The Gospel According to John (American Standard Version, 1901) · 21 of 37 · tr. American Standard Version (1901)
11:38-12:3
[11:38] Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
[11:39] Jesus saith, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time the body decayeth; for he hath been dead four days.
[11:40] Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
[11:41] So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou heardest me.
[11:42] And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the multitude that standeth around I said it, that they may believe that thou didst send me.
[11:43] And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
[11:44] He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
[11:45] Many therefore of the Jews, who came to Mary and beheld that which he did, believed on him.
[11:46] But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done.
[11:47] The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many signs.
[11:48] If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.
[11:49] But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all,
[11:50] nor do ye take account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.
[11:51] Now this he said not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation;
[11:52] and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God that are scattered abroad.
[11:53] So from that day forth they took counsel that they might put him to death.
[11:54] Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed thence into the country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there he tarried with the disciples.
[11:55] Now the passover of the Jews was at hand: and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the passover, to purify themselves.
[11:56] They sought therefore for Jesus, and spake one with another, as they stood in the temple, What think ye? That he will not come to the feast?
[11:57] Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given commandment, that, if any man knew where he was, he should show it, that they might take him.
[12:1] Jesus therefore six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus raised from the dead.
[12:2] So they made him a supper there: and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at meat with him.
[12:3] Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The Father's active hearing, sending, and ordering of events — including the prophetic utterance of Caiaphas as divinely orchestrated — expresses a cosmos ordered by divine intention.
The phenomenon where spiritual messengers or healers are rejected by their own community due to familiarity or lack of awe.
The chief priests and Pharisees, who should recognize the signs, instead plot to kill Jesus — the spiritual messenger rejected by his own religious community.
The maintenance of a state of cleanliness—physical, moral, or spiritual—required for encounter with the divine.
The mention of people going up to Jerusalem 'to purify themselves' before the passover references the maintenance of ritual cleanliness required for sacred encounter.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
Jesus cries 'Lazarus, come forth' with a loud voice and the dead man immediately rises — the spoken word directly causes a change in reality.