
N – Narrator; J – Jesus; MA/MY – Martha - Mary
All
N: FROM THE HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN 11:1-45
N: There was a man named Lazarus who lived in the village of Bethany with his two sisters, Mary and Martha, and he was ill. It was the same Mary, who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair. The sisters sent this message to Jesus, ‘Lord, the man you love is ill’. On receiving the message Jesus said,
J: This sickness will not end in death but in God’s glory, and through it the Son of God will be glorified.
N: Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, yet when he heard that Lazarus was ill he stayed where he was for two more days before saying to the disciples,
J: Let us go to Judaea.
D: Rabbi, it is not long since the Jews wanted to stone you; are you going back again?
J: Are there not twelve hours in the day? No one who walks in the daytime stumbles, having the light of this world to see by; anyone who walks around at night stumbles, having no light as a guide. Our friend Lazarus is resting, I am going to wake him.
D: Lord, if he is asleep, he is sure to get better.
N: The phrase Jesus used referred to the death of Lazarus, but they thought that by ‘rest’ he meant sleep, so Jesus put it plainly,
J: Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there because now you will believe. But let us go to him.
N: Then Thomas – known as the twin – said to the other disciples,
D: Let us go too, and die with him.
N: On arriving, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already. Bethany is only about two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to sympathise with them over their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus had come she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus,
MA: If you had been here my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God will be granted.
J: Your brother will rise again.
MA: I know that he will rise again on the last day.
J: I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me, even though that person dies, will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?
MA: Yes Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.
N: When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary,
MA: The Master is here and wants to see you.
N: Hearing this, Mary got up quickly and went to him. Jesus had not yet come into the village; he was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were in the house sympathising with Mary saw her get up so quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Mary went to Jesus, and as soon as she saw him she threw herself at his feet, saying
MY: Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
N: At the sight of her tears, and those of the Jews who followed her, Jesus said in great distress, with a sigh that came straight from the heart,
J: Where have you put him?
MA: Lord, come and see.
N: Jesus wept; and the Jews said
P: See how much he loved him!
N: But there were some who remarked
P: He opened the eyes of the blind man, could he not have prevented this man’s death?
N: Still sighing, Jesus reached the tomb: it was a cave with a stone to close the opening. Jesus said,
J: Take the stone away.
MA: Lord, by now he will smell; this is the fourth day.
J: Have I not told you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?
N: So they took the stone away. Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and said,
J: Father, I thank you for hearing my prayer. I knew indeed that you always hear me, but I speak for the sake of all those who stand round me, so that they may believe it was you who sent me.
N: When he said this, he cried in a loud voice,
J: Lazarus, here! Come out!
N: The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with strips of material and a cloth round his face. Jesus said to them.
J: Unbind him, let him go free.
N: Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what he did believed in him.
PAUSE
N: The gospel of the Lord.