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Lazarus Has Taken the Long Sleep

¹ There was a man named Lazarus from a little town called Bethany. Lazarus was sick. He was the brother of Mary and Martha. ² (Mary was that gal who poured perfume on Jesus and cleaned his feet with her hair.) ³ The two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him of their brother's deathly illness.

⁴ When Jesus got the message, he said, "This sickness will not result in death, but it will lead to glory for the Son of God—the Top Hand." ⁵ Now Jesus loved Mary and Martha like sisters. He loved Lazarus like a brother. ⁶ So when he heard the news, he stayed put for two days before he left. ⁷ When the time was right, he told his cowboys to saddle up. "Let's strike a long trot for Judea," he said.

⁸ "Hey Boss, you do remember they are trying to kill you, don't you?" they said.

⁹ Jesus looked over his shoulder as he rode off, "We're burning daylight. No one stumbles while the sun is out, ¹⁰ but at night it is easy to trip and fall. ¹¹ Our pard, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I'm going to go get him up."

¹² The cowboys looked at each other in confusion and said, "If he's asleep now, he'll probably be awake by the time we get there." ¹³ They didn't realize Jesus was saying Lazarus was dead.

¹⁴ So then he told 'em, "Lazarus has taken the long sleep, ¹⁵ and it's a good thing I wasn't there, or you wouldn't be about to see something amazing. Let's go, boys!"

¹⁶ Then Tom, whose nickname was the Twin, said, "Yeah, boys. Let's go, it should be fun. They're just going to try to kill us when we get there, but we've got his back."

Jesus and the Sisters

¹⁷ When he got there, Jesus discovered Lazarus had been buried in a cave for four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was just a couple of miles outside of Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many Jews had come out to be with the family in their time of mourning. ²⁰ When Martha heard Jesus was there, she ran out to meet him. Mary stayed inside.

²¹ "Boss," Martha said. "if you'd been here, this tragedy would never have happened. ²² But that is irrelevant now. I know God will do whatever you ask."

²³ Jesus said, "Your brother will live again, Martha."

²⁴ "Yes," she said, "I know he will come back to life on the last day."

²⁵ Jesus replied, "I am the giver of life. Anyone who believes this will live, even if they are dead. ²⁶ Anyone who rides for me will never die. Do you believe this Martha?"

²⁷ "Yes, Lord," she said, "I have always believed you are the Messiah, God's Son, the Top Hand who has come to the world to save it." ²⁸ Then she went back in the house and told her sister that Jesus had arrived and he wanted to see her. ²⁹ Mary got up at once and went outside.

³⁰ Jesus was still there. ³¹ When the people saw Mary rush out, they had assumed she was going to the grave to mourn. They followed her out to offer comfort. ³² When Mary got to Jesus, she fell at his feet once again and said, "You could have kept him from dying if you'd been here, Lord."

³³ When Jesus saw her and the rest of the people crying, a deep anger rose up within him. He didn't like to see his nation hurting. He asked, ³⁴ "Where is he?"

When they showed him the grave, ³⁵ Jesus cried.

³⁶ The people could see just how much Jesus loved his friend, ³⁷ but some people said it was his fault Lazarus had died. Some of them said, "If he could heal the blind, he could have healed his friend if he cared that much."

³⁸ Despite his tears, Jesus was still angry and said, ³⁹ "Roll this rock out of the way."

But Martha said, "Lord, he's been in there for four days. It's going to smell like the south end of a rancid goat."

⁴⁰ But Jesus responded, "Didn't you hear me say that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" ⁴¹ So they rolled the stone aside, and Jesus looked into heaven and said, ⁴² "Dad, thank you for always hearing me when I call. I don't have to talk out loud for you to hear me, but I say this for the benefit of all who are listening. I want them to believe in you and me."

⁴³ Then Jesus stated in a commanding voice, "Lazarus, come here!" ⁴⁴ And the dead guy walked out of the tomb. He was still wrapped in the burial cloth. Jesus told those standing nearby, "Take off his grave clothes. He won't need them anymore."

The Plot to Ambush Jesus⁴⁵ There was a whole mess of folks who saw this and started believing in Jesus. ⁴⁶ But some of them went away and snitched Jesus out to the Pharisees. ⁴⁷ A meeting was called of the Jewish rulers to try to figure out what to do about Jesus.

"What are we going to do about him," some of them said. "There is no doubt he can do amazing things. ⁴⁸ If we let this continue, everyone will believe in him, and we will be out of power. If we aren't in power, then Rome will come in and destroy the main church and everyone with it."

⁴⁹ The High Preacher, Caiaphas, spoke up, "Y'all are idiots if ⁵⁰ you don't see what we should do. It is better that one man dies rather than everyone else." ⁵¹ Now he didn't come up with on his own. God had spoken through him sometime before and said that Jesus would die for ⁵² everyone so that the scattered herd might be brought back together. ⁵³ From the time Caiaphas had said this, they had been plotting to ambush Jesus.

⁵⁴ But Jesus knew their plans and stayed out of public sight. We went and stayed at a place called Ephraim with all his cowboys.

⁵⁵ When it was nearly time for Passover, people from all over the country went to Jerusalem to be ceremonially washed. ⁵⁶ Jesus was the talk of the town and people watched for him everywhere. Everyone kept asking, "Do you think he'll be here? He wouldn't miss the Passover, would he?" ⁵⁷ But the bigwig preachers had issued orders that Jesus was to be arrested if he was seen.