Bible notes
For those working with children and young people
Gospel - John 11.1-45
The reading offers an important opportunity for children to talk about the issues surrounding death and dying. When children want to discuss this it is often the adults who get upset. Try to be aware of your own feelings here so that you don’t get in the way of the children’s needs. Be sensitive, and a good piece of advice for adults is: Listen, listen and listen more.
John 11 is another of John’s carefully plotted stories. Many debates about interpreting John’s Gospel are focused in this passage: the way in which John’s Gospel relates to history, John’s picture of Jesus, what he says about ‘the Jews’ and the roles of women in biblical texts.
The raising of Lazarus is the final and greatest ‘sign’ in John’s Gospel. It ends one section of the Gospel, looks towards the passion and resurrection narratives, and takes the place of the cleansing of the Temple in the synoptic Gospels. It may link to other stories in the other Gospels but this story, as is the whole of John’s Gospel is to be read ‘from the end’, in the light of the resurrection of Jesus.
Women are the central characters in this story. Interpretations of the characters can, though, be very varied. Mary is either passive and emotional, or she waits faithfully for Jesus’ call and moves him deeply. Martha either makes an inadequate confession (for some commentators) or one that is hugely significant for this point in the Gospel, naming Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. Deeply layered, the story also has a simple message: that Jesus has God’s authority and gives life.