The Gospel of John narrates that Lazarus, a friend of Jesus living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem with his sisters Martha and Mary, fell ill and died while Jesus delayed his arrival by two days after receiving word of the sickness. By the time Jesus reached Bethany, Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days, a detail John's narrative emphasizes to establish that death, in the ancient understanding reflected in the text, was by then beyond any possible ambiguity or mistake.
At the tomb, Jesus, described as deeply moved and weeping, orders the stone sealing it removed and calls Lazarus out by name; Lazarus emerges still wrapped in his burial cloths, and Jesus instructs those present to unbind him. John presents the episode as producing two contrasting responses among witnesses: many who saw it believed in Jesus, while others reported the event to the religious authorities, whose alarm at Jesus's growing following the narrative connects directly to their subsequent decision to plot his death.
The episode appears only in John's Gospel, positioned as the last and greatest of the signs John records before Jesus's own arrest, trial and crucifixion, which follow in the chapters immediately after.