John 12:10

John 12:10, in plain English

So the chief priests make plans to kill Lazarus too.

Why it's here

The desperation is staggering. They can't undo the miracle, so they plan to kill the evidence. If Lazarus is alive, people believe. So Lazarus must die.

Who's speaking

The narrator reveals the authorities' shocking expansion of their murder plot to include Lazarus.

Where it sits in the story

It would be almost absurd if it weren't so dark: they plan to kill a man who was already dead. They're trying to bury the evidence of resurrection—literally.

The scholarly reading

The chief priests expand their murderous conspiracy to include Lazarus himself, as his living testimony is causing many to defect to faith in Jesus.

Language and setting

The decision to kill Lazarus exposes the absurdity and desperation of the opposition: they seek to destroy the evidence of resurrection rather than submit to its implications. This echoes the pattern of chapter 9 where they tried to discredit the healed blind man.

Voice

The narrator reveals the authorities' plan to eliminate Lazarus as well as Jesus.

Significance

The conspiracy reaches its logical extreme: if the living Lazarus testifies to Jesus' power, then Lazarus too must die. The authorities attempt to un-do the miracle by killing its beneficiary.

8The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me.”

9Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews learned that Jesus was there. And they came not only because of Him, but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.

10So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,

11for on account of him many of the Jews were deserting them and believing in Jesus.

12The next day the great crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

Read all of John 12 — Mary anoints Jesus' feet with costly perfume, the crowds wave palm branches, and Jesus announces that his hour has finally arrived.