Daily Gospel Plan

¹Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

²It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.

³So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

⁴But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

⁵Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

⁶So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

⁷Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

⁸The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”

⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

¹⁰But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

¹¹After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.”

¹²The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”

¹³Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.

¹⁴Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died,

¹⁵and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

¹⁶So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

¹⁷Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

¹⁸Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off,

¹⁹and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.

²⁰So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.

²¹Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

²²But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

²⁸When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

²⁹And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.

³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.

³¹When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

³²Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

³⁴And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”

³⁵Jesus wept.

³⁶So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

³⁹Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”

⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

⁴¹So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”

⁴³When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”

⁴⁴The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

⁴⁵Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,

⁴⁶but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

⁴⁷So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.

⁴⁸If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

⁴⁹But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all.

⁵⁰Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”

⁵¹He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,

⁵²and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

⁵³So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

⁵⁴Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.

⁵⁵Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.

⁵⁶They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?”

⁵⁷Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

¹Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

²So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.

³Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said,

⁵“Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

⁶He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.

⁷Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.

⁸For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

⁹When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

¹⁰So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well,

¹¹because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

¹²The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

¹³So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

¹⁴And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

¹⁵“Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!”

¹⁶His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.

¹⁷The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness.

¹⁸The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.

¹⁹So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

²⁰Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.

²¹So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

²²Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

²³And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

²⁴Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

²⁵ Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

²⁶If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

²⁷ “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.

²⁸Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

²⁹The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

³⁰Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine.

³¹ Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

³³He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

³⁴So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”

³⁵So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

³⁶While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” The Unbelief of the People When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.

³⁷Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,

³⁸so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

³⁹Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,

⁴⁰“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”

⁴¹Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.

⁴²Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;

⁴³for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

⁴⁴And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.

⁴⁵And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.

⁴⁶ I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

⁴⁷If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

⁴⁸ The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

⁴⁹For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment — what to say and what to speak.

⁵⁰And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”