A man named Lazarus from the village of Bethany was sick. He was the brother of Mary and Martha, who also lived there. Mary was the lady who had anointed Jesus with fragrant oil called nard and then used her hair to wipe his feet. The sisters sent a message to Jesus, saying “Lord, someone that you love is sick.”

When Jesus received the message, he said “This sickness will not lead to death, but to the glory of God. The Son of Man will be glorified through it.” Even though Jesus loved the three of them, he didn’t start to go to them until two days later.

The disciples challenged him when he told them that they were going to Judea, saying “The Jewish leaders want to stone you to death, and you want to go there again?”

Jesus answered “There are twelve hours of daylight every day, where people can walk without stumbling because of all the light. People stumble at night because they don’t have light.” Then he said “Lazarus has merely fallen asleep, and I’m headed there to awaken him.”

The disciples said “Lord, he’ll get well if he has just gone to sleep.” They did not realize that Jesus was talking about his death, so Jesus spoke plainly to them. “Lazarus has died. I’m glad that I wasn’t there at that time so you will have another reason to believe in me. Let us be on our way.”

Thomas, nicknamed “Twin,” said to the others “Let’s all go and die along with him.”

JN 11:1-16