Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when He received the news that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two more days. Then He said to the disciples, "Let us go back to Judea...Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I will go and wake him up."

The disciples answered, "If he is asleep, Lord, he will get well." Jesus meant that Lazarus had died, but they thought He meant natural sleep. So Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, but for your sake I am glad that I was not with him, so that you will believe. Let us go to him." When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had been buried four days before.

Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Judeans had come to see Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother's death.

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him, but Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, "If you had been here, Lord, my brother would not have died! But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask Him."

"Your brother will rise to life," Jesus told her. "I know," she replied, "that he will rise to life on the last day."

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

"Yes, Lord!" she answered. "I do believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is come into the world."

After Martha said this, she went back and called her sister Mary privately. "The Master is here," she told her, "and is asking for you." When Mary heard this, she got up and hurried out to meet Him...Mary arrived where Jesus was, and as soon as she saw Him, she fell at His feet. "Lord," she said, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died!"

Jesus saw her weeping, and He saw how the people with her were weeping also; His heart was touched, and He was deeply moved. "Where have you buried him?" He asked them. "Come and see, Lord," they answered.

Jesus wept. "See how much He loved him!" the people said. But some of them said, "He gave sight to the blind man, didn't He? Could He not have kept Lazarus from dying?"

Deeply moved once more, Jesus went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone placed at the entrance. "Take the stone away!" Jesus ordered.

Martha, the dead man's sister, answered, "There will be a bad smell, Lord. He has been buried four days!" Jesus said to her, "Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believed?"

They took the stone away. Jesus looked up and said, "I thank you, Father, that you listen to me. I know that you always listen to me, but I say this for the sake of the people here, so that they will believe that you sent me."

After He had said this, He called out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" He came out, his hands and feet wrapped in grave cloths, and with a cloth around his face. "Untie him," Jesus told them, "and let him go."--John 11:5-44 Good News Bible