“And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.”
My Notes
What Does John 11:43 Mean?
Jesus stands at the tomb of Lazarus — a man four days dead, already decomposing — and does two things. He prays (vv. 41-42), and then He shouts. "He cried with a loud voice" — ekraugasen phōnē megalē, literally He screamed with a great voice. This isn't a whisper. It's not a gentle invitation. It's a command issued at maximum volume to a dead man: Lazarus, come forth.
The naming is significant. Augustine noted that if Jesus had not said "Lazarus" by name, every dead person in the cemetery would have come out. The command carries the authority to reverse death itself — and Jesus aims it with a name. Specific. Targeted. Personal. He doesn't say "dead people, arise." He says the name of the one He loves.
The Greek deuro exo — come here, outside — is a command of motion directed at a corpse. Dead men don't respond to commands. Dead ears don't hear voices. Dead muscles don't walk. And yet the next verse says: "he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes." The command of Jesus didn't just reach the ears. It reached past death. It penetrated the barrier that separates the living from the dead and pulled a man back across it. The voice that called light into existence at creation called life into a corpse in Bethany. Same voice. Same authority. Same creative power.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What in your life has Jesus called 'come forth' that you're still treating as dead?
- 2.If Jesus calls you by name — personally, specifically — does that change how you hear His voice in your current situation?
- 3.Lazarus came out alive but still wrapped in graveclothes. Where are you alive but still bound by what you came out of?
- 4.Who around you has been called to life but still needs help with the unwrapping — and are you willing to loose them?
Devotional
"Lazarus, come forth." Jesus shouted it. Not because Lazarus needed volume — dead ears don't have a noise threshold. He shouted because the command was aimed at death itself. The voice that spoke the universe into being spoke into a tomb and death had to let go. The sound of that shout is the sound of someone who has absolute authority over the thing that terrifies you most.
He called Lazarus by name. Not "whoever's in there." Not a general invitation. Your name. The God who calls things into existence calls you by your name. Whatever is dead in your life — the dream, the relationship, the hope, the part of yourself that stopped responding a long time ago — Jesus stands at the mouth of the tomb and says your name. Not with a suggestion. With a command. Come forth. Come out. The thing that's been binding you doesn't get the final word.
Lazarus came out still wrapped in graveclothes. That detail matters. He was alive but still bound. Jesus then told the bystanders: "Loose him, and let him go" (v. 44). The resurrection is Jesus' work. The unwrapping is the community's work. Some people around you right now are alive but still bound — still wrapped in the graveclothes of what they came out of. They've been called forth. They need you to help loose the bindings. The calling to life is God's. The ministry of unwrapping belongs to the people standing nearby.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And when he had thus spoken,.... To God his Father, in the presence and hearing of the people;
he cried with a loud…
A loud voice - Greek, “A great voice.” Syriac: “A high voice.” This was distinctly asserting his power. He uttered a…
He cried with a loud voice - In Joh 5:25, our Lord had said, that the time was coming, in which the dead should hear the…
Here we have, I. Christ's tender sympathy with his afflicted friends, and the share he took to himself in their sorrows,…
cried The Greek word (rare in N.T. except in this Gospel) is nowhere else used of Christ. It is elsewhere used of the…
Cross References
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