Sunday, April 6, 2025

¹When the LORD brought back those who returned to Zion, we were like those who dream. ²Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” ³The LORD has done great things for us, and we are glad. ⁴Restore our fortunes again, LORD, like the streams in the Negev. ⁵Those who sow in tears will reap in joy. ⁶He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, will certainly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves.

⁸Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, ¹⁰that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death, ¹¹if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. ¹²Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus. ¹³Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

¹Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. ²It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. ³The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.” ⁴But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.” ⁵Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. ⁶When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was. ⁷Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let’s go into Judea again.” ⁸The disciples asked him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you. Are you going there again?” ⁹Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.” ¹¹He said these things, and after that, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep.” ¹²The disciples therefore said, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” ¹³Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep. ¹⁴So Jesus said to them plainly then, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.” ¹⁶Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s also go, that we may die with him.” ¹⁷So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already. ¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away. ¹⁹Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. ²⁰Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house. ²¹Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. ²²Even now I know that whatever you ask of 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 at the last day.” ²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. ²⁶Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.” ²⁸When she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling you.” ²⁹When she heard this, she arose quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him. ³¹Then the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.” ³²Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” ³³When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled, ³⁴and said, “Where have you laid him?” They told him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵Jesus wept. ³⁶The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!” ³⁷Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?” ³⁸Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. ³⁹Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?” ⁴¹So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me. ⁴²I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Free him, and let him go.” ⁴⁵Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him.