Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
Comment: So it obviously took them a while to go back to Judea to the family home of L,M, and M – enough for Lazarus to have been dead for four days by the time they arrived. It says that Jesus knew that Lazarus was dead as they set out, but he told them, his disciples, initially that Lazarus was asleep. Maybe this was custom. In Ethiopia people covered death with such words as ‘very ill’. He used the word ‘dead’ after they tried to stop Him from going to escape facing those who were seeking to kill him. What did they think (having lived with Him for a couple of years and knowing His ways) when Jesus said ‘and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.’??? Their fears of what could happen in Judea were strong – “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Prayer: Lord make me willing to follow You, even when it is risky and costly.
As I read it! 