Comforting Martha and Mary

When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now, Bethany, was not far from Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia (a little less than two miles), and many of the Jewish leaders had come to Martha and Mary to console them in the loss of their brother. So, when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him; but Mary stayed at home.

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give You whatever You ask of Him.”

“Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her.

Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though they die, yet shall they live. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she answered, “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

After Martha said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside and said to her, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.” And when Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Him.

Now Jesus had not yet entered the village but was still at the place where Martha had met Him. When the Jewish leaders who were in the house consoling Mary saw how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary came to Jesus and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus saw Mary weeping, and that the Jewish leaders who had come with her were also weeping, He groaned in spirit and was troubled. “Where have you put him?” He asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they answered.

Jesus wept.

Then the Jewish leaders said, “See how He loved him!”

But some of them asked, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, have kept Lazarus from dying?”

See John 11:17-37