After a brief introduction setting the stage for the action (vv. 17–19), the drama of the raising of Lazarus unfolds in three scenes: one between Jesus and Martha providing a theological interpretation for the whole (vv. 20–27), one in which Jesus reacts to the sorrow of Mary and some Jews who came to mourn with her (vv. 28–37), and one at the tomb recounting the actual procedure by which Jesus raised Lazarus to life (vv. 38–44).

It is not certain how long the journey took from Bethany to Bethany. The purpose of the statement that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days (v. 17) is not to construct a chronology or to help fix the location of the puzzling Bethany east of the Jordan (cf. 1:28). If Lazarus died at about the time Jesus received word of his illness (v. 4), the journey …