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Jesus was in Galilee, having decided against further preaching in Judaea, where the religious authorities were already keeping track of him as a dangerous person.
But the Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. This was one of the feasts to which Jewish pilgrims flocked from all over Jewish Palestine and from all the Roman Empire's Jewish colonies.
So his brothers, having seen some of his miracle work, said, "Let's go down to Jerusalem so you can show off what you do there. No one can be famous if he hides his accomplishments. So if you do these things, let the whole world see."
Even his own brothers did not believe in him.
Jesus replied, "My hour has not arrived, but your time is always ready.
"The world cannot hate you. But me it hates – because I testify about it, that its works are sick.
"So you boys go ahead to the Feast. I'm not going yet, because my hour hasn't arrived."
After his brothers left, however, he went to the celebration as an anonymous pilgrim.
In Jerusalem by the sheep market was a pool, surrounded by five patios, called Bethesda. Large numbers of people who were powerless to help themselves because of physical disabilities would gather there hoping for a cure. It was said that the first person in the water, after an angel every now and then stirred it, would be healed.
One man there had been suffering with his disability for 38 years.
As Jesus drew near the pool, he spotted that man and knew in the Spirit that the man had been afflicted for a very long time.
Jesus asked him, "Do you want to be healed?"
The man replied, "Sir, when the water is stirred, there is no one to help me into the pool. And while I am trying to get there, someone else always gets in ahead of me."
Jesus said, "Get up, pick up your mat, and walk."
Immediately the man arose, took up his mat and walked.
It was the Sabbath.
Some highly observant Jews saw the man carrying his mat and reproved him for "working" on the Sabbath.
"The man who healed me told me to pick up my mat and walk" was the reply.
"Who was that?!"
But the healed man didn't know who had healed him, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.
Later, Jesus found the man in the Temple.
"See how good it is to be healed," Jesus said. "Keep that in mind and don't do what you did before – in case something even worse happens to you."
The cured paralytic then told people that it was Jesus the Galilean who had healed him. Word got back to the Temple authorities and they were very irritated. "That man again! It's an outrage that he heals on the Sabbath!"
But because Jesus' earthly mission had not been completed, these leading men were powerless to do anything.
Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus from their house in Bethany that their brother Lazarus was very ill.
All three were on very close terms with Jesus. Mary is the woman who would later pour expensive oil over him.
"Your good friend Lazarus is sick," was the message they sent to Jesus.
On hearing that, Jesus said to his disciples, "This is not a fatal illness. God will receive glory when his servant receives glory in this matter."
Even though Jesus loved the two women and their brother, he stayed put for another two days.
At that point he said, "Let's go back to Judaea."
Evidently they were across the Jordan in Peraea.
"Master," the disciples said, "didn't you tell us that the last time you were in Jerusalem, the religious authorities were ready to kill you – and now you go back?"
Jesus replied, "Aren't there twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks during the day, he won't stumble, because he sees by the light of this world. But if a person walks in the night, he stumbles, because there is no light in him."
He said, "Our friend Lazarus is sleeping. But I am going so that I may awaken Lazarus."
"Master," his disciples replied, "if he is sleeping, there's nothing wrong with that."
"Lazarus is dead," Jesus told them bluntly. "And, for your sakes, I'm glad I wasn't there so that you may believe. Now let's get moving."
Thomas, whose nickname was Twin, said to the others, "Let's go with him so that we may die with him."
When Jesus arrived near Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in the grave for four days.
Many people who knew Lazarus' family came over from Jerusalem to pay their respects and offer words of comfort.
When word got back to Martha that Jesus was en route, she went to meet him, while Mary remained quietly indoors.
Martha said, "Oh Master, if only you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
"But I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will give it to you."
"Your brother will rise again," said Jesus.
"I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day," she said.
"I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he were dead, yet will he live. And whoever is alive and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
She replied, "Yes, Master. I believe you are the Messiah, that servant of God who was to come into the world!"
Martha then went back to Mary and told her, "The Master is here and he is calling for you."
Mary rushed out to meet Jesus, who was waiting outside Bethany at the spot where he had met Martha.
When Mary's neighbors, who were visiting her, saw Mary leave in haste, they followed her, assuming she was going to the grave to mourn.
As soon as Mary saw Jesus, she threw herself at his feet and said in anguish, "Master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
When Jesus saw her weeping, surrounded by neighbors who also were making unhappy sounds, he sighed deeply within, being troubled.
"Where have you laid him?" Jesus asked.
"Come this way," came the reply.
Jesus wept.
The neighbors remarked, "Look how much he loved Lazarus."
Some were critical. "If this man can make the blind see, then couldn't he have prevented this death?"
Jesus again sighed within as he approached the tomb, which was a cave with a stone barring the cave mouth.
"Remove the stone," Jesus said.
Martha was rueful. "Master, the body will stink. He's been dead for four days."
Jesus replied, "Didn't I say to you that if you would believe, you would see God's glory?"
The stone was rolled out of the way.
Jesus lifted his eyes upward and said, "Father I thank you that you have heard me. I know you hear me, but I say this for these people here so that they may believe that you have sent me."
Jesus then shouted, "Lazarus! Come out!"
A man hobbled out from inside the tomb. Grave clothes were wound around his legs and arms and covered his face.
Jesus instructed those at hand: "Untie him and let him go."
That brought many of the friends of the family to put their belief in Jesus.
Of course some of them mentioned what had happened to others, so that word got back to the Pharisee leaders.
The Temple authorities huddled together trying to come up with a plan to deal with this man Jesus.
"What should we do?" they pondered. "He does a lot of impressive things. If we leave him alone, everyone will put their trust in him and the Romans will come and take away our homeland and our people."
Then Caiaphas, the current high priest (who served at the pleasure of the Roman governor), said, "You know nothing! Don't you understand that it is better that one man die for the people rather than have the whole people perish?"
He didn't really say this on his own accord. Because he was high priest, Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish people. He would die not only for them, but for those of God's children in foreign lands and gather everyone together into one new people."
From that day onward, the Jerusalem religious authorities were plotting to have Jesus put to death.
But Jesus slipped back across the river to Peraea, outside their jurisdiction.
NEXT PAGE:
Woman at a well
But the Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. This was one of the feasts to which Jewish pilgrims flocked from all over Jewish Palestine and from all the Roman Empire's Jewish colonies.
So his brothers, having seen some of his miracle work, said, "Let's go down to Jerusalem so you can show off what you do there. No one can be famous if he hides his accomplishments. So if you do these things, let the whole world see."
Even his own brothers did not believe in him.
Jesus replied, "My hour has not arrived, but your time is always ready.
"The world cannot hate you. But me it hates – because I testify about it, that its works are sick.
"So you boys go ahead to the Feast. I'm not going yet, because my hour hasn't arrived."
After his brothers left, however, he went to the celebration as an anonymous pilgrim.
The brothers thought Jerusalem during a pilgrimage feast was the ideal platform for establishing his fame – and prosperity.
We don't know which brothers are meant. A good possibility for one is James, a brother who went on to head the Jerusalem Christian community until the Roman puppet king Herod Agrippa had him executed for offending Jewish religious sensibilities.
We also see that his brothers, who may have been with the family in Capernaum, had not really grasped the import of Jesus' miracles, and it is likely they saw them only in a fragmented way. For example, they would have known that others claimed and some even had some ability to cast out demons. What they did not see yet was that Jesus was not merely manipulating the spirit world in order to achieve his ends. He was the very power of God present in the here and now. That understanding would seep through later, once they had received the Holy Spirit.
We don't know which brothers are meant. A good possibility for one is James, a brother who went on to head the Jerusalem Christian community until the Roman puppet king Herod Agrippa had him executed for offending Jewish religious sensibilities.
We also see that his brothers, who may have been with the family in Capernaum, had not really grasped the import of Jesus' miracles, and it is likely they saw them only in a fragmented way. For example, they would have known that others claimed and some even had some ability to cast out demons. What they did not see yet was that Jesus was not merely manipulating the spirit world in order to achieve his ends. He was the very power of God present in the here and now. That understanding would seep through later, once they had received the Holy Spirit.
In Jerusalem by the sheep market was a pool, surrounded by five patios, called Bethesda. Large numbers of people who were powerless to help themselves because of physical disabilities would gather there hoping for a cure. It was said that the first person in the water, after an angel every now and then stirred it, would be healed.
One man there had been suffering with his disability for 38 years.
As Jesus drew near the pool, he spotted that man and knew in the Spirit that the man had been afflicted for a very long time.
Jesus asked him, "Do you want to be healed?"
The man replied, "Sir, when the water is stirred, there is no one to help me into the pool. And while I am trying to get there, someone else always gets in ahead of me."
Jesus said, "Get up, pick up your mat, and walk."
Immediately the man arose, took up his mat and walked.
It was the Sabbath.
Some highly observant Jews saw the man carrying his mat and reproved him for "working" on the Sabbath.
"The man who healed me told me to pick up my mat and walk" was the reply.
"Who was that?!"
But the healed man didn't know who had healed him, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.
Later, Jesus found the man in the Temple.
"See how good it is to be healed," Jesus said. "Keep that in mind and don't do what you did before – in case something even worse happens to you."
The cured paralytic then told people that it was Jesus the Galilean who had healed him. Word got back to the Temple authorities and they were very irritated. "That man again! It's an outrage that he heals on the Sabbath!"
But because Jesus' earthly mission had not been completed, these leading men were powerless to do anything.
Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus from their house in Bethany that their brother Lazarus was very ill.
All three were on very close terms with Jesus. Mary is the woman who would later pour expensive oil over him.
"Your good friend Lazarus is sick," was the message they sent to Jesus.
On hearing that, Jesus said to his disciples, "This is not a fatal illness. God will receive glory when his servant receives glory in this matter."
Even though Jesus loved the two women and their brother, he stayed put for another two days.
At that point he said, "Let's go back to Judaea."
Evidently they were across the Jordan in Peraea.
"Master," the disciples said, "didn't you tell us that the last time you were in Jerusalem, the religious authorities were ready to kill you – and now you go back?"
Jesus replied, "Aren't there twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks during the day, he won't stumble, because he sees by the light of this world. But if a person walks in the night, he stumbles, because there is no light in him."
He said, "Our friend Lazarus is sleeping. But I am going so that I may awaken Lazarus."
"Master," his disciples replied, "if he is sleeping, there's nothing wrong with that."
"Lazarus is dead," Jesus told them bluntly. "And, for your sakes, I'm glad I wasn't there so that you may believe. Now let's get moving."
Thomas, whose nickname was Twin, said to the others, "Let's go with him so that we may die with him."
When Jesus arrived near Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in the grave for four days.
Many people who knew Lazarus' family came over from Jerusalem to pay their respects and offer words of comfort.
When word got back to Martha that Jesus was en route, she went to meet him, while Mary remained quietly indoors.
Martha said, "Oh Master, if only you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
"But I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will give it to you."
"Your brother will rise again," said Jesus.
"I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day," she said.
"I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he were dead, yet will he live. And whoever is alive and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
She replied, "Yes, Master. I believe you are the Messiah, that servant of God who was to come into the world!"
Martha then went back to Mary and told her, "The Master is here and he is calling for you."
Mary rushed out to meet Jesus, who was waiting outside Bethany at the spot where he had met Martha.
When Mary's neighbors, who were visiting her, saw Mary leave in haste, they followed her, assuming she was going to the grave to mourn.
As soon as Mary saw Jesus, she threw herself at his feet and said in anguish, "Master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
When Jesus saw her weeping, surrounded by neighbors who also were making unhappy sounds, he sighed deeply within, being troubled.
"Where have you laid him?" Jesus asked.
"Come this way," came the reply.
Jesus wept.
The neighbors remarked, "Look how much he loved Lazarus."
Some were critical. "If this man can make the blind see, then couldn't he have prevented this death?"
Jesus again sighed within as he approached the tomb, which was a cave with a stone barring the cave mouth.
"Remove the stone," Jesus said.
Martha was rueful. "Master, the body will stink. He's been dead for four days."
Jesus replied, "Didn't I say to you that if you would believe, you would see God's glory?"
The stone was rolled out of the way.
Jesus lifted his eyes upward and said, "Father I thank you that you have heard me. I know you hear me, but I say this for these people here so that they may believe that you have sent me."
Jesus then shouted, "Lazarus! Come out!"
A man hobbled out from inside the tomb. Grave clothes were wound around his legs and arms and covered his face.
Jesus instructed those at hand: "Untie him and let him go."
That brought many of the friends of the family to put their belief in Jesus.
Of course some of them mentioned what had happened to others, so that word got back to the Pharisee leaders.
The Temple authorities huddled together trying to come up with a plan to deal with this man Jesus.
"What should we do?" they pondered. "He does a lot of impressive things. If we leave him alone, everyone will put their trust in him and the Romans will come and take away our homeland and our people."
Then Caiaphas, the current high priest (who served at the pleasure of the Roman governor), said, "You know nothing! Don't you understand that it is better that one man die for the people rather than have the whole people perish?"
He didn't really say this on his own accord. Because he was high priest, Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish people. He would die not only for them, but for those of God's children in foreign lands and gather everyone together into one new people."
From that day onward, the Jerusalem religious authorities were plotting to have Jesus put to death.
But Jesus slipped back across the river to Peraea, outside their jurisdiction.
At this point in our story, the Temple authorities had been troubled by reports of some peasant from Galilee allegedly working wonders and stirring up the people. But they had yet to get a good fix on him. In those days Jerusalem was a busy, populous city all year round and even more so was it a sea of humanity during each of the three annual pilgrimage festivals.
NEXT PAGE:
Woman at a well
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