personal danger to Himself, with which His disciples were more concerned , although Exclusive Brethren theologian John Nelson Darby notes that "He might have said the word, as in the case of the centurion, and of the sick child at the beginning of this Gospel (John 4:46 53 (NKJV))". Jesus' love for Lazarus is noticed by the Jews in verse 36.

Jesus wept.

Verses 10:45 57 KJV (45 57) enlarge upon the threat to kill Jesus which has been developing over several chapters: and relate the Jews' intention to have him killed when an opportunity might arise; verses and indicate more impulsive action: "they took up stones to stone Him". According to verse , "the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council" (, synedrion or Sanhedrin). René Kieffer notes that "the main concern of the council is to avoid the destruction of the holy place (which at the time the evangelist wrote had already happened)". Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest "that year", urges the council to sacrifice one man to save the whole nation. "Better, or expedient, for you" is rendered "better for us" or "expedient for us" in the Textus Receptus and some English translations. The evangelist describes Caiaphas' words as a prophecy: Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. Meyer notes that he prophesied "involuntarily". The intention to gather the children of God into one is reflected in Jesus' own high priestly words, "that they may all be one" (John 17:21). The New King James Version and World English Bible call Ephraim a "city", whereas the New International Version and the New Living Translation call it a "village". Eusebius places Ephraim north east of Jerusalem, whereas Jerome places it to the north east; both make it the same as Ephron. Irish Archbishop John McEvilly suggests that the time Jesus spent here was a period of preparation for the forthcoming events detailed in the ensuing chapters of the Gospel.