17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus^* had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles^* away, ¹⁹and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. ²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. ²¹Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ ²³Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ ²⁴Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ ²⁵Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.^* Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, ²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ ²⁷She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,^* the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’ 38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.’ ⁴⁰Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ ⁴¹So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ ⁴³When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’

Jesus and Lazarus: Van Gogh "Life in the place of death"

All gospels contain stories about Jesus apparently raising the dead. In a society where medical staff do this routinely, I see no reason to doubt that Jesus could do so. The gospel traditions however, are used, edited and changed by a) those who passed them on, and b) the gospel writers themselves. John wants to record Jesus ability to conquer death in his ministry, but the way he tells the  story is full of subtleties too numerous for this blog to mention. We only have space to note that Jesus comes to the aid of Lazarus his poor friend, braving the opposition of the religious leaders ( which brings him to his death); that on the way to the place of death he is involved with faithful women (as he will be at his cross); that for the sake of his friend he goes into the tomb ( as he will do for all his friends in his death) and that he does so to call his friend out into life (which is also the purpose of his death on the cross). John is using the Lazarus episode to tell his reader the means of human salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Here is the one who is the true prophet and the true Israel,  opening God’s deliverance to all humanity, by his readiness for God’s “waves and billows” to pass over him. This is the point where today’s readings meet and shake hands.