John 11:13 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.

NIV: Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

NASB: Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about actual sleep.

CSB: Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep.

NLT: They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died.

KJV: Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

NKJV: However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.

Jesus often spoke of spiritual ideas using metaphors which were taken too literally. This is seen in His comments about the destruction of the temple (John 2:19–22), about spiritual rebirth (John 3:4), living water (John 4:11), and spiritual freedom (John 8:31–33). Sleep is a common Christian metaphor for death, when applied to those who die with faith in God (Acts 7:60; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18).

The disciples assumed Lazarus was merely sleeping to recover from illness (John 11:1–3). After all, Jesus sent back an encouraging reply to the messenger (John 11:4), then waited two days to decide to visit Lazarus (John 11:6–7). They're not keen on returning to Judea, since the local religious leaders want to kill Jesus (John 5:18; 11:8). When Jesus seemingly reiterates the idea that Lazarus is "sleeping," they're baffled as to why it's necessary to go there to wake him up.

What they don't understand, Jesus will partially explain in His reply, shown in the next verse.

John 11:1–16 sets up the most spectacular of Jesus' earthly miracles: the resurrection of Lazarus. Jesus is given word that Lazarus is sick but delays several days before leaving to see the family. As it turns out, by the time this message gets to Jesus, Lazarus has already died. The disciples assume Jesus won't go back to Judea, since local religious leaders want to kill Him. When Jesus plans to head into dangerous territory, His followers are frightened and pessimistic. The following passage will show Jesus arriving four days after Lazarus had passed away.

Jesus has left the vicinity of Jerusalem to avoid hostile religious leaders. While gone, He receives word that a good friend, Lazarus, is sick. In fact, Lazarus has died by the time this message reaches Jesus. He purposefully waits a few days before returning to Bethany, arriving four days after Lazarus' burial. In front of Lazarus' mourning sisters—who Jesus weeps with—and an assembled crowd, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead in a stirring and spectacular miracle. This is the seventh of John's seven ''signs'' of Jesus' divine power. In response, religious leaders coordinate in their effort to have Jesus murdered.

After giving sight to a man born blind (John 9), Jesus sparred with religious leaders on at least two occasions (John 10). After another failed arrest attempt, Jesus left the area and went out where Jerusalem's politics had little influence. In this chapter, He returns to resurrect a recently-departed friend, Lazarus. That results in a renewed commitment from Jerusalem's religious leaders to have Jesus murdered. As the crucifixion draws near, Jesus will stage His triumphal entry in chapter 12, and then begin His final teachings to the disciples.

The gospel of John was written by the disciple John, decades later than the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls “signs”—in order to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in all of the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.

Accessed 4/29/2024 12:32:08 PM