💫WEB · John 11:45
What does John 11:45 mean?
"Therefore many of the Jews, who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did, believed in him."
— John 11:45 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
I 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.”
When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
He 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.”
Therefore many of the Jews, who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did, believed in him.
But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done.
The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs.
If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
Explanation
John 11:45 comes at the close of one of the most dramatic scenes in the Gospel of John—the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Jesus had traveled to Bethany after Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. He wept with the grieving family, then called Lazarus out of the tomb, and the dead man walked out alive, still wrapped in burial cloths. This verse simply reports the immediate aftermath: a number of the Jewish mourners who had come to comfort Mary (Lazarus's sister) witnessed this miracle with their own eyes, and as a direct result, they put their faith in Jesus.
To understand the context, it helps to know that John's Gospel was written to demonstrate that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, so that readers would believe and have life in his name (John 20:31). The raising of Lazarus is presented as the seventh and climactic "sign" in John's Gospel—an unmistakable, undeniable act of power over death itself. Mary and Martha's home in Bethany was a place Jesus loved to visit, and many people from Jerusalem and the surrounding area had gathered there to mourn with the sisters, since Jewish custom involved a period of communal mourning for the dead. So this was not a private event; it happened in front of a substantial crowd of witnesses, many of whom had personal connections to Jerusalem and its religious leadership.
Theologically, this verse illustrates a recurring pattern in John's Gospel: seeing leads to believing. Throughout the book, Jesus perform
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