John 11:41 (LSB)

Passage

So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

Nearby Context

John 11:39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time he smells, for he has been dead four days.”

John 11:40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

John 11:41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

John 11:42 And I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the crowd standing around I said this, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”

John 11:43 And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "removed", "stone", "jesus", "raised", "eyes", "said", "father", and "thank". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "removed" and "stone", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 40's "Jesus said to her Did I not..." into verse 42's "And I knew that You always hear...", so "removed" and "stone" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "removed" and "stone" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.