Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary John 11:12

"The disciples therefore said unto him, Lord, if he is fallen asleep, he will recover." — John 11:12 (ASV)

In order to explain his action, Jesus decided to educate his disciples by informing them that Lazarus was asleep and that he intended to wake him. Their interest and loyalty were plainly revealed by their willingness to listen to him and to move back into the area of danger if he so desired. The disciples, however, lacked imagination and took literally Jesus’ announcement that Lazarus had fallen asleep. Assuming that “sleep” would mean that the fever had passed its crisis, they expressed their hope for Lazarus’s recovery. But Jesus was using the word “sleep” (GK 5678) in a figurative sense, meaning “death.” This does not mean that the dead are in a state of total unconsciousness, for Jesus’ illustration of the rich man and the beggar predicates consciousness after death . It does show that Jesus looked on the death of Lazarus as a parenthesis after which there would be an awakening, not as a permanent removal from life.