111.John 11:38-44-The Raising of Lazarus

The Raising of Lazarus

John 11:38–44

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”

40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

42 I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that You sent Me.”

43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”

44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with burial cloths, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” 

The raising of Lazarus is the seventh and final sign in the Gospel of John. The signs that reveal the identity of Christ unfold progressively, and the resurrection of Lazarus becomes the strongest of them all. As these signs point to who Christ is, the circle of those who believe grows—from those who need very little to believe, to those who come to faith after seeing undeniable evidence that Christ is the Messiah.

In John 11 it is emphasized twice that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. In Jewish understanding at that time, it was believed that for three days the soul might still remain near the body, but on the fourth day all hope was gone—there was no possibility of return. For the same reason, in the Orthodox tradition special significance is given to the third day of remembrance.

This highlights the complete hopelessness of the situation from a human perspective—the conviction that no miracle could possibly change anything. This is not like the case of the prophet Elijah, when a child was restored to life shortly after death. Here, a miracle of an entirely different order was required: the body was not only dead, but had already begun to decompose and had the odor of death.

We do not know how Jesus reversed the irreversible processes, but we do know the result: at His command, Lazarus came out of the tomb.

If you find yourself in a hopeless situation, it is worth remembering this story. Is there anything truly impossible for Jesus?