Before anything else existed, Jesus the Word already was.
The Word was in fellowship with God; in fact, the Word was God.
He was there from the very beginning.
It was through him that God brought everything into existence.
Not a single thing was created apart from him.
He was the source of all life, and that life has provided light for the human race.
The light keeps on shining in the darkness, and the darkness has never been able to put it out.
Onto the stage of history came a man whose name was John the Baptist. He was sent by God to tell people about the light so that they might come to believe through him. He himself was not that light, but the one who was to tell others about the light.
Sunset over ancient Moab
The real light, the one destined to enlighten everyone, was about to come into the world. When the Word did enter the world, the world failed to recognize him even though it had been created by him.
The Word came to his own creation but his own people would not receive him. However, to as many as did receive him -- those who believe that he really is who he claims to be -- he gave the privilege of becoming sons and daughters of God.
This birth was not by natural means, the result of a physical desire or a father's decision; it was a birth that came from God.
The Word became a human being and lived among us. We gazed on his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, sent from the Father.
John told everyone about the Word. He exclaimed, "This is the one I was talking about when I said, 'There is a man yet to come who is greater than I because he existed even before I was born.'"
From his perfection we have all received one gracious gift after another. While it was through Moses that the law was given, it is through Jesus Christ that grace and truth have come.
No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who himself is God and dwells in the presence of the Father, he has told us about him.
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John the Baptist says that he himself is not the Messiah but has come to prepare the way for the Messiah. John recognizes Jesus as the Messiah by the descent of the Spirit as a dove (1:19-34).
The religious authorities in Jerusalem sent some priests and Levites to John the Baptist in order to find out who he was. In answer to their question he admitted with all candor, "I am not the Messiah."
"Then who are you?" they asked. "Are you Elijah?"
"I am not," he answered.
"Are you by any chance the prophet we have been waiting for?"
"No," he replied.
"Well then, who are you? Tell us, so we can take an answer back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"
John responded by quoting Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling out in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.'"
Now some of those who had been sent to question John were Pharisees, so they asked, "Why are you baptizing since you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet we have been waiting for?"
"I baptize only with water," answered John. "And although you do not recognize him, the one who is to come after me is right here among you. I am not worthy even to unloose the strap of his sandal."
This exchange took place in the town of Bethany, east of the Jordan river where John was baptizing.
Near headwaters of the Jordan River
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. "Look!" he said, "the Lamb of God, the one who will take away the sin of the world! He is the one of whom I said, 'There is a man yet to come who is greater than I because he existed even before I was born.'
I didn't know that he was the Coming One; but I have been baptizing with water so that God might reveal him to the people of Israel."
"I saw the Spirit," said John, "coming down from heaven like a dove and coming to rest on him. I would not have known him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said, 'The one on whom you will see the Spirit descending and coming to rest is the very one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I saw this myself and therefore declare that this man is the Son of God."
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The first disciples of Jesus (1:35-42).
The next day as John the Baptist was standing there with two of us (we had become his followers), Jesus walked by. "Look!" exclaimed John, "here comes the Lamb of God!" When we heard him say that, we left John and began to follow Jesus.
Jesus turned around and saw us following him. He asked, "What is it that you want?"
"Rabbi," we said (the word means 'Teacher'), "where are you staying?"
He said, "Come along and you will see."
So we went with him and saw where he was staying. Since it was about four in the afternoon, we stayed with him for the rest of the day.
Galilee
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was the other one who had heard what John said and had gone with Jesus. The first thing he did was to find his brother Simon. "We have found the Messiah!" he told him (the word means "Christ," that is, "the anointed one").
Andrew brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him intently and said, "You are Simon, the son of John; you are to be called Cephas" (the word means "Peter").
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The next day Philip and Nathanael become disciples of Jesus (1:43-51).
The following day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He met Philip and said to him, "Come along with me." Philip was from Bethsaida, the same town where Andrew and Peter lived.
Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one that Moses wrote about in the law, the one the prophets foretold. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph, and comes from the town of Nazareth."
"Nazareth!" exclaimed Nathanael, "Can anything good come from that place!?
Philip answered, "Come and see for yourself."
Jesus saw Nathanael approaching and said of him, "Here comes a true Israelite! A man in whom there is no deceit!"
"How do you know me?" asked Nathaniel.
Jesus answered, "I saw you when you were sitting under the fig tree, before Philip spoke to you."
"Rabbi," exclaimed Nathaniel, "you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"
"Is it because I told you that I saw you sitting under the fig tree that you believe?" asked Jesus. "You will see greater things than that." Then he said to him, "The truth is that you will see heaven standing wide open and the angels of God coming down on the Son of Man, and going up from him."
Jesus turns water into wine at a wedding in Cana of Galilee (2:1-12).
Two days later, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was at a wedding in the Galilean town of Cana. Jesus had been invited to the wedding and we were there as well.
When the party ran out of wine, Jesus' mother said to him, "They don't have any more wine."
"I do not share your concern," said Jesus. "My time has not yet come."
So his mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
Nearby were six stone water jars, each of which held some twenty to thirty gallons. The water was used for the Jewish custom of ceremonial cleansing.
Ancient altar for worshiping other gods
Jesus told the servants, "Fill up those six jars with water."
So they filled them to the brim. "Now," said Jesus, "dip some out and take it to the master of the feast." And so they did.
The master of the feast, not knowing where the water that had turned into wine had come from (but of course the servants knew), called the bridegroom aside and said to him, "People normally serve their best wine first.
"Then when the guests have had a bit too much to drink, they bring out the less expensive wine. But you have saved the best until last."
This miracle, performed in Cana of Galilee, was the first of Jesus' miraculous signs.
It revealed his divine nature and deepened our faith in him. After the wedding, Jesus went to the town of Capernaum for a few days with his mother and his brothers. We also went with them.
Hills of Galilee
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Jesus goes to the temple in Jerusalem and drives out the money-changers. He teaches that if they tear down the temple (his body) he will rebuild it in three days (a reference to the resurrection). The Jewish authorities do not understand (2:13-22).
It was almost time for the Jewish Festival of Passover, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. There in the courts of the temple he saw people selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifice. Others were sitting at their tables exchanging money.
So Jesus made a whip out of some pieces of cord and used it to drive them all out of the temple, along with their sheep and cattle.
He overturned the tables of the money-changers, scattering their coins in every direction.
To those who were selling doves he said, "Get them out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a marketplace!"
Then we remembered what was prophesied in Scripture, "Zeal for your house will consume me."
At this point the Jewish authorities demanded of Jesus, "Show us some miraculous sign that will prove you have the authority to do this."
Modern Jew in ceremonial garb
"Tear down this temple," said Jesus," and in three days I will build it up again."
"What!" they exclaimed. "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years. What makes you think you could restore it in three days?"
Of course the temple to which Jesus referred was his own body. Later, when Jesus had risen from the dead, we remembered that he had said this.
We believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
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Jesus knows human nature and will not entrust himself to the enthusiasm of the crowd (2:23-25).
When Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Festival of Passover, many people saw the miraculous signs he was performing and became convinced that he was in fact the promised Messiah.
But Jesus did not entrust himself to them, because he knew what people were like.
He did not need any one to tell him about human nature because he fully understood what was in a person's heart.
Jesus tells Nicodemus that a person must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus misses the point because his thinking is on a material level (3:1-15).
There was a man by the name of Nicodemus who was a leader among the Jewish people.
He belonged to the religious sect of the Pharisees.
One night he came to Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform the miracles that you are doing unless God were with him."
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, unless a person is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Studying God's word
Nicodemus asked, "How is it possible for a person to be born when he is old? Obviously you can't enter your mother's womb and be born all over again."
"I tell you the truth," said Jesus, "a person cannot enter God's kingdom unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
"Physical birth results in a physical being; spiritual birth, in a spiritual being. You should not be surprised when I say that all of you must be born again.
"The Spirit is like the wind, which blows wherever it wants to. You can hear the sound it makes, and there is no way to know where it comes from or where it is going. Spiritual birth is like that."
"How could all this be?" replied Nicodemus.
Jesus answered, "How is it that you, a highly respected Jewish teacher, don't understand these things? I tell you the truth, we know that what we talk about is true because we saw it ourselves. Yet you people will not accept what we say. If I speak of things of the earth and you don't believe me, how will you believe me when I talk of things of heaven?
Judean desert
"No one has ever gone up into heaven except the Son of Man, the one who came from there. As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert, so also must the Son of Man be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."
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Jesus goes on to teach that the love of God is seen in the fact that the Son was sent into the world so that those who believe in him might have eternal life (3:16-21).
"This is how God loved the world: he gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life and not really die.
"God did not send his Son into the world to pass judgment on it, but that it might be saved through him.
"Whoever believes in the Son is not condemned. However, the person who does not believe stands condemned already, because he has refused to put his faith in God's one and only Son.
"Light came into the world, but rather than loving that light, people chose the cover of darkness because what they were doing was evil.
"People who do evil things hate the light. They won't come near it for fear it will make clear to others what they are doing.
"On the other hand, those who live by the truth come willingly to the light. That way everyone can see that what they are doing is done in partnership with God."
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John the Baptist does not envy the growing impact of Jesus' ministry. Using the analogy of a Jewish wedding he acknowledges that he is merely the friend of the bridegroom (3:22-30).
Headwaters of the Jordan River
After his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus and went out into the Judean countryside, where he stayed for a time baptizing believers.
John the Baptist had not yet been put in prison but was at Aenon, near Salim. There was plenty of water there, and John was baptizing the steady flow of people who were coming to him.
Some of John's followers got into an argument with a Jewish man about the practice of ceremonial cleansing. So they came to John and asked, "Rabbi, the man you spoke about when you were east of the Jordan -- the man you said was the Lamb of God -- he is now baptizing, and people are flocking to him."
John replied, "A person plays no role in the eternal plan unless it has been assigned to him by God. You yourselves heard me say, 'I am not the Messiah,' but rather, 'I have been sent ahead of time to announce his coming.'
"In a wedding it is the bridegroom who takes the bride. The role of the bridegroom's friend is to wait and listen for his coming. When he hears the voice of the bridegroom he is overcome with joy. My joy is like that; it is absolutely complete. Jesus must become increasingly important, but I must fade away."
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Jesus speaks the words of the Father and those who believe have eternal life (3:31-36).
"The one who comes from above is above all others. The one who belongs to the earth speaks only of things of the earth.
The one from heaven is above all others. He speaks about what he has actually seen and heard, yet none of you accept what he says.
But whoever does accept his message has demonstrated his conviction that God is truthful. The one sent by God speaks the words of God, for God does not give his Spirit in limited measure.
"The Father loves the Son and has placed everything under his control. Everyone who puts his faith in the Son has eternal life.
But no one who disobeys the Son will share in that life, but will remain subject to the wrath of God.
Jesus asks a Samaritan woman for a drink of water and then explains that he is the one who gives living water to all. Those who drink it will never again become thirsty (4:1-42).
The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more converts than John, although it was the other disciples and I who were doing the baptizing.
When Jesus learned about this he left Judea and started back to Galilee. His route took him through Samaria, and before long he came to a town called Sychar.
It was located not far from the plot of land that our ancestor Jacob had given to his son Joseph. That was where Jacob had dug a well.
About noon, Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down beside the well. A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
Ancient city ruins with Mt. Hermon
in the background
"Please give me a drink of water," said Jesus to the woman. (We had gone into town to buy some food.)
The woman exclaimed, But you're a Jew! How come you're asking me, a Samaritan, for a drink of water?" (No Jew would ever drink from a cup used by a Samaritan).
Jesus replied, "If you only knew the gift of God and who it is that is asking you for a drink of water, you would be the one asking me, and I would be giving you living water."
The woman replied, "But sir, you don't have a bucket and the well is deep. Where will you get this living water?
"Surely you are not greater than our father Jacob, are you? He is the one who gave us this well. He drank from it himself, and so did his sons and his flocks."
Jesus replied, "Everyone who drinks of this water will get thirsty again, but once a person drinks the water that I will give, he will never be thirsty again.
"In fact, it will become in him a perpetual spring of water welling up to eternal life.
"Please, sir," the woman exclaimed, "give me some of that water. That way I'll never get thirsty again and won't have to keep coming way out here to draw water."
Ancient harvesting
Jesus said, "Go, call your husband first, then come back again."
"I don't have a husband," the woman replied.
"That's right," said Jesus, "you don't have a husband. Already you have had five, and the one you are now living with is not your husband. You told the truth."
The woman said to him, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet! I have a question for you: Should we worship on this mountain where our ancestors worshiped, or should we worship, as you, a Jew, would say, in Jerusalem?"
"Believe me," said Jesus, "the time is coming when the place where one worships -- here on this mountain or in Jerusalem -- will no longer matter.
"You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship; but we Jews know all about him, because salvation comes through our race.
"A time is coming -- in fact, it is here already -- when true worshipers will be led by the Spirit to worship the Father as he really is. And the Father wants people to worship him like that.
"God is spirit, and those who worship him must be led by the Spirit to worship him as he really is."
A stone strewn field
The woman said, "I know that the Messiah (who is called "Christ") will come, and when he comes, he will explain everything to us."
"I am the Messiah," said Jesus, "the very one who is speaking to you now."
Just then we returned from the town. We were surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman. However, none of us asked her what she wanted or questioned Jesus as to why he was talking with her. At that point the woman put down her water jar and hurried off to town, where she told everyone, "Come and meet the man who told me everything I have ever done! Could this man really be the Messiah?" The people left what they were doing and went out to meet Jesus.
Meanwhile we kept urging Jesus to take some food and eat.
"I have a source of nourishment you know nothing about," he answered. We asked one another, "Could someone have brought him food to eat?"
Jesus said, "My food is to do what God desires. He is the one who sent me and I must finish the work he gave me to do. You say, 'There are four months between sowing and harvest'; but I say, 'Open your eyes and look around! The fields are already ripe for harvest.'
"Already the reaper is drawing his pay for having gathered a crop destined for eternal life. Sowers and reapers are rejoicing together. The saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I am sending you to harvest a crop in a field where others have done all the hard work. You are about to reap the benefits of what they have done."
A number of people in that Samaritan village came to believe in Jesus because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I have ever done!"
They came to him with the urgent request that he remain with them in their town for a time. So for the next two days he stayed there, and many others came to believe when they heard Jesus for themselves.
To the woman they said, "We no longer believe just because you told us about him. Now that we have heard him for ourselves, we are convinced that he is the Savior of the world."
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Jesus heals the son of a government official (4:43-54).
Two days later Jesus left Samaria and continued on his way to Galilee.
Ancient synagogue in Capernaum
(Previously he had noted that a prophet is held in honor everywhere except in his own country!) When he arrived in Galilee he was welcomed by the people, because they too had been at the festival in Jerusalem and seen everything he had done.
Traveling through Galilee, Jesus came once again to the village of Cana, where he had turned water into wine. In nearby Capernaum there was an official of the imperial government whose son was ill. When he learned that Jesus had come back from Judea and was in Galilee, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, for his son was about to die.
"Unless you people see miracles and wonders," said Jesus, "you will never believe!" "Please, sir," begged the official. "Come before my son dies."
"Your son is alive and well," replied Jesus. "Go back to him." The official believed what Jesus said and set off for home.
While he was still on the way home, his servants came to meet him with the good news that his son had recovered. He asked them what time this had taken place, and they said, "One o'clock yesterday afternoon the fever suddenly disappeared."
The father remembered that it was at that very hour when Jesus had said, "Your son is alive and well." So the official and everyone in his family became believers.
Jesus did this second miracle after leaving Judea and arriving in Galilee.
Jesus goes to Jerusalem where he heals a crippled man. The Jewish authorities become angry because Jesus did this on the Sabbath (5:1-18).
Some time later Jesus went up to Jerusalem to take part in one of the Jewish festivals.
In the city, near the Sheep Gate, was a pool which in Aramaic was called Bethesda.
It had five covered porches where a number of invalids used to lie -- the blind, the lame and those withered by disease.
One man beside the pool had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been in that condition for such a long time, he said to the man, "Would you like to get well?"
City wall of Jerusalem
"Sir," the man replied, "I don't have anyone to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. So while I am trying to get to the pool, someone else always gets there before me."
Jesus said, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!" Right then and there the man was healed. He picked up his mat and started to walk around.
This happened on a Sabbath day, so the Jewish authorities said to the man who had just been healed , "You can't do that! It's against the law for a person to carry his mat on the Sabbath."
"But the man who made me well told me to pick up my mat and walk," he replied.
"Who told you that?" they asked. "Who said to you, 'Pick up your mat and walk?'"
The man did not know who it was that had healed him, and Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.
Later on, Jesus met the man in the temple and said to him, "Now that you are well again, don't go on sinning or something worse may happen to you."
The man went away and told the Jewish authorities that it was Jesus who had healed him.
Because Jesus kept doing things like this on the Sabbath, the Jewish authorities began to persecute him.
Dead Sea Valley
So Jesus said to them, "Since my Father continues to do his work, I am free to do my work as well." That made the Jewish authorities try all the harder to kill him. Not only did he continue to break the Sabbath, but by referring to God as his Father, he was claiming to be equal with God.
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Jesus is given authority by the Father to act as judge (5:19-30).
"I tell you the truth," said Jesus, "the Son can do nothing on his own initiative. He can do only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son does. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show the Son, so that you may be filled with wonder. Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also does the Son give life to the ones he chooses.
"The Father himself passes judgment on no one, but has made the Son the judge of all, so that everyone should honor the Son as much as they honor him.
"To withhold honor from the Son is to dishonor the Father who sent him. I tell you the truth, the one who listens to my message and believes the one who sent me, that person has eternal life already.
"He is no longer headed toward judgment but has moved from the realm of death into life.
"I tell you the truth, the time will come -- in fact, it is already here -- when those who are spiritually dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and if they pay attention to it, they will live.
"The Father himself is the source of all life and has allowed the Son the same privilege of being a source of life. He has given the Son the authority to act as judge because he is the Son of Man.
Herod's Interior Decorating
"Don't be surprised at this, because the time is coming when every one who has died will hear his voice and come out of their graves. Those who have lived a good life will rise to life eternal, but those who have lived a sinful life will rise to face judgment.
"I can do nothing on my own initiative. I judge only as God tells me, and this judgment is fair because I am seeking the will of the one who sent me, not trying to please myself."
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There are three witnesses to Jesus: John the Baptist, Jesus' own miraculous deeds, and the Father himself. The Jewish people who reject him will stand accused by Moses, the very one on whom they have set their hope (5:31-47).
"If I testify on my own behalf, you have no way of knowing if it is true. There is, however, someone who speaks on my behalf, and I know that what he says about me is true.
"You sent messengers to John the Baptist, and what he said about me is true. Of course, I don't need someone else to validate my claims, but I say these things so that you may be saved.
"John was a lamp, shining and giving light. And for a time you were willing to rejoice in his light.
Studying scripture
"But I have greater evidence than the words of John the Baptist-- specifically, the miraculous deeds I am now doing. They were assigned to me by the Father, and they prove conclusively that the Father has sent me.
"Beyond that, the Father himself, the one who sent me, continues to speak on my behalf. However, you never listen to his voice or are aware of his presence. His word falls upon deaf ears because you refuse to believe in me, the one whom he sent.
"You keep on searching the Scriptures because you think that in them you will find eternal life. These same Scriptures speak about me, but you refuse to come to me in order to have life.
"I am not looking for your praise, but I know that you have no love for God in your hearts. I have come as a representative of my Father and you won't accept me. But when others come as their own spokesmen, you will accept them. How can you ever believe if it is the praise of one another that you are seeking rather than the praise that comes from God?
"Do not think that I will be the one to accuse you before the Father. Moses will be your accuser, the very one on whom you have set your hope. If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because it was about me that he wrote. But if you don't believe what he wrote about me, how can you believe the claims I make?"
Jesus feeds over five thousand with five barley loaves and a few fish. When the left over fragments are picked up they fill twelve baskets (6:1-15).
After this Jesus went across over to the other side of Lake Galilee (sometimes called Lake Tiberias).
A large crowd of people followed him because they had seen the miraculous power of God at work through him when he healed the sick.
Jesus went up into the hill country and sat there with us, his disciples, gathered around him. (It was shortly before the Jewish Festival of Passover.)
When Jesus looked around and saw the large crowd that was gathering, he turned to Philip and asked, "Where can we buy enough food to feed all these people?"
(Jesus knew what he intended to do, but he said this to test Philip.)
Philip answered, "It would take more than six months wages to buy enough food for everyone, and even then, each person would get only a little."
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to Jesus, "There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and a couple of fish, but what good would that be for so many?
"Tell the people to sit down," said Jesus. There was plenty of grass there.
So the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks to God for them.
Then he passed the loaves to those who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, until everyone had as much to eat as they wanted.
When the people had finished eating, Jesus said to us, " Now gather up the leftovers, so that nothing will go to waste."
We gathered up the pieces of barley bread and filled twelve basket with what was left over from the five loaves.
When the people saw this miracle that Jesus had done, they began to say, "This must be the prophet we've been waiting for!"
Lake Galilee
Jesus realized that they were about to take him by force and make him their king, so he withdrew to the hill country to be alone.
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Jesus appears to his disciples walking on Lake Galilee. Although terrified at first, they want him in the boat when he tells them who is (6:16-21)
When evening came, we went down to the lake, got into a boat, and started across to Capernaum. The sun had already gone down and Jesus had not yet joined us. Soon a strong wind started to blow and the lake became very rough.
When we had rowed some three or four miles, we saw Jesus walking on the water. As he kept coming closer to the boat we became terrified. "It is I, Jesus," he said. "There's no reason to be afraid."
Then we were eager to take him aboard, and in no time at all the boat reached the shore where we were headed.
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In a fairly lengthy discussion Jesus explains to the crowds that have followed him to Capernaum that he is the bread of life.
The bread (i.e., the manna) that their ancestors had eaten in the desert did not keep them from dying but the true bread (Jesus' own life) gives eternal life to those who will eat it.
Like much of Jesus' teaching in John, this is to be understood on two levels – the figures are material but the meaning is spiritual (6:22-59).
The next morning, back across the lake, the crowds discovered that Jesus was no longer with them.
They knew that he had not gone with us in the one boat that was there.
Fortunately, some boats from Tiberias had drifted ashore near the place where they had eaten bread after the Lord had given thanks for it.
Traditional site of the Sermon on the Mount
They got into these boats and went across the lake to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
When they found us there on the other side of the lake, they asked Jesus, "Rabbi, when did you get here?
"I tell you the truth," replied Jesus, "you've been trying to find me, not because you saw the miracles I did, but because I gave you all you wanted to eat.
Do not work for the food that is here today and gone tomorrow, but for the food that produces eternal life. The Son of Man will give you this food, because he is the one authorized by God the Father."
"What should we be doing," they asked, "in order to do what God requires?"
Jesus answered, "What God requires is that you believe in me, the one he has sent."
They asked, "What miraculous sign are you going to do so that when we see it we will believe in you? What will it be?
For example, our ancestors were given manna to eat in the desert. As Scripture says, 'Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"
"I tell you the truth," said Jesus, "it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven; it is my Father who is giving you the true bread from heaven. The bread of God is the one who came down from heaven and gives life to the world."
The people said, "Sir, give us this bread now and never stop!"
Northern Galilee
"I am the bread of life," said Jesus. "No one who comes to me will ever be hungry. No one who believes in me will ever be thirsty. As I told you before, although you have seen me, you still do not believe. Everyone the Father has given me will come to me, and I won't reject any of them.
"I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. His will is that not a single one of those he gave me will be lost, but that on the last day every one of them will be raised to eternal life. He wants everyone who sees the Son to believe in him and have eternal life. Then on the last day I will raise them up."
Then the crowd began to grumble because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They asked, "But isn't this Jesus, one of Joseph's sons? Don't we know his father and mother? So how can he say that he came down from heaven?"
Jesus replied, "Stop grumbling among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father draws him. And whoever does come, I will raise to eternal life on the last day. One of the prophets wrote, 'They will all be taught by God.' So everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him will come to me.
"Of course, the only one who has seen the Father is the one who came from his presence. He alone has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, everyone who believes in me has eternal life.
"I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate manna in the desert, yet in time they all died. But now the true bread has come down from heaven, and whoever eats it will never die. I am the living bread, come down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh that I give to bring life to the world."
These words led to a heated argument among the crowd. "How is it possible for this man to give us his flesh to eat?" they asked.
"I tell you the truth," said Jesus, "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have eternal life. But if you do eat my flesh and drink my blood you will have eternal life, and I will raise you up on the last day. My flesh is the real food and my blood is the real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood sustains a personal relationship with me, and I with him.
"The Father of life sent me and I have life because of him. In the same way, the one who eats my body will have life because of me. The bread that came down from heaven is not like that which your ancestors ate. They died, but whoever eats this bread will live forever."
Jesus taught all these things in the synagogue at Capernaum.
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Many of Jesus' followers turn their backs on him because his teaching has offended them. Peter acknowledges that Jesus is the Holy One of God (6:60-71).
Many of his followers who had been listening said, "This teaching is offensive; who can accept it?"
Jesus knew that these people were grumbling about it, so he said, "Does this shock you? Then what would you think if you were to see me, the Son of Man, return to heaven where I came from? It is the Spirit who gives life; human nature is of no help. The words that I have spoken to you are from that life-giving Spirit. But some of you do not believe." (From the beginning Jesus knew who would not believe in him. He also knew who would betray him.)
Jesus added, "That is the reason I told you, 'No one can come to me unless the Father draws him.'"
As a result, many of Jesus' followers turned their backs on him and no longer followed him. So Jesus turned to us, his twelve disciples, and asked, "You aren't going to leave me like the others, are you?" Simon Peter answered, "Lord, to whom would we go? You are the one whose words give eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."
Jesus replied, "Did I not choose all twelve of you? Yet one of you is the devil." He was talking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Although Judas was one of the Twelve, before long he would betray Jesus.
Jesus' brothers urge him to go up to Jerusalem for the Festival of Shelters (7:1-9).
After this Jesus continued to go about in Galilee. He chose not to go into Judea because the Jewish authorities there were determined to kill him.
It was almost time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, so his brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea. That way your followers will be able to see the miraculous things you are doing.
"No one acts in secret if he wants to become well known. Since you can do such miraculous things, let the whole world know about it." (Even his own brothers did not believe in him.)
Jesus replied, "It is not yet the right time for me, but for you one day is as good as the next.
Roman road
"People hate me because I tell them that what they are doing is evil, but you give them no reason why they should hate you.
"Go on up to the Festival. I won't be going there right now because the right time for me has not yet come." So he stayed in Galilee.
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Jesus goes up to Jerusalem and teaches in the temple. He defends his teaching as coming from God and arouses hostility by claiming the right to heal on the Sabbath (7:10-31).
However, after his brothers left for the Festival, Jesus did go up to Jerusalem, not with others but by himself.
The Jewish leaders were expecting him at the Festival. They kept asking, "Has anyone seen that man?" There was a lot of guarded discussion about him among the crowds. While some held him to be an honorable man, others said that he was deceiving the common people. But since the people were afraid of their leaders, no one spoke openly about Jesus.
About midway through the Festival, Jesus went into the temple and began to teach. The Jewish leaders were astonished when they heard him. They asked, "How does this man know so much when he hasn't studied in our schools?"
"What you hear me teaching is not something I made up," said Jesus. "It comes from the one who sent me.
"If a person chooses to obey God, he will know that what I am teaching comes from God. I am not speaking on my own. Whoever speaks on his own authority wants to bring honor to himself.
"But the one who desires to bring honor to the one who sent him is a person of integrity -- there is nothing false about him.
"It was Moses, was it not, who gave you the law? But none of you are keeping it. Otherwise you wouldn't be trying to kill me."
The crowd shot back, "A demon has driven you mad! What makes you think someone is trying to kill you?"
Judean wilderness
Jesus answered, "I performed a miracle on the Sabbath, and you were all offended by it. Moses ordered you to circumcise your sons (actually the practice began with the patriarchs, not Moses), so you go ahead and circumcise even if the required time falls on the Sabbath.
If you can circumcise on the Sabbath without breaking the law of Moses, why are you upset with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Stop judging on such a superficial level. Get to the heart of the matter."
Then some who lived in Jerusalem said, "Isn't this the man they want to kill? Yet here he is, speaking in public, and no one has said a word to stop him! You don't suppose the authorities have found out that he really is the Messiah? But that couldn't be! No one knows where the Messiah will come from, but everyone knows that Jesus is from Nazareth."
As Jesus was teaching in the temple he raised his voice and said, "So you think you know me and where I came from, do you?
"I didn't come on my own initiative but God was the one who sent me.
"You don't know him, but I know him, because I came from him, and he was the one who sent me."
Some of the people wanted to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him because his time had not yet come.
However, many in the crowd believed in him. They reasoned, "When the Messiah comes, surely he won't do more miracles than this man has done?"
Mediterranean Sea
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The religious authorities send the temple guard to arrest Jesus (7:32-36).
When the Pharisees learned that the crowd was considering the possibility that Jesus could be the Messiah, they got together with the chief priests and sent temple guards to arrest Jesus.
Jesus told the people, "I will be with you a little while longer, and then I will return to the one who sent me. You will look for me but you won't find me. Where I am, you cannot come."
The Jewish authorities said to one another, "Where does he think he can go that we can't find him? He can't possibly think that by going to some foreign country and continue his teaching among the Greeks, that he will escape us! What did he mean when he said, 'You will look for me but you won't find me,' and 'Where I am you cannot come'?"
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Jesus invites the thirsty to come to him for living water. At dawn during the Festival of Shelters the high priest would lead a procession to the Pool of Siloam and return with a golden flagon of water that was poured out before the Lord (7:37-44).
On the last (the most important) day of the Festival, Jesus stood and called out, "If you are thirsty, come to me and drink. If you believe in me, rivers of living water will flow out from deep within you, just as the Scripture says."
(Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit, who would be given to every believer. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been raised to glory.)
Modern Temple guards
When the people heard these words, some in the crowd said, "Without doubt this man is the prophet!"
Others said, "No, he is the Messiah." But others argued, "That can't be, because the Messiah doesn't come from Galilee.
Scripture says that the Messiah will be a descendant of King David and be born in Bethlehem, the village where David lived."
So the people were of a divided mind as to what should be done with Jesus. Some wanted to arrest him right then and there, but no one laid a hand on him.
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The religious authorities are upset because Jesus was not apprehended. Nicodemus counsels a fair hearing for Jesus (7:45-52).
When the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, they were asked, "Why didn't you bring Jesus with you?
"No one has even spoken like that man!" declared the guards.
"Don't tell me that you too have been fooled," said the Pharisees. "Note that none of the chief priests or Pharisees have fallen for him. As for this mob that knows nothing of the law -- they are bound for hell anyway!"
Nicodemus (who had met with Jesus at an earlier time) was one of this group. He posed the question, "Is it not true that our law will not condemn a man without first listening to what he has to say?"
In an attempt to ridicule Nicodemus they asked, "Are you from Galilee as well? Search the Scriptures and will see for yourself that no prophet ever comes from Galilee."
Religious leaders bring to Jesus a woman caught in adultery. He points out their hypocrisy by challenging that the one without sin cast the first stone.
While this account is not included in the most important Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, most scholars believe it did in fact take place (8:1-11).
Everyone else went home, but Jesus walked out to the Mount of Olives. Early the following morning he returned to the temple courts.
The people soon gathered, so he sat down (as rabbis do) and began to teach them.
The legal experts and the Pharisees brought a woman to him who had been caught in the act of adultery.
Modern day mount of Olives
They made her stand where everyone could see her, and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The law of Moses tells us to put a woman like this to death by stoning. What do you say?"
(The question was posed as a trap. They intended to use his answer as a basis for bringing charges against him.)
Instead of answering, Jesus bent over and started writing on the ground with his finger.
So they kept posing the question about the woman. Finally he straightened up and said, "Go ahead and stone her; but let's have the man who has never sinned throw the first stone." Then once again he bent over and wrote on the ground. When they heard this, they began to slip away one by one, beginning with the oldest. Finally Jesus and the woman were there alone.
"Woman," asked Jesus, "where did they all go? Is there no one left to accuse you?"
"No one, sir," she replied.
Then Jesus said, "I am not going to accuse you either. You may leave, but from now on you must stop sinning."
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Jesus declares himself to be the light of the world but the Pharisees reject his claim on the superficial basis that he is testifying on his own behalf (8:12-20).
Once again Jesus spoke to the Pharisees. He declared, "I am the light of the world. Follow me and you won't stumble along in the dark. You will have the light that leads to life."
"You are testifying on your own behalf," the Pharisees protested, "so whatever you say about yourself is not valid."
Jesus answered, "Even if I do testify on my own behalf, what I say is valid because I know where I came from and where I am going.
Upper Jordan Valley
"You haven't the slightest idea about my origin or my destiny. Your judgment is superficial, but I pass judgment on no one. However if I did pass judgment, my verdict would be trustworthy, because I am not alone when I judge; the Father who sent me is with me.
"According to your own law there must be two witnesses before something is accepted as fact. I am one of the witnesses and my Father who sent me is the other!"
"And where is this 'Father' of yours?" they asked.
Jesus replied, "You haven't the slightest idea as to who I am, or who my Father is! If you knew me you would know my Father as well."
Jesus said these things while he was still in the temple precincts, near the place where the offerings were collected. But no one arrested him because his time had not yet come.
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The hostility of the Jewish leaders toward Jesus increases as they resort to mockery and derision. Although at the present time they do not know who he is, they will after his crucifixion and resurrection (8:21-30).
Jesus went on to tell them, "I am going away, and where I am going you are not able to go. You will try to find me, but you will die in your sin."
The Jewish leaders mocked, "Perhaps he intends to kill himself and end up in Hades. That would explain why we can't go where he is going!"
"You are from below," replied Jesus; "I am from above. You belong to this world, but I do not.
Valley of Hinnom, used by Jesus to describe Hell
"That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am who I say I am, you will die with your sins unforgiven."
Caustically they respond, "Just who do you think you are?"
"I am what I told you from the very beginning," said Jesus. "There is a lot more that I could say to condemn you, but the Father who sent me is reliable and I say nothing but what I have heard from him." (Jesus was implying that God was his Father, but they didn't catch on.)
Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will know that I am who I say I am. I do nothing on my own, and speak only those things the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him."
Many who heard him say these things came to believe in him.
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Jesus teaches that obedience displays discipleship, truth sets a person free, and, unlike a slave who has no permanent status, the true son (the believing Christian) remains forever (8:31-38).
To those who claimed to believe in him, Jesus said, "If you let what I say control your every action, you will show that you really are my disciples. You will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
"But we are descendants of Abraham," they boasted. "We have never been in bondage to anyone! How can you say, 'You will be set free'?"
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, everyone who keeps on sinning is a slave to sin. A slave does not remain permanently in the home, but a son remains forever.
Descendants of Abraham
"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you belong to the lineage of Abraham. But you are trying to kill me.
"My teaching has not changed your heart. I am telling you the things my Father has shown me; just as you are doing what your father has taught you."
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The Jewish leaders taunt Jesus by questioning whether or not he is legitimate. Jesus boldly declares to his adversaries that their father is the devil, who has been a liar from the beginning (8:39-47).
"Abraham is our father!" they claimed in anger.
Jesus quietly asserted, "If you were Abraham's children, you would be conducting yourselves as Abraham did. Instead you are bent on killing me for telling you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham would never have done anything like that! You are doing what your father does."
"We were not born out of wedlock!" they jeered. "We have one Father and he is God!"
"If God were your Father," said Jesus, "you would love me, because I came from God to be with you. He is the one who sent me. I didn't come on my own.
"Why can't you understand what I am saying? The answer is that even before you hear me you are convinced that I am wrong. Your father is the devil, and you like to please him. From the very beginning he has been a murderer and a liar. There is nothing truthful about him. He tells lies because he is by nature a liar. In fact, he is the father of all lies.
"For this very reason, when I speak the truth, you do not believe me. Can anyone of you prove me guilty of sin? If not, then I must be speaking the truth. So why don't you believe me? The children of God listen to the words of their Father. Since you don't listen, you must not be his children."
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The Jewish authorities lash out at Jesus claiming that he doesn't even belong to their race. They say that he is demon-possessed. Jesus responds by pointing out that before Abraham existed, he was the eternal "I AM," the God who showed himself to Moses at the burning bush (8:48-59).
The Jewish people around Jesus snapped back, "We have been right all along. You are not one of us. You are a Samaritan, and what's more, you are demon-possessed."
"I am not demon-possessed," answered Jesus. "By my words and actions I honor my Father, but you dishonor me. I am not seeking praise for myself. There is one who wants me to receive praise, and he is also the one who judges. I tell you the truth, if a person obeys my teaching, he will never die."
At this the people exclaimed, "Now we know you have a demon. You say that if a person obeys your teaching he will never die, yet Abraham and the prophets died. Apparently you think that you are greater than Abraham, because he died. So also did the prophets. Who do you think you are?"
Jesus replied, "If I honor myself, that honor is self-serving and worthless. My Father is the one who honors me. You say that he is your God, although you do not know him at all. I am the one who knows him. If I said otherwise, I would be a liar just like you. But I know him and I do what he says. Unlike you, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad."
Skeptically, the people asked, "How could you have seen Abraham? You're not even fifty years old!"
"I tell you the truth," said Jesus, "before there was an Abraham, I AM." At this they picked up stones to kill him, but Jesus slipped away into the crowd and left the temple.
Jesus heals a man who was blind from birth (9:1-12).
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind since birth. "Rabbi," we asked him, "was it the sins of his parents, or his own, that caused him to be born blind?"
Jesus said to us, "His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or those of his parents. He was born blind so that we might see God at work in him.
"As long as it is day we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is at hand when no one can work. As long as I am here in the world, I am the light of the world."
Having said this, he spat on the ground and made some mud with the saliva.
Mt. Hermon, north of Israel
Then he daubed it on the eyes of the blind man and said, "Now go and wash your face in the pool of Siloam (the word means "Sent").
So the blind man went away and washed in Siloam. When he returned he could see.
The blind man's neighbors and others who used to see him sitting and begging, wondered whether this could be the same man. Some said, "Yes, he's the one." Others said, "No, but he certainly looks like the beggar." But he kept telling them, "Look, I am that man!"
"But how is it possible that you are now able to see?" they asked.
The blind man answered, "A man named Jesus made some mud, daubed it on my eyes, and said, 'Go to Siloam and wash your face.' When I went there and washed, suddenly I was able to see."
"Where is that man?" they asked.
"I don't know," he answered.
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Since Jesus has performed the healing on a Sabbath, the Pharisees conclude that Jesus cannot be, as he claims, from God. We see the power of a personal testimony and people's refusal to believe the obvious when it doesn't agree with their beliefs (9:13-41).
The day on which Jesus had made mud and cured the blind man was a Sabbath. So the people brought the man to the Pharisees, who asked him how he had been cured of his blindness.
He answered, "A man named Jesus put mud on my eyes. He told me to go and wash in Siloam, and when I did I was able to see."
Some of the Pharisees said, "This man Jesus can't be from God or he would not have broken the Sabbath laws."
But others said, "How could a man who is a sinner perform such a miracle?"
They turned to the blind man and asked, "What do you say about him? After all, it was your eyes that he opened."
Modern Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives
"I consider him a prophet," answered the man.
But the Jewish authorities still did not believe that the man who could now see had once been blind. So they sent for his parents and asked, "Is this your son? Are you sure that he was born blind, and if so, how is it that now he can see?"
"Of course he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know that he was born blind. But why he now can see or who it was that restored his sight, we do not know. Why don't you ask him? After all, he is of age and able to speak for himself."
The man's parents answered in this way because they were afraid of the religious authorities.
It had already been decided that anyone who believed that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. That is why his parents said, "He is of age, ask him."
So once again they called for the man who had been born blind. "Own up and tell the truth," they said. "This man Jesus is a sinner!"
The man replied, "I don't know if he is a sinner or not. But I do know that I used to be blind but now I can see."
Floating in the Dead Sea
"What did he do to you?" they asked. "How did he cure your blindness?"
The man said, "I told you once and you paid no attention. Why do you want to hear it again? Could it be that you want to become his disciples?"
"No!" they responded in anger. "You may be his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! We know that God gave the law to Moses. But as for this Jesus, we don't even have the faintest idea where he came from."
"This is truly amazing." said the man. "I was blind and he restored my sight, yet you don't know where he came from. Everyone knows that God doesn't hear the prayers of sinners, but only the prayers of those who respect and obey him. Never in the history of the world have we heard of anyone able to heal the eyes of a person blind from birth. Jesus could have done nothing if he were not from God."
The Pharisees, hot with anger, blurted out, "You have been steeped in sin from birth. How dare you lecture us!" So they drove him out.
When Jesus heard what they had done, he found the man and asked, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
"Who is he, sir?" the man replied. "Let me know so I can believe in him."
"You have already met him," said Jesus. "What's more, he is the one talking with you right now."
The man said, "Lord, I believe," and bowed in reverence before Jesus.
Then Jesus told him, "By coming into the world I have brought judgment. As a result, those who are blind will see but those who see will become blind."
When some of the Pharisees standing by heard this, they asked, "Surely you're not implying that we are blind!"
Jesus answered, "If you were blind you would not be guilty, but as it is, you claim to see, so your guilt continues."
Jesus explains that sheep recognize the voice of the true shepherd and will follow him on the way to pasture (10:1-6).
Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but sneaks in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.
"The true shepherd enters through the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls them by name and they follow him out.
"When all his sheep are out of the fold, the shepherd walks ahead of the sheep on the way to the pasture.
"The sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but will run way, because they do not recognize his voice."
Jesus told the people this parable, but they did not understand what he meant.
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Jesus explains the parable. He is the gate that leads to the abundant life. He is also the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep (10:7-21).
Jesus explained what he had said as follows: "I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. All who enter the sheepfold through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture -- safety and nourishment will be theirs.
"The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy the flock. I have come that you may have life in all its fullness. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not like the shepherd who owns the sheep. When the hired hand sees a wolf coming he runs for his life, leaving the sheep at risk. So the wolf attacks and scatters the flock. The hired hand works for wages; he doesn't really care about the sheep.
"I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep, and my sheep know me, just as the Father knows me. I know the Father and lay down my life for the sheep.
"I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. They too will recognize my voice and I will bring them in. There is to be but one flock, with one shepherd.
"The Father loves me for laying down my life, so that I may take it back again. No one takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own free will. The authority to lay it down and take it back is mine. It was given to me by my Father."
Once again the words of Jesus caused a sharp division among the people. Many said, "He is demon-possessed, raving mad. Don't listen to a man like that!"
Model of Solomon's Porch
But others said, "How could anyone possessed by a demon say what he has been saying? Surely, demons can't open the eyes of a blind man!"
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In the face of opposition, Jesus tells the Jewish leaders they are not his sheep, that God protects Jesus' sheep, and then claims to be one with God (10:22-30).
It was winter and Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Festival of Dedication. He was walking around in the section of the temple known as Solomon's Porch when the Jewish leaders cornered him and asked, "How much longer do you intend to provoke us like this? If you are the Messiah, tell us so straight out."
Jesus answered, "I did tell you, and you refused to believe me. The works that I do by my Father's authority make it plain who I am. But you do not believe in me because you are not part of my flock.
"My sheep recognize my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish, for no one can snatch them out of my hand.
"My Father, who gave them to me, is more powerful than all, so they are absolutely safe in his hands. And I and the Father are one."
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Jewish hostility toward Jesus increases while Jesus again insists that he is God (10:31-42).
Again the Jewish leaders picked up stones intending to kill Jesus.
But he said to them, "You have seen me do many gracious and good deeds, made possible by the Father. For which one of them are you about to stone me?"
Students standing at the corners of an ancient house
They answered, "It is not for some gracious and good deed that we are going to stone you.
"It is because you, a mere man, are claiming to be God. That is blasphemy, and for that you must die!"
Jesus answered, "In your Scriptures doesn't God say, 'You are gods?' We know that Scripture cannot be in error, so if God called those people 'gods,' why do you say that I am guilty of blaspheming for saying, 'I am the Son of God?" After all, it was God who set me apart for this role and sent me into the world.
"If I am not doing what my Father does, then you should not believe me. But if I am, you should believe me for that, even though you do not believe me for who I claim to be.
"Then you will come to know for certain that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father."
Once again they tried to arrest Jesus, but he escaped out of their grasp and crossed the Jordan River to the place where John used to baptize.
There he remained for a while. People flocked to him, saying that although John was no miracle-worker, everything he said about Jesus was true!
A considerable number of those people came to believe in Jesus.
Now I get your message; you cry out for help. You need to go to a local Blue Oyster Pub; you know; it is the one with the healthy men you seek to play the latest games of joy and pleasure, The games are:
1.Hide the hotdog
2.hotdog eating contest
3.cream eating contest
4.Batman and you the sat man
5.ride the mean snake
6.diving for tucks
7.Munch Madness
8.Humpty Dumpty in your bunky
9.Poke salad Andy
10.The lolly-pop lick
If none of these games are your sweet littler fancy, we can have Big Bad Bubba for your you to enjoy the latest dance craze, "The Bubba Bump" I have noticed you always refer to men; this is a trait for the Pink Panty Gang. Allah is great. Allah be praised.