Study

I think it would be reasonable to say that raising a man from the dead is not exactly the best way to maintain a low profile in an area where people have tried to kill you in the past (John 11:8). Nevertheless, that’s what Jesus has just done, and the Jewish authorities could not exactly be described as pleased about this. ...Read more

John 12:1-2

¹ Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. ...Read more

Let’s step back and recap a little here. Jesus has been causing a lot of trouble lately. He’s been saying things that, if they weren’t true, would give the Jews really good reason to stone Him. They wanted to arrest Him on a few occasions (John 7:30, 8:20, and probably  more that I can’t recall), but it wasn’t time yet. Most recently, though, He got into really big trouble for making Himself out to be God. ...Read more

This is it! The moment we have been waiting for. Jesus has come to the grave of Lazarus. Too late by the opinion of most, but God is always on time. There is no doubt about Lazarus' deadness, he has been dead for four days. He is beginning to stink as Mary says. Jesus responds to her.

John 11:40

Jesus said to her,"Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" ...Read more

John 11:33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

For me this is a great place to start the passage. Jesus knows our pain! Jesus knows that death is no fun. Even if a serial killer is put to death, it still is sad. There is still no real closure, it does not bring the ones who he was killed back to life. One of the important themes in Ecclesiastes is that death is the leveler of all things. Good and evil, strong and weak, rich and poor, etc. Death is sad. Now imagine the death of a loved one, someone whose life has been closely intertwined with yours. That person is gone. Death now looks so much more evil. This is the kind of scene that Jesus finds himself in. ...Read more

Hello there! I’m Stephen.

Well, no more formalities I think I’ll just jump into it.

I’m going to be writing about John 11:28-32. The “Jesus Wept” passage deserves more than I (Or almost anyone) can give it, so I’ll let someone else do that.

But I digress; to the text! ...Read more

Here, Jesus has been asked to come to the aid of a dying man. And not just any dying man, but one of His dearest friends. If this were a modern American movie, He’d make it just in time to save His friend’s life. There’d be a lot of tense music and shots of people crying to try to fake you out into thinking the guy was gonna die... but things have to end happily ever after, right? ...Read more

John 11:1-4 (NASB)

¹ Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. ...Read more

So, as far as the narrative is concerned, Jesus has just claimed to be God. “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). If one was reading this story as an isolated incident, one might reasonably expect Jesus’ audience to be ready to flip around and be all worshipful and such—after all, Jesus is God. But, this isn’t an isolated incident, and the people to whom Jesus is speaking react in a way completely unoriginal in comparison with the events thus far. ...Read more

This is my first time writing on this blog. I am not the best of writers. My writing style can be best described as a person throwing a bunch of audio frequencies together and hoping that the end result is harmonious music. That rarely happens.

There are some things better understood when you know the background of John. The gospel of John was written towards the end of the 1st century.  The major controversies of the day were the nature of Christ and Gnosticism. ...Read more