God Still Loves Us

¹ A certain man, Lazarus, was ill. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ( ² This was the Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was ill.) ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, “Lord, the one whom you love is ill.” ⁴ When he heard this, Jesus said, “This illness isn’t fatal. It’s for the glory of God so that God’s Son can be glorified through it.” ⁵ Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. ⁶ When he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed where he was. After two days, ⁷ he said to his disciples, “Let’s return to Judea again.” ⁸ The disciples replied, “Rabbi, the Jewish opposition wants to stone you, but you want to go back?” ⁹ Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours in the day? Whoever walks in the day doesn’t stumble because they see the light of the world. ¹⁰ But whoever walks in the night does stumble because the light isn’t in them.” ¹¹ He continued, “Our friend Lazarus is sleeping, but I am going in order to wake him up.” ¹² The disciples said, “Lord, if he’s sleeping, he will get well.” ¹³ They thought Jesus meant that Lazarus was in a deep sleep, but Jesus had spoken about Lazarus’ death. ¹⁴ Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. ¹⁵ For your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there so that you can believe. Let’s go to him.” ¹⁶ Then Thomas (the one called Didymus) said to the other disciples, “Let us go too so that we may die with Jesus.”