Charles Ellicott Commentary John 11

Now a certain man was sick.—This is connected with the preceding narrative to introduce the reason for our Lord’s leaving His retirement to go again into the neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Named Lazarus, of Bethany.—For the name “Lazarus,” compare to the Note on Luke 16:20, where it occurs as the solitary instance of a name in our Lord’s parables. It will be seen from the Chronological Harmony of the Gospels, page 36, that the parable was closely connected with the miracle in order of time. It is in every way probable that the form in which the truths of the world beyond the grave there took shape was suggested by the incidents which are here recorded.

See also the suggestion that this Lazarus may have been identical with the young man who had great possessions, in the Notes on Matthew 19:16 and following. The induction rests upon an enumeration of instances which makes it at least probable in a high degree.

“Bethany,” too, is familiar to us from the earlier Gospels (Matthew 21:17; Matthew 26:6; Mark 11:12; Mark 14:3; Luke 19:29; Luke 24:50). The modern name, El-Azirieh, or El-Lazirieh, connects it with the events of this chapter, being formed from El-Azir, the Arabic form of the name Lazarus. It is a poor village on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, about two miles from Jerusalem (John 11:18).

The town of Mary and her sister Martha.—Better, the village... (Compare to Luke 10:38.) This is the general meaning of the Greek word, which is distinguished from that for “city” or “town” (Matthew 10:11), but John uses it in John 7:42 for Bethlehem.

For the relative position of Mary and Martha, compare to the Notes on Luke 10:38-42. The younger sister is here mentioned first as the better known from the events related in John 11:2. Lazarus was probably younger than his sisters (John 12:2).

The village was known, then, in the circles of the first disciples, as the village of Mary and Martha, by way of distinction from the “Bethany beyond Jordan.” This distinction is marked here on account of the paragraph at the end of the preceding chapter .

It was that Mary who anointed the Lord.—Compare Notes on Matthew 26:6 and following, and Mark 14:3 and following. John himself relates the anointing in John 12:3 and following.

Here he simply mentions it as distinguishing Mary from others of the same name. And he assumes it was a well-known incident that had been, as Christ declared it should be, told for a memorial of her wheresoever the gospel had been preached (Matthew 26:13).

Still, the other Evangelists had not told the name, and Saint John, when the name first occurs in his narrative, connects it with the person whose deed of love was known to all.

There is no sufficient reason for identifying Mary of Bethany with the woman which was a sinner (see Notes on Luke 7:37 and following), or for identifying either with Mary Magdalene.

This verse should not be placed in parentheses, as in our version. It is immediately connected with the verse that precedes, as well as with that which follows.

Therefore his sisters sent unto him.—Better, The sisters therefore sent unto Him—that is, because of the illness, which has been repeated at the end of the previous verse, and also because of the intimacy between our Lord and this family, of which the anointing was a proof. .

Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.—The words are given in the touching simplicity of the message just as they were sent by the sorrowing sisters. They feel that the sad news needs no addition, and that there is no necessity for a prayer for help. Weakness, conscious of strength that loves, needs only to express itself. .

When Jesus heard that, he said: These words are not simply an answer sent to the sisters, but the uttered thought which arose in our Lord's mind as He heard that Lazarus was ill, and were spoken in the presence of the disciples who were with Him, and undoubtedly in the presence of the messengers as well.

This sickness is not unto death: that is, "it will not result in death; it will not have death as its final result." (John 11:14, and John 8:51).

But for the glory of God: that is, "the furtherance and accomplishment of the glory of God."

That the Son of God might be glorified thereby: This furtherance of the glory of God, with the purpose of glorifying the Son, carries us back, as all the expositors note, to the oneness of the work of the Father and Son which has been made prominent in our Lord's words. (Compare to John 10:38, and references in the note there.) But the words seem to carry us forward as well as backward.

In the next chapter (John 11:23), our Lord says, "The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified," and the reference is to His death. Is that thought absent from the words here?

The sickness of Lazarus would not indeed result in death, though it would end in what people call death, and would be the immediate cause leading to the death of the Son of Man. The one would be as a sleep from which he would awake; the other should be the glorifying of the Son of God, which would result in the life of the world.

"Thereby" is probably to be interpreted "by means of the illness," not "by means of the glory."

This verse should be compared with John 9:3. Here, as there, part of the meaning is that the glory of God would be brought about in the person of the one upon whom the miracle would be performed. It was a spiritual crisis in the case of the man born blind. It cannot have been otherwise in the case of Lazarus.

Now Jesus loved Martha. It is not easy to see the connection of this verse with what precedes it, or with what immediately follows it. The fact that He stayed two days where He was seems indeed opposed to the idea of His special love for the family. The most probable explanation is the one that connects John 11:5-7 together, and makes this love the motive for going into Judea again.

The word translated "loved" here is different from the one in John 11:3. There the word signifies the love of tender affection; here the word means the love of chosen friendship. (John 21:15 and following.) The difference here is not to be explained, as it frequently has been, by the difference in the persons who were the objects of the love, but rather by the difference in the persons whose words we are reading. In the language of the sisters, whose hearts are moved by the brother’s illness, the word of fullest emotion is natural. In the language of the Evangelist, the other word is no less natural.

It will be observed that in this verse, as in John 11:19 and following, Martha takes the first place as the elder sister.