Gospel of John 11:1–57 Catholic Bible study Lesson 14

The Gospel According to John:
An Encounter with Grace & Truth

Lesson 14 I Am the Resurrection & the Life
the Gospel According to John 11:1–57

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)*
New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)*
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Rosarium Virginis Mariae (Rosary of the Virgin Mary)
ex libris (in our library)
glossary for the Gospel According to John
cross references in the Gospel According to John
next lesson: The Hour Has Come

This material coordinates with Lesson 14 on pages 74–79 in The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.”—the Gospel According to John 20:30–31

welcome to our in-depth study of the Gospel According to John
We invite interested groups and individuals to check out the sample first lesson from this 25-lesson Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study. These online study pages link to our free lesson videos, as well as to a glossary and cross references in the biblical text. Other study aids include maps, additional commentary, and prayers based on the primary Scripture in each lesson. The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth has been granted an imprimatur and can be purchased from our website shop. If you have a Bible-related question or comment, click on one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons on any online study page.

open with prayer
It’s always wise to begin any Bible study with prayer, whether reading the Scriptures alone or meeting with others in a discussion study group. You can pray using your own words or use one of the opening prayers on our website. We especially like the following:

Lord Jesus, you promised to send your Holy Spirit
to teach us all things.
As we read and study your word today,
allow it to touch our hearts and change our lives. Amen.

let’s review—the Gospel According to John 10:1–42
In Lesson 13 I Am the Good Shepherd , Jesus identifies himself as the Good Shepherd using an extremely complicated metaphor. Like all of Jesus’ parables—a literary form that the Evangelist generally avoids in the Fourth Gospel—the meaning appears obvious but close examination shows that Jesus has something far more complex in mind. The sheer number of moving parts—sheepfold, door, thieves and robbers, shepherd, sheep, gatekeeper, stranger, and hireling—make interpretation challenging and lead to strong differences of opinion among the Jews. When the religious leaders continue to press Jesus about whether he’s the Christ (the Messiah), he announces: “I and the Father are one.” This appears to be blasphemy to the Jews. They seek to stone Jesus but are unable to arrest him. Jesus leaves Jerusalem and heads to the wilderness area across the Jordan River, but the works that he’s been performing continue to attract attention and speculation.

map notes—Jesus hangs out in Bethany & Ephraim
In the tenth chapter in the Gospel According to John, Jesus had left Jerusalem after another run-in with the Jewish religious authorities. Instead of heading to Galilee, Jesus and his followers only went as far as the wilderness east of the Jordan River where John had been baptizing. This places Jesus not terribly far from Bethany, the home of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, when he gets word that Lazarus is seriously ill. Because the home of Jesus’ friends is near Jerusalem, many Jews show up there to mourn Lazarus’ death. Instead of a funeral, they witness Lazarus being called forth from the tomb. When the Pharisees get word of what’s happened, they reiterate their plans to kill Jesus. At the end of the eleventh chapter in the Gospel According to John, Jesus and his disciples head to another wilderness town, Ephraim, which also isn’t far from Jerusalem. Notice there are two towns on the map named Bethany. The one nearest to Jerusalem is the home of Lazarus and his sisters. Bethany beyond the Jordan (east of the Jordan River) is described in the Gospel According to John 1:28 as the location where John (the witness) was baptizing. Click on the image (right) to enlarge the map, which appears on page 77 in The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.

how Jesus relates to Martha & Mary (01:02:58)
In the video for this lesson, Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps contrasts the different ways in which Martha and her sister Mary approach Jesus whenever he shows up in Bethany. The biblical text of this lesson concerns their brother Lazarus being dead four days. The four days is a significant amount of time to ensure that no one assumes Lazarus was comatose instead of dead, an idea that Martha reinforces when she mentions that there will be an odor of death when the tomb is opened. Although the sisters behave somewhat differently, they each represent a valid approach to God. You can learn more about their different viewpoints by reading “Martha & Her Sister” on page 79 in The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.

The Scripture ranges for the videos that accompany this Catholic Bible study match the Scripture ranges for the sets of questions in The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth. You can follow along with the video overview as Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps discusses Lesson 14, “I Am the Resurrection & the Life,” on pages 74–79 in the study book.

a major sign shrouded in mystery
In the eleventh chapter in the Gospel According to John, the Evangelist records a major event in Jesus’ ministry—the raising of Lazarus from the dead. The sign itself is completely mysterious. How is it possible for Jesus to raise someone from the dead? Although it’s rare that anyone is raised from the dead prior to Jesus’ raising Lazarus to life, such a thing is not unheard of. (Tami Palladino’s illustration of Jesus and Lazarus appears on the map, “Key Events in the Gospel According to John,” on page 146 of the study book.)

There are three instances of people being restored to life in the Old Testament:

The First Book of the Kings 17:17–24 describes the prophet Elijah raising the son of the widow of Zarapath.
The Second Book of the Kings 4:1–37 describes the prophet Elisha granting the Shunammite woman her desire for a son, and then later restoring the boy to life.
The Second Book of the Kings 13:21 records how a dead man comes back to life when touched by the bones of the prophet Elisha.

It’s significant that all of these accounts appear in the First and Second Books of the Kings, which deal in detail with events from the lives of the prophets Elijah and his successor, Elisha. Elijah generally is regarded as representative of all the prophets, yet just prior to Elijah being taken to heaven, in the Second Book of the Kings 2:9 Elisha asks to be given a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. While alive, Elijah and Elisha each restored one person to life. But after his own death, the spirit of Elisha is so powerful that when a corpse is touched by Elisha’s bones, the dead person returns to life. Learn more about the fascinating lives of Elijah and Elisha in Lesson 6 Elijah & the Widow of Zarephath through Lesson 17 The Death of Elisha in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume I: A Kingdom Divided.

Although these things are recorded in the Scriptures, we have no idea how it is that such restoration of life occurred. It’s a mystery. We also have no idea how Jesus is able to restore Lazarus to life. All this is by way of setting the stage for what will undoubtedly be Jesus’ greatest sign and a central mystery of our faith, Jesus’ own Resurrection.

‘Jesus loved Martha & her sister & Lazarus’
Placed just before “So when he heard that [Lazarus] was ill [Jesus] stayed two days longer in the place where he was” in the Gospel According to John 11:6, these words emphasize the truly mysterious nature of God’s love for humanity. This puzzling verse underscores that it’s incomprehensible for men and women to understand and accept that God’s plan for our lives includes physical death.

resurrection—you could look it up in our archives
Resurrection is an inexplicable concept. To learn more regarding the type of resurrection about which Jesus speaks to Martha in the eleventh chapter in the Gospel According to John, read Lost in Translation, an online column in which Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps helps readers connect with ideas expressed in the original languages of the Scriptures. New Lost in Translation entries are posted on Mondays, and past entries are archived on our website. Contact us if you’d like to receive Lost in Translation by email every week.

the saints inspire us—dead or asleep?
St. Augustine wrote this about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead:

“Lazarus was said, on account of the resurrection
so soon to follow, to be asleep.
To his sisters he was dead, to the Lord he was asleep.
He was dead to men, who could not raise him again;
but the Lord roused him with as great ease from the tomb
as one arouses a sleeper from his bed.”

read the Catechism—so what kind of glory is Jesus talking about?
In the Gospel According to John 11:4, Jesus announces that Lazarus isn’t going to die because his illness “is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.” It should come as no surprise that the best place to look for more information about glory is the Catechism of the Catholic Church. One of the strongest statements about the glory of God can be found in paragraph 705 in the Catechism.

705 Disfigured by sin and death, man remains “in the image of God,” in the image of the Son, but is deprived “of the glory of God,” [Letter to the Romans 3:23] of his “likeness.” The promise made to Abraham inaugurates the economy of salvation, at the culmination of which the Son himself will assume that “image” [Gospel According to John 1:14; Letter to the Philippians 2:7] and restore it in the Father’s “likeness” by giving it again its Glory, the Spirit who is “the giver of Life.”

This explanation of the glory of God connects to some foundational Christian beliefs—Creation, the Fall of Adam and Eve, the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the sacrament of Baptism, Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension, and the descent of the Holy Spirit.

the story of Lazarus calls attention to Baptism
The eleventh chapter in the Gospel According to John that describes Lazarus being raised from the dead is most definitely about the sacrament of Baptism. The Church has chosen it as the mandatory Gospel reading to accompany the third and final scrutiny undergone by adult catechumen preparing to be baptized at Easter. For more information about the third scrutiny, read “As the Church Prays …” on page 78 of The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.

strange silences
In the Gospel According to John 11:21 and 11:32, the sisters Martha and Mary each express their conviction that had Jesus only been present earlier, Lazarus wouldn’t have died. While it’s important to note that the sisters’ comments differ, the big mystery surrounding the account of Lazarus being raised from the dead is that the Evangelist doesn’t record a single word from Lazarus. Present-day reporters would be all over this story, asking the formerly dead man all kinds of questions:

“Do you remember being dead?”
“Were you conscious any of the time when you were in the tomb those four days?”
“How did you manage to get out of the tomb bound in those burial cloths?”
“What were your first thoughts when you saw Jesus and your sisters standing there?”
“Do you believe that Jesus is the Messiah?”
“Are you afraid to die again?”

Perhaps the strangest silence of all is the silence of the writers of the synoptic Gospels concerning Lazarus being raised from the dead. There isn’t one word about this event in the Gospels According to Matthew, Mark, or Luke. Were it not for the Fourth Gospel, present-day Christians might have no idea this event occurred.

WHAT DO YOU THINK about the story of Lazarus?
In the eleventh chapter in the Gospel According to John, Jesus appears unconcerned about his friend Lazarus’ serious illness.

? How does considering Jesus’ attitude regarding the threat toward Lazarus’ life make you feel about God’s attitude toward humanity?
? What evidence does the Evangelist present to show that Jesus cares about preserving his friend’s life?
? What important information does Jesus’ attitude show about the limitations God has to work around in order to act?
? Consider whether it’s any more difficult for Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead that it would be for Jesus to prevent Lazarus’ illness in the first place.
? Consider whether it’s any more difficult for God to restore humans to his image and likeness than it was for God to create men and women in his image in the beginning?

a biblical factoid
The Gospel According to Luke 16:19–31 is the only one of Jesus’ parables in which the main character is given a name. Consider whether it’s coincidental or not when that same name shows up in the eleventh chapter in the Gospel According to John.

Lazarus in the Gospel According to Luke
An interesting parallel to the Evangelist John’s recounting of Lazarus being restored to life can be seen in Jesus’ parable about the rich man and Lazarus found in the sixteenth chapter in the Gospel According to Luke. The primary similarity between the passages is that both center on the after-death experiences of a man named Lazarus. Although most scholars don’t think the two passages refer to the same man, faith appears to be a factor in both stories. In the Gospel According to Luke, Lazarus is spending eternity resting in the bosom of Abraham, the Hebrew patriarch considered by both Jews and Christians to be the father of faith. In the Gospel According to John 11:40, Jesus indicates that the raising of Lazarus (evidence of the glory of God at work through Jesus) is conditional upon Martha’s faith.

for additional reflection
Caiaphas’ statement to the chief priests and Pharisees about the necessity of Jesus’ death is recorded in the Gospel According to John 11:47–53. The following questions are designed to help readers begin to form their own thoughts and ideas related to the Gospel According to John 11:1–57. For more reflection questions, refer to the introduction to Lesson 14 on page 74 in The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.

? The biblical text suggests that the Evangelist views Caiaphas’ words as legitimate prophecy. What reason might the Evangelist have for giving Caiaphas such credibility?
? What is prophecy?
? Consider whether the Evangelist is correct in thinking that Caiaphas was in a position that would enable him to speak prophetically.
? What do the members of the council in Jerusalem say is the reason they’re so opposed to Jesus becoming such a popular figure?
? What does Caiaphas prophesy is the reason that Jesus should die?
? What’s ironic about this prophecy?
? In addition to the nation, which Caiaphas mentions in his prophecy, what expanded group does the Evangelist say will benefit by Jesus’ death?
? Consider whether Caiaphas was aware that his prophecy included this expanded group of people.
? How might have the Evangelist learned what Caiaphas said to the council?

the best Catholic commentary about Scripture
To find out more about how Church teaching is supported by Scripture passages in The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth, check out the Index of Citations in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Links to the primary Scripture passages in the lesson (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition [RSVCE*]) and relevant paragraphs in the Catechism are provided here. Not every passage in the biblical text for this study is referenced in a Catechism paragraph, however.

ways our glossary might prove helpful
In addition to providing extra information about geographical locations, our glossary also points out persons and places mentioned in the biblical text under multiple names or spellings. If you can remember a name but aren’t sure in which lesson it shows up, you can find it in the glossary, which lists every proper noun that appears in the primary biblical text for The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.

to learn more, read more Scripture
If you’re having difficulty with a passage of Scripture, it can be helpful to read the relevant cross references—but looking these up can take time. To make that easier, we’ve compiled the cross references from the Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE)—the translation that we reprint in our study books. That list can be found at the top of every online study page accompanying this study, and it includes links to each of the cross references in the primary biblical text for The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.

don’t forget about our indexes & extra online material
If you’re trying to locate information about a specific Scripture passage, you can look it up in the index at the back of the study book or sample lesson. If you want to find a particular commentary, you can look up its title in the topics index. To learn more about another book of the Bible for which there’s a Turning to God’s Word study, visit the online study directories to read the commentaries and watch any accompanying videos. Finally, if you have a question or would like to make a comment about any of our studies, you can use one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons to email our authors.

ex libris—Church documents & books about religious topics
You can find links to magisterial documents referred to in Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible studies at ex libris—magisterial documents. This page includes a listing of significant recent encyclicals as well as a number of historical Church documents. Recommended books related to Scripture study can be found at ex libris—main bookshelf.

wondering how to pronounce some of these words?
The following link is to a reading from the New International Version (NIV) Bible. To listen, click on the audio icon above the printed text. Although not taken from the translations used in our study materials, the NIV reading provides an audio guide to pronunciation of words in this lesson’s primary biblical text. A close online version of the translation of the Bible used in Catholic liturgy in the United States as well as an audio guide for daily Mass readings for the current month can be found on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

the Gospel According to John 11:1–57 (NIV)

close with Bible-based prayer related to this lesson
Many of our Catholic study groups like to conclude their discussions with a prayer based on the scriptural focus of their lesson, and some participants include Scripture-specific prayer in their individual study. If you’re uncomfortable composing your own Bible-based prayers, you can follow our four easy steps, or you can use the following prayer based on this lesson’s text from the Gospel According to John.

God our Father, you sent your Son
to teach us about life and death.
Help us to hold fast to our faith in Jesus
as the way leading to eternal life.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Lesson 15 The Hour Has Come—the Gospel According to John 12:1–50
Lesson 13 I Am the Good Shepherd—the Gospel According to John 10:1–42

you also may like our study of Scripture & the Rosary (digital only)
Scripture & the Rosary: New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels, a 26-lesson Catholic Bible study with an imprimatur, looks at the biblical foundations of the Rosary. The study includes lessons on Pope St. John Paul II’s Rosarium Virginis Mariae (Rosary of the Virgin Mary), the Apostles’ Creed, and the Luminous Mysteries as well as the original 15 Mysteries of the Rosary. Color photographs of stained glass windows depict key scenes in the lives of Jesus and Mary. Free digital lessons rotate throughout the year on our website.

start a Turning to God’s Word Bible study
Thank you for your interest in The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth. Information about beginning a Turning to God’s Word Bible study can be found at start a Bible study. Tami, Matthew, and I are available to answer questions and offer support. Contact us if you’d like to start one of our studies or have your schedule listed with other TtGW study groups on our website. —Jennifer

*There are seven deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament—the Books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and First and Second Maccabees, as well as some passages in the Books of Esther and Daniel. Protestants usually refer to these works as “apocryphal,” a word that means “outside the (Protestant) canon” because they’re excluded from most Protestant Bibles. The word “deuterocanonical” means “second canon”; Catholics use that word to refer to any section of the Catholic Old Testament for which there are no extant, or existing, Hebrew manuscripts. All of the deuterocanonical books appear in the Septuagint, the earliest remaining versions of which date to the 1st century B.C. This Greek translation of the Old Testament was in common use by Jews at the time of Jesus. Learn more by reading How Do Catholic & Protestant Bibles Differ?

Turning to God’s Word printed Bible studies use the 2006 Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE) translation for all Scripture references except those to the Psalms, which are taken from The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, prepared by the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey and published in 2020 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). All Scripture links for the online study pages for The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth are to the 1966 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) translation. The New International Version (NIV) audio recordings follow the same chapter and verse numbering as the RSV Catholic translations, but the NIV translation doesn’t include the deuterocanonical books and passages.

The 1966 RSVCE uses archaic pronouns and verb forms such as “thee,” “thou,” “didst” in the Psalms and in direct quotations attributed to God. The 2006 RSV2CE replaces these with more accessible English. The few significant translation changes in the RSV2CE include rendering almah as “virgin” in the Book of Isaiah 7:14 and restoring the term “begotten” in the Gospel According to John 3:16.

Numbering varies for some passages in this Bible study. Turning to God’s Word studies (print and digital) follow the numbering in the Revised Standard Version Catholic translations (RSV2CE and RSVCE). Discrepancies in the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) are noted in the Index of Scripture Citations in the study book and the online sample.

You can learn more about the Psalms by viewing a sample lesson from the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume I: Lauds & Vespers. The second part of that study, Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume II: Vigils, Day Prayer & Compline, is scheduled for publication in 2025. Some verse numbers may vary in different translations of the Psalms.