These things said he; and after this he says to them, Lazarus, our friend, is fallen asleep, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.
Jesus tells His disciples that Lazarus has died — but He never uses the word "dead." He calls him a sleeping friend, and says He is going to wake him.
The Lord does not say "My friend" or "your friend." One writer draws out how much that small word carries.
One thing stands out in the chapter and holds you by its charm. It is the friendliness of our Lord, and the wisdom of that friendliness. There was a circle at Bethany where He was free and at home. It was He who said, "Our friend Lazarus" — not your friend, or My friend, but "our friend." That happy circle took the disciples in. Where friendship is true and real there is no restraint, and a friend may be better than a brother. We do not tell our secrets to strangers. To a friend we love and trust we tell our deepest thoughts and unload our cares. Friendship rests on confidence and love.
Jesus does not call it death. One writer explains why the gentler word is the truthful one.
"Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep." It was only a gentle sleep. Death is not death in the presence of the Prince of life. The grave is only a sleeping place. "I go to awaken him." He could not have said that if Lazarus were being raised from a sick-bed.
So what is asleep? Writers are careful here: the word covers the body, not the soul.
It is important to notice that here, as everywhere, the word sleep applies to the body. It is the suited word of faith for death. How dark is the unbelief that twists it, as some do, into making the soul something material! He who is the truth speaks of the thing as it really is. He knew that He was about to raise Lazarus.
Another writer tests the point by asking where Jesus went.
The Lord said Lazarus had fallen asleep, and that He was going to wake him. Then He went to the grave where Lazarus was, and called with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." If it was the spirit of Lazarus that slept, why not go where his spirit was? Why go to where the body was?
Jesus was miles away when Lazarus died. The way He announces it suggests otherwise.
He says, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep." He speaks as if He had been sitting by the bedside, watching. And with what sovereign calmness! In the middle of all their anxieties there was One who they thought was neglecting them. His eye was watching there, and He saw the eyelids closing. All of this was so that He might show them, and us as well, the full power of His love.
His staying away now makes sense. He was not too late. He was waiting for the moment when no human help was left.
This, then, was the reason why Jesus kept away from His beloved friends. He waited for the fitting moment. That moment came when Lazarus had already lain in the grave four days. Every human hope had vanished. Every human effort was powerless and worthless. "I go" — not to raise him from a sick-bed, but "to awaken him." The stage was cleared of every human prop, so that the glory of God might shine out in all its brightness. "Man's extremity is God's opportunity," and it is easy to see that the grave gave God a far better opportunity than a sick-bed.
What Jesus said of one man, Scripture goes on to say of many.
When death comes to the Christian it is only sleep — sleep for the body until the Lord wakes it at His coming. That is why Scripture says of Stephen, "And when he had said this, he fell asleep" (Acts 7:60).
One writer notices that Jesus did not empty the whole burial ground at Bethany.
So Lazarus is a picture of the saints who will be "asleep" when Christ comes. Others besides Lazarus were dead and lying in their tombs at Bethany. But the Lord spoke to only one — the one He knew and loved. He made a selection among those who were in the grave. And when the Lord comes down from heaven with a shout, only those who know that voice will answer.
- Friend. He says "our friend," not "My friend." That puts the disciples inside the Bethany circle. He tells them the trouble as a friend tells a friend.
- Watched. The wording sounds like a man speaking from the bedside; He was far away, but His eye was on the moment Lazarus died.
- Renamed. In the presence of the Prince of life, death loses its name and becomes sleep, and the tomb becomes a sleeping place.
- Body. The word sleep covers the body, never the soul — Jesus went to the grave, where the body lay, to wake him.
- Waited. He held back until every human hope was gone, so the awakening would be all God's glory. One voice calling one name is the pattern for the day He calls His own out of their graves.
The disciples therefore said to him, Lord, if he be fallen asleep, he will get well.
Jesus had just told His disciples that their friend had fallen asleep and that He was going to wake him. Their reply sounded like good news, but they missed everything He meant.
The word they used for "recover" is worth a second look.
When the Lord said to His disciples, "Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep," they replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will do well." That is literally "he will be saved." They used a related word — the verb formed from the same root as "Saviour."
Older versions read "he will do well" where the ESV has "he will recover."
They took the word at its surface, and missed why He had chosen it.
Jesus spoke this way because death took on this character in His eyes. The power of resurrection and of life was in Him. The apostles apply His words literally to natural sleep, so He explains them.
What made their answer so far off was not only the misheard word, but the size of what they were expecting from Him.
The Lord begins to show what He was about to do. But they were slow to think of death on the one hand, or of His resurrection power on the other. Preventing death, healing disease, falls far short of triumph over death. The disciples were to be strengthened by the sight of resurrection before He died on the cross and rose again.
So why call it sleep at all? The answer lies in who was speaking.
What touching affection! What gracious intimacy! What a tender linking of Himself with the family of Bethany on the one hand, and His disciples on the other! "Our friend Lazarus sleeps." It was only a gentle sleep. Death is not death in the presence of the Prince of life. The grave is only a sleeping place. He could not have said such words if Lazarus had been raised from a sick-bed. "Man's extremity is God's opportunity," and it is easy to see that the grave gave God a far better opportunity than a sick-bed.
One question remains: what is it that sleeps?
Here, as everywhere, sleep refers to the body. It is the fitting word of faith for death. How dark is the unbelief that twists it, as some do, into making the soul something material! He who is the truth speaks of things as they really are. He knew He was about to raise Lazarus.
Their mistake was not wasted.
They did not understand what the Lord said. But their ignorance, as always, becomes the occasion of our knowledge. Here our Lord shows plainly that He meant Lazarus's death when He said he "sleeps." And so the common expression is the expression of truth: he "fell asleep," "those who sleep in Jesus," and the like.
Their half-informed sentence turns out to be true.
Many passages in the New Testament describe the death of the Christian as sleep. No other word in English says so much about quietness, peace and rest, and about the absence of weariness and worry. Sleep is the word chosen by the Holy Spirit to describe the death of the Christian. How well we may say, as the disciples did, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will do well." Yes, indeed, the one who sleeps through Jesus does well. On the other side of such a sleep there is eternal life, strength that never fades, the presence of the Lord, and the day of God's everlasting favour that will never know a night.
- Word. Their "he will recover" is literally "he will be saved" — from the same root as the word "Saviour."
- Miss. They heard sleep as rest and looked for a healer. But preventing death falls far short of triumph over death.
- Meaning. He called it sleep because of who was speaking. Death is not death in the presence of the Prince of life, and the grave is only a sleeping place.
- Limit. Sleep always refers to the body, never the soul. Faith uses the word; unbelief twists it.
- Gain. Their ignorance drew out His plain answer. Their own words became our language for death: those who sleep through Jesus do well.
But Jesus spoke of his death, but *they* thought that he spoke of the rest of sleep.
The disciples had just heard that Lazarus was asleep and answered that sleep would do him good. Verse 13 is John's own note on what the Lord meant. The gap between what Jesus said and what they heard opens a word of deep comfort for anyone who has lost someone they love.
This verse is not part of the conversation. It is a note for the reader, and John's Gospel has more like it.
It is the Holy Spirit who, through John, gives us this commentary on the Lord's words. Such commentary is not peculiar to this place, but a recurring feature of John's Gospel. For other examples see John 2:21; 7:39; 11:13; 12:33; 21:19, 23. The misunderstanding of the Lord's words is carefully noted, and their real meaning is set out.
There is a reason behind His choice of word.
Jesus spoke this way because death took on this character in His eyes. The power of resurrection and of life was in Him. The apostles applied His words literally to natural sleep, so He explains them.
The same power changes what the grave is.
"Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep." It was only a gentle sleep. Death is not death in the presence of the Prince of life. The grave is only a sleeping place.
Their mistake went deeper than the word itself.
The Lord begins to reveal what He was about to do. But they were slow to think of death on the one hand, or of His resurrection power on the other. Preventing death, or healing disease, falls far short of triumph over death. Seeing resurrection would strengthen the disciples before He died on the cross and rose again.
Some have used the word "sleep" to argue that the soul itself shuts down. One commentator answers that sharply.
It is important to notice that here, as everywhere, sleep is said of the body. It is the fitting word of faith for death. How dark is the unbelief that twists it, as some do, into making the soul material! He who is the truth speaks of the thing as it really is.
Another writer tests this by where Jesus went, and by what His death changed.
The Lord says of Lazarus, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him." Then He went to the grave where Lazarus was, and called with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." If it was the spirit of Lazarus that slept, why not go where his spirit was? Why go where the body was? Since our Lord by His death has removed the sting, which is sin, we are only said to sleep when we die.
One good thing came out of their mistake. It shaped the way believers still speak about dying.
They did not understand what the Lord said. But their ignorance, as always, becomes the occasion of our knowledge. Here our Lord shows plainly that He meant his death when He said he "sleeps." And so the common expression is the expression of truth: he "fell asleep," "those who sleep in Jesus," and the like. Sleep only closes the memory on the sorrows of the world now past. Then we wake up in fresh strength for a day that will never wear it out.
- Said — Jesus spoke of Lazarus's death. He called it "sleep," because that is what death looked like to Him, who had resurrection power in Himself.
- Heard — the disciples took Him literally and expected recovery. They were slow to grasp either death or His power over it.
- Explained — John adds his own note here, as he does elsewhere. No reader can then mistake the Lord's meaning.
- Limited — the sleep is of the body only; Jesus went to the tomb, not somewhere else, to wake His friend.
- Given — their misunderstanding drew out the plain word. So "sleep" became the settled way of speaking about a believer's death: rest from this world's sorrows, then waking in strength that never wears out.
Jesus therefore then said to them plainly, Lazarus has died.
Between a sick friend and a grave stands one flat sentence. He had said sleep, and they heard rest and recovery — so now He gives them the plain fact, and says He is glad He was not there.
The disciples had answered His talk of sleep with cheerful common sense, and He does not argue with them. He changes vocabulary.
He speaks so quietly that they do not understand Him. The shadow of death lies on all their souls, but the thought of sleep is not even a shadow. "Lord," they say, "if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." So He comes down to their everyday language: "Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe." How little like faith their mood was! "But let us go to him."
The plain word is not a rebuke but a rescue:
But the Lord Who tries faith meets the weakness of His disciples, and clears up the difficulty. He tells them plainly, "Lazarus has died." He says He is glad for their sake that He was not there — not there, that is, simply to heal — so that they would believe, once they better knew His power to give life and raise the dead.
The earlier word had a reason behind it, and that reason lies in who Jesus is.
Jesus spoke like this, because death took this character in His eyes, the power of resurrection and of life being in Him.
The figure has limits, and they matter. It is the body, not the person, that sleeps.
Notice that here, as everywhere, sleep refers to the body. It is the suited word of faith for death: how dark the unbelief that twists it, as some do, to make the soul material! He Who is the truth speaks as the thing really is. He knew that He was about to raise Lazarus.
The Lord announces a death, then says He will go to him — and that phrase carries its own teaching.
"But let us go to him" completed what the Lord had to say. "Go to him" He said. Lazarus was dead. But Lazarus had not ceased to exist. He was still a living creature, though not in his body. Lazarus was sleeping. He would go to awake him out of sleep. Death does not end a person's existence, as the dying thief learnt, who was to be with Christ after death in paradise.
The gladness is the hardest part of the sentence. Set it against everything the Lord was carrying at that moment.
Whatever the Saviour's thoughts were, and however hard circumstances pressed on His soul, they never overcame Him. They never held back the most perfect love. "For your sake I am glad that I was not there" (v. 15). If it was a trial to Him to seem lacking in love for these poor women, He was still perfectly obeying His Father's will, which is confirmed here. And in the middle of the deep exercises of His heart — the power of life and all the weight of death meeting in His mind — He rejoiced at the good the disciples were about to gain from it.
The delay is explained here, and the reason names people who were not the ones grieving.
Then we learn that He stayed those two days for the blessing of His disciples, for the Lord says, "For your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe". This crushing sorrow had overtaken the two sisters. It would bring glory to the Father and blessing to the two grieving sisters, and it would also lead to the blessing of others.
Jesus said it out loud before He reached Bethany. So His own word becomes part of the evidence that the death was real.
But had he really died? Had life left his body? The Lord announced the fact of his death two days after the messenger had reported his illness (14). The sisters were sure that Lazarus had died (21, 32). The Jews in the company of Mary testified to it (37). And four days had he been dead and buried (17, 39). So no one could deny the miracle. If Lazarus came forth from the tomb, it was the Lazarus who had died.
- Plainly. The picture of sleep confused them, so He used their own plain words and stated the fact. He met their weakness instead of arguing with it.
- Sleep. He called it sleep because that is what death looks like to the One who has resurrection life in Himself. The word describes the body, not the soul.
- Alive. "Let us go to him" says Lazarus had not stopped existing — death ends a life in the body, not a person.
- Glad. He is not glad at the death. He is glad at what His absence would produce: faith in disciples who had not yet grasped His power to raise the dead.
- Wider. One home's grief brought glory to the Father, comfort to two sisters, and blessing to others beyond them.