The chapter
Simply Lazarus is ill and his sisters send word. Jesus, who loves them, waits two days before going, and by the time he arrives Lazarus has been in the tomb four days. He talks with each sister in turn, weeps, and calls the dead man out of the grave. The result is that many believe, and that the authorities decide he has to die.
Context The chapter is the hinge of the book: the last and largest of the signs is also the thing that gets him killed, and verse 53 says so in one line. Two sentences sit side by side and are meant to be uncomfortable together. Verse 5 says Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, and verse 6 says that when he heard Lazarus was ill he stayed where he was two days. The text supplies no apology for the gap and never says he was too late.
Verses 1-16
Simply The sisters send a message saying that the man he loves is ill. Jesus says the illness is not to end in death, and stays two more days. Then he says they are going back to Judea, and the disciples remind him they were trying to stone him there. He says Lazarus has fallen asleep, they take him literally, and he tells them plainly that Lazarus is dead. Thomas says they may as well go and die with him.
Context Verse 2 does something unusual: it identifies Mary by an anointing that has not happened yet in this book and will not be told until the next chapter. The narrator is speaking to a reader assumed to know the story already. Thomas's line at verse 16 is the only thing he says in the Gospel before the upper room, and it is loyal and bleak at the same time. The reference at verse 8 to a stoning is not a general fear: it points back two chapters, where stones were picked up twice.
Verses 17-37
Simply Martha comes out to meet him and says that if he had been there her brother would not have died, and that even now God will give him whatever he asks. He tells her Lazarus will rise. She says she knows, at the last day. He says he is the resurrection and the life, and asks if she believes it. She says yes, and calls him the Christ. Then Mary comes and says the same first sentence, and he weeps.
Context Both sisters say exactly the same sentence, that if he had been there their brother would not have died, and he answers them completely differently: Martha gets an argument and Mary gets tears. Martha's answer at verse 27 is the fullest confession anyone makes in this Gospel, fuller than Peter's at 6:69, and it is worth noticing who makes it and where. Verse 35 is the shortest verse in the New Testament, measured in this edition: eleven characters, ahead of Always rejoice at fifteen. The bystanders at verse 37 ask the question the reader is already asking, and nobody answers it.
Verses 38-44
Simply He comes to the tomb, a cave with a stone against it, and says to take the stone away. Martha objects that after four days there will be a smell. The stone is moved, he prays out loud and says he is doing it so the crowd will hear, and then calls Lazarus by name. The dead man comes out still wrapped in the grave cloths, and Jesus tells them to untie him.
Context Martha's objection at verse 39 is the most practical sentence in the chapter and the text keeps it rather than tidying it away. The prayer at verse 41 is explained by verse 42 in the same breath: he says he is speaking aloud for the sake of the people standing there, which makes it the one prayer in the Gospel whose stated purpose is to be overheard. The last instruction is the smallest and the most human. Lazarus comes out alive and still tied, and the people around him have to do something.
Verses 45-57
Simply Many who saw it believe, and some go and report it. The chief priests and Pharisees hold a council and say that if he is left alone everyone will believe and the Romans will take away their place and their nation. Caiaphas, the high priest that year, says it is better for one man to die for the people. From that day they plan his death, and Jesus withdraws. Passover is close, and orders are out for his arrest.
Context The reasoning recorded at verse 48 is political rather than religious: the danger named is Rome, and what is at stake is their place and their nation. No one in the council disputes that the signs are real. Verses 51 and 52 are one of the few places in this Gospel where the narrator tells the reader that a speaker meant more than he knew, and it is applied to an opponent rather than a disciple. The chapter ends where chapter 7 ended, with people wondering whether he will come to the feast at all, except that this time there is a standing order to report him.