-THE GOSPEL OF JOHN- In the beginning, the Word already existed.
The Word was with God...
and the Word was God.
From the very beginning, the Word was with God.
Through him God made all things.
Not one thing in all creation was made without him.
The Word was the source of life...
and this life brought light to people.
The light shines in the darkness...
and the darkness has never put it out.
God sent his messenger...
a man named John...
who came to tell people about the light...
so that all should hear the message and believe.
He himself was not the light. He came to tell about the light.
This was the real light...
the light that comes into the world and shines on all people.
The Word was in the world...
and though God made the world through him...
yet the world did not recognize him.
He came to his own country...
but his own people did not receive him.
Some, however, did receive him and believed in him...
so he gave them the right to become God's children.
They did not become God's children by natural means...
that is, by being born as the children of a human father.
God himself...
was their father.
The Word became a human being...
and full of grace and truth, lived among us.
We saw his glory...
the glory which he received as the Father's only Son.
John spoke about him.
This is the one I was talking about when I said:
"He comes after me...
"but he is greater than I am...
"because he existed before I was born!"
Out of the fullness of his grace, he has blessed us all...
giving us one blessing after another.
God gave the Law through Moses...
but grace and truth...
came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
The only Son, who is the same as God...
and is at the Father's side...
he has made him known.
The Jewish authorities in Jerusalem sent some priests and Levites to John.
Who are you?
John did not refuse to answer, but spoke out openly and clearly.
-l am not the Messiah. -Who are you then?
-Are you Elijah? -No, I'm not.
-Are you the Prophet? -No.
Then tell us who you are.
We have to take an answer back to those who sent us.
What do you say about yourself?
John answered by quoting the prophet, Isaiah.
"I am the voice of someone shouting in the desert:
"'Make a straight path for the Lord to travel!"'
The messengers, who had been sent by the Pharisees, then asked John:
If you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet...
why do you baptize?
I baptize with water.
But among you stands the one you do not know.
He is coming after me.
But I am not good enough...
even to untie his sandals.
All this happened in Bethany, on the east side of the Jordan River...
where John was baptizing.
The next day, John saw Jesus coming to him.
There is the Lamb of God...
who takes away the sin of the world.
This is the one I was talking about when I said:
"A man is coming after me...
"but he is greater than I am, because he existed before I was born."
I did not know who he would be.
But I came baptizing with water...
in order to make him known to the people of lsrael.
And John gave this testimony:
I saw the Spirit come down, like a dove from heaven, and stay on him.
I still did not know that he was the one. But God...
who sent me to baptize with water, had said to me:
"You will see the Spirit come down and stay on a man.
"He is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. "
I have seen it, and I tell you...
that he is the Son of God.
The next day, John was standing there again with two of his disciples...
when he saw Jesus walking by.
There is the Lamb of God.
The two disciples heard him say this...
and went with Jesus.
Jesus turned, saw them following him.
What are you looking for?
Where do you live, Rabbi?
This word means "teacher. "
Come and see.
It was then about 4:00 in the afternoon...
so they went with him and saw where he lived...
and spent the rest of that day with him.
One of them was Andrew...
Simon Peter's brother.
At once, he found his brother Simon.
We have found the Messiah.
This word means "Christ. "
Come.
Then he took Simon to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him.
Your name is Simon, son of John...
but you will be called Cephas.
This is the same as Peter, and means "a rock. "
The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee.
He found Philip...
and said to him:
Come with me.
Philip was from Bethsaida, the town where Andrew and Peter lived.
Philip found Nathanael.
We have found the one whom Moses wrote about in the Book of the Law...
and whom the prophets also wrote about.
He is Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.
-Can anything good come from Nazareth? -Come and see.
When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, he said about him:
"Here is a real Israelite. "
There is nothing false in him.
How do you know me?
I saw you when you were under the fig tree before Philip called you.
Teacher...
you are the Son of God.
You are the King of lsrael.
Do you believe just because I told you I saw you when you were under the fig tree?
You will see much greater things than this.
I am telling you the truth.
You will see heaven open...
and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man.
Two days later, there was a wedding in the town of Cana in Galilee.
Jesus' mother was there...
and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
When the wine had given out...
Jesus' mother said to him, "They are out of wine. "
Madam...
what do you have to do with this?
My time has not yet come.
Do whatever he tells you.
The Jews have rules about ritual washing...
and for this purpose, six stone water jars were there...
each one large enough to hold between 20 and 30 gallons.
Fill these jars with water.
They filled them to the brim.
Now draw some water out, and take it to the man in charge of the feast.
They took him the water, which now had turned into wine...
and he tasted it.
He did not know where this wine had come from...
but, of course, the servants who had drawn out the water knew.
So he called the bridegroom.
Everyone else serves the best wine first, and after the guests have drunk a lot...
he serves the ordinary wine. But you have kept the best wine until now.
Jesus performed this first miracle in Cana in Galilee.
There he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
After this, Jesus and his mother, brothers, and disciples...
went to Capernaum and stayed there a few days.
It was almost time for the Passover Festival, so Jesus went to Jerusalem.
There, in the Temple...
he found people selling cattle, sheep and pigeons...
and also the moneychangers sitting at their tables.
So he made a whip from cords and drove all the animals out of the Temple...
both the sheep and the cattle.
He overturned the tables of the moneychangers...
and scattered their coins.
And he ordered those who sold pigeons:
Take them out of here!
Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!
His disciples remembered that the scripture says:
"My devotion to your house, O God, burns in me like a fire. "
The Jewish authorities came back at him with a question:
What miracle can you perform to show us that you have the right to do this?
Tear down this temple, and in three days I will build it again.
Are you going to build it again in three days?
It has taken 46 years to build this temple.
But the temple Jesus was speaking about...
was his body.
So when he was raised from death...
his disciples remembered that he had said this...
and they believed the scripture, and what Jesus had said.
While Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival...
many believed in him as they saw the miracles he performed.
But Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew them all.
There was no need for anyone to tell him about them...
because he himself knew what was in their hearts.
There was a Jewish leader named Nicodemus...
who belonged to the party of the Pharisees.
One night, he went to Jesus.
Rabbi, we know...
that you are a teacher sent by God.
No one could perform the miracles you are doing, unless God were with him.
I am telling you the truth.
No one can see the kingdom of God...
without being born again.
How can a grown man be born again?
He certainly cannot enter his mother's womb and be born a second time.
I am telling you the truth.
No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
A person is born physically of human parents...
but is born spiritually of the Spirit.
Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must all be born again.
The wind blows wherever it wishes.
You hear the sound it makes...
but you do not know where it comes from, or where it is going.
It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
How can this be?
You are a great teacher in lsrael...
and you don't know this?
I am telling you the truth.
We speak of what we know, and report what we have seen.
Yet none of you is willing to accept our message.
You do not believe me when I tell you about the things of this world.
How will you ever believe me, then, when I tell you about the things of heaven?
And no one has ever gone up to heaven...
except the Son of Man, who came down from heaven.
As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert...
in the same way, the Son of Man must be lifted up...
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
For God loved the world so much that He gave his only Son...
so that everyone who believes in him may not die, but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior.
Those who believe in the Son are not judged.
But those who do not believe have already been judged...
because they have not believed in God's only Son.
This is how the judgment works:
The light has come into the world...
but people love the darkness rather than the light...
because their deeds are evil.
Those who do evil things hate the light and will not come to the light...
because they do not want their evil deed to be shown up.
But those who do what is true come to the light...
in order that the light may show that what they did was in obedience to God.
After this, Jesus and his disciples went to the province of Judea...
where he spent some time with them, and baptized.
John also was baptizing in Aenon...
not far from Salim...
because there was plenty of water in that place.
People were going to him, and he was baptizing them.
This was before John had been put in prison.
Some of John's disciples began arguing with a Jew...
about the matter of ritual washing.
Teacher...
you remember the man who was with you on the east side of Jordan...
the one you spoke about?
He is baptizing now, and everyone's going to him.
No one can have anything unless God gives it.
You yourselves are my witnesses, that I said:
"I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him."
The bridegroom is the one to whom the bride belongs.
but the bridegroom's friend...
who stands by and listens, is glad when he hears the bridegroom's voice.
This is how my own happiness is made complete.
He must become more important while I become less important.
He who comes from above is greater than all.
He who is from the earth belongs to the earth...
and speaks about earthly matters...
but he who comes from heaven is above all.
He tells what he has seen and heard...
yet no one accepts his message.
But whoever accepts his message...
confirms by this that God is truthful.
The one whom God has sent speaks God's words...
because God gives him the fullness of his Spirit.
The Father loves his Son, and has put everything in his power.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
Whoever disobeys the Son will not have life...
but will remain under God's punishment.
The Pharisees heard that Jesus was winning and baptizing more disciples than John.
Actually, Jesus himself did not baptize anyone. Only his disciples did.
So when Jesus heard what was being said...
he left Judea and went back to Galilee.
On his way there, he had to go through Samaria.
In Samaria, he came to a town named Sychar...
which was not far from the field that Jacob had given to his son, Joseph.
Jacob's well was there...
and Jesus, tired out by the trip...
sat down by the well.
It was about noon.
A Samaritan woman came to draw some water.
Give me a drink of water.
His disciples had gone into town to buy food.
You're a Jew, and I'm a Samaritan.
So how can you ask me for a drink?
Jews will not use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use.
If you only knew what God gives...
and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him...
and he would give you life-giving water.
Sir, you don't have a bucket, and the well is deep.
Where would you get that life-giving water?
It was our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well.
He and his children and his flocks all drank from it.
You don't claim to be greater than Jacob, do you?
Those who drink this water will get thirsty again...
but those who drink the water that I give them will never be thirsty again.
The water that I will give them will become, in them, a spring...
which will provide them with life-giving water, and give them eternal life.
Sir, give me that water. Then I will never be thirsty again...
nor will I have to come here to draw water.
Go and call your husband, and come back.
I don't have a husband.
You're right when you say you don't have a husband.
You've been married to five men...
and the man you live with now is not really your husband.
You've told me the truth.
I see you are a prophet, sir.
My Samaritan ancestors worshipped God on this mountain...
but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where we should worship God.
Believe me, woman...
a time will come when people won't worship the Father either on this mountain...
or in Jerusalem.
You Samaritans do not really know whom you worship.
But we Jews know whom we worship...
because it is from the Jews that salvation comes.
But the time is coming...
and is already here...
when, by the power of God's Spirit...
people will worship the Father as he really is...
offering him the true worship that he wants.
God is Spirit.
And only by the power of his Spirit...
can people worship him as he really is.
I know that the Messiah will come.
And when he comes, he will tell us everything.
I am he.
I, who am talking with you.
At that moment, Jesus' disciples returned...
and they were greatly surprised to find him talking with a woman.
But none of them said to her, "What do you want?"
Or asked him, "Why are you talking with her?"
Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the town.
Come and see the man who told me everything I have ever done.
Could he be the Messiah?
So they left the town, and went to Jesus.
In the meantime, the disciples were begging Jesus:
"Teacher, have something to eat!" But he answered:
I have food to eat that you know nothing about.
So the disciples started asking among themselves:
"Could somebody have brought him food?"
My food is to obey the will of the one who sent me...
and to finish the work he gave me to do.
You have a saying, "Four more months, and then the harvest."
But I tell you, take a good look at the fields.
The crops are now ripe and ready to be harvested.
The one who reaps the harvest is being paid and gathers the crops for eternal life.
So the one who plants and the one who reaps will be glad together.
For the saying is true. Someone plants, someone else reaps.
I have sent you to reap a harvest in a field where you did not work.
Others worked there...
and you profit from their work.
Many of the Samaritans in that town believed in Jesus...
because the woman had said, "He told me everything I have ever done. "
So when the Samaritans came to him...
they begged him to stay with them...
and Jesus stayed there two days.
Many more believed because of his message, and they told the woman:
"We believe now, not because of what you said...
"but because we ourselves have heard him...
"and we know that he really is the Savior of the world. "
After spending two days there...
Jesus left, and went to Galilee.
For he himself had said:
"Prophets are not respected in their own country. "
When he arrived in Galilee, the people there welcomed him...
because they had gone to the Passover Festival in Jerusalem...
and had seen everything that he had done during the festival.
Then Jesus went back to Cana in Galilee...
where he had turned the water into wine.
A government official was there, whose son was sick in Capernaum.
When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee...
he went to him...
and asked him to go to Capernaum...
and heal his son, who was about to die.
None of you will ever believe unless you see miracles and wonders.
Sir, come with me...
before my child dies.
Go.
Your son will live.
The man believed Jesus' words and went.
On his way home, his servants met him with the news.
Your boy is going to live!
He asked them what time it was when his son got better.
It was 1:00 yesterday afternoon when the fever left him!
Then the father remembered that it was at that very hour when Jesus had told him:
Your son will live.
So he and all his family believed.
This was the second miracle...
that Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
After this, Jesus went to Jerusalem for a religious festival.
Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, there is a pool with five porches.
In Hebrew, it is called Bethzatha.
A large crowd of sick people were lying on the porches...
the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed.
A man was there who had been sick for 38 years.
Jesus saw him lying there...
and he knew that the man had been sick for such a long time.
Do you want to get well?
Sir, I don't have anyone here to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up.
While I'm trying to get in, someone else gets there first.
Get up.
Pick up your mat and walk.
Immediately, the man got well.
He picked up his mat...
and started walking.
The day this happened was a Sabbath...
so the Jewish authorities told the man who had been healed:
This is a Sabbath, and it is against our law for you to carry your mat.
The man who made me well told me to pick up my mat and walk.
Who is the man who told you to do this?
But the man who had been healed did not know who Jesus was...
for there was a crowd in that place, and Jesus had slipped away.
Afterwards, Jesus found him in the Temple.
You're well now...
so stop sinning...
or something worse may happen to you.
Then the man left...
and told the Jewish authorities that it was Jesus who had healed him.
So they began to persecute Jesus...
because he had done this healing on a Sabbath.
Jesus answered them:
My Father is always working.
And l, too, must work.
This saying made the Jewish authorities all the more determined to kill him.
Not only had he broken the Sabbath law...
but he had said that God was his own Father...
and, in this way, had made himself equal with God.
So Jesus answered them:
I tell you the truth!
The Son can do nothing on his own!
He does only what he sees his Father doing! What the Father does, the Son also does.
For the Father loves the Son...
and shows him all that he himself is doing.
He will show him even greater things to do than this, and you will all be amazed!
Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life...
in the same way, the Son gives life to those he wants to.
Nor does the Father himself judge anyone.
He has given his Son the full right to judge...
so that all will honor the Son in the same way as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
I am telling you the truth!
Those who hear my words and believe in him who sent me...
have eternal life.
They will not be judged, but have already passed from death to life.
I am telling you the truth.
The time is coming.
The time has already come...
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God.
And those who hear it will come to life.
Just as the Father is, himself, the source of life...
in the same way, he has made his Son to be the source of life.
And he has given the Son the right to judge, because he is...
the Son of Man!
Do not be surprised at this.
The time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice and come out of their graves.
Those who have done good will rise and live.
And those who have done evil...
will rise and be condemned.
I can do nothing on my own authority!
I judge only as God tells me, so my judgment is right...
because I am not trying to do what I want, but only what he who sent me wants!
If I testify on my own behalf...
what I say is not to be accepted as real proof.
But there is someone else who testifies on my behalf.
And I know that what he says about me is true.
John is the one to whom you sent your messengers.
And he spoke on behalf of the truth. It is not that I must have a human witness...
I say this only in order that you may be saved!
John was like a lamp, burning and shining...
and you were willing, for a while, to enjoy his light.
But I have a witness on my behalf...
which is even greater than the witness that John gave.
What I do...
that is, the deeds my Father gave me to do...
these speak on my behalf and show that the Father has sent me.
And the Father who sent me also testifies on my behalf.
You have never heard his voice or seen his face...
and you do not keep his message in your hearts...
for you do not believe in the one whom he sent.
You study the Scriptures, because you think that in them...
you will find eternal life! And these very scriptures speak about me!
Yet you are not willing to come to me in order to have life.
I am not looking for human praise.
But I know what kind of people you are.
And I know that you have no love for God in your hearts.
I have come with my Father's authority, but you have not received me.
When, however, someone comes with his own authority, you will receive him.
You like to receive praise from one another...
but you do not try to win praise from the one who alone is God!
How, then, can you believe me?
Do not think, however, that I am the one who will accuse you to my Father.
Moses, in whom you have put your hope, is the very one who will accuse you.
If you had really believed Moses, you would've believed me...
because he wrote about me.
But since you do not believe what he wrote, how can you believe what I say?
After this, Jesus went across Lake Galilee...
or Lake Tiberias, as it is also called.
A large crowd followed him...
because they had seen his miracles of healing the sick.
Jesus went up a hill and sat down with his disciples.
The time for the Passover Festival was near.
Jesus looked around and saw that a large crowd was coming to him.
Where can we buy enough food to feed all these people?
He said this to test Philip.
Actually, he already knew what he would do.
For everyone to have even a little...
it would take more than 200 silver coins to buy enough bread.
Another one of his disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter's brother, said:
There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish.
But they will certainly not be enough for all these people.
Make the people sit down.
There was a lot of grass there...
so all the people sat down.
There were about 5,000 men.
Jesus took the bread...
gave thanks to God...
and distributed it to the people who were sitting there.
He did the same with the fish...
and they all had as much as they wanted.
When they were all full, he said to his disciples:
Gather the pieces left over.
Let us not waste a bit.
So they gathered them all and filled 12 baskets...
with the pieces left over from the five barley loaves which the people had eaten.
Seeing this miracle that Jesus had performed, the people there said:
"Surely this is the Prophet...
"who was to come into the world!"
Jesus knew that they were about to come and seize him...
in order to make him king by force.
So he went off again to the hills by himself.
When evening came, Jesus' disciples went down to the lake...
got into a boat...
and went back across the lake towards Capernaum.
Night came on, and Jesus still had not come to them.
By then a strong wind was blowing and stirring up the water.
The disciples had rowed about three or four miles...
when they saw Jesus...
walking on the water...
coming near the boat...
and they were terrified.
Don't be afraid.
It is I.
Then they willingly took him into the boat...
and immediately the boat reached land...
at the place they were heading for.
Next day, the crowd which had stayed on the other side of the lake...
realized that there had been only one boat there.
They knew that Jesus had not gone in it with his disciples...
but that they had left without him.
Other boats, which were from Tiberias, came to shore near the place...
where the crowd had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
When the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples...
they got into those boats and went to Capernaum, looking for him.
When the people found Jesus on the other side of the lake, they said to him:
"Teacher, when did you get here?"
I am telling you the truth.
You are looking for me because you ate the bread and had all you wanted...
not because you understood my miracles.
Do not work for food that spoils.
Instead, work for the food that lasts for eternal life.
This is the food the Son of Man will give you...
because God, the Father, has put his mark of approval on him.
What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?
What God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent.
What miracle will you perform so that we may see it and believe you?
What will you do?
Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, just as the scripture says:
"He gave them bread from heaven to eat."
I am telling you the truth.
What Moses gave you was not the bread from heaven.
It is my Father who gives you the real bread from heaven.
For the bread that God gives is he who comes down from heaven...
and gives life to the world.
Sir, give us this bread. Give us this bread always.
I am the bread of life!
Those who come to me will never be hungry.
Those who believe in me will never be thirsty.
Now I told you that you have seen me, but will not believe.
Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me.
I will never turn away anyone who comes to me...
because I have come down from heaven to do not my own will...
but the will of him who sent me.
And it is the will of him who sent me...
that I should not lose any of all those he has given me...
but that I should raise them all to life on the last day!
For what my Father wants...
is that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life.
And I will raise them to life on the last day.
The people started grumbling about him, because he said:
"I am the bread that came down from heaven. "
This man...
is Jesus, son of Joseph, isn't he?
We know his father and mother!
How, then, does he now say he came down from heaven?
Stop grumbling among yourselves!
People cannot come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me!
And I will raise them to life on the last day.
The prophets wrote:
"Everyone will be taught by God."
Anyone who hears the Father and learns from him comes to me.
This does not mean that anyone has seen the Father.
He who is from God is the only one who has seen the Father.
I am telling you the truth.
He who believes...
has eternal life.
I am the bread of life!
Your ancestors ate manna in the desert, but they died.
But the bread that comes down from heaven is of such a kind...
that whoever eats it will not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven!
If you eat this bread, you will live forever!
The bread that I will give you is my flesh...
which I give so that the world may live!
This started an angry argument among them.
How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
I am telling you the truth.
If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood...
you will not have life in yourselves!
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life...
and I will raise them to life on the last day.
For my flesh is the real food, my blood is the real drink!
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me...
and I live in them.
The living Father sent me...
and because of him I live also.
In the same way, whoever eats me will live because of me.
This, then, is the bread that came down from heaven.
It is not like the bread that your ancestors ate, but then later died.
Those who eat this bread...
will live forever.
Jesus said this as he taught in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Many of his followers heard this and said:
"This teaching is too hard. Who can listen to it?"
Without being told, Jesus knew that they were grumbling about this.
Does this make you want to give up?
Suppose, then...
that you should see the Son of Man go back up to the place where he was before?
What gives life is God's Spirit.
Human power is of no use at all.
The words I have spoken to you bring God's life-giving Spirit.
Yet some of you...
do not believe.
Jesus knew from the very beginning who were the ones that would not believe...
and which one would betray him.
This is the very reason I told you...
that no people can come to me...
unless the Father makes it possible for them to do so.
Because of this, many of Jesus' followers...
turned back and would not go with him anymore.
And you...
would you also like to leave?
Lord, to whom would we go?
You have the words that give eternal life.
And now we believe and know...
that you are the Holy One...
who has come from God.
I chose the 12 of you, didn't I?
Yet one of you is a devil.
He was talking about Judas, the son of Simon lscariot.
For Judas, even though he was one of the 12 disciples...
was going to betray him.
After this, Jesus traveled in Galilee.
He did not want to travel in Judea...
because the Jewish authorities there were wanting to kill him.
The time for the Festival of Shelters was near...
so Jesus' brothers said to him:
"Leave this place and go to Judea...
"so that your followers will see the things that you are doing. "
People don't hide what they're doing if they want to be well known.
Since you are doing these things, let the whole world know about you.
Not even his brothers believed in him.
The right time for me has not yet come.
Any time is right for you.
The world cannot hate you, but it hates me...
because I keep telling it that its ways are bad.
You go on to the festival.
I am not going to this festival...
because the right time has not come for me.
He said this, and then stayed on in Galilee.
After his brothers had gone to the festival, Jesus also went.
However, he did not go openly, but secretly.
The Jewish authorities were looking for him at the Festival.
"Where is he?" they asked.
There was much whispering about him in the crowd.
"He is a good man, " some people said. "No, " others said...
"he fools the people. "
But no one talked about him openly...
because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities.
The Festival was nearly half over...
when Jesus went to the Temple and began teaching.
The Jewish authorities were greatly surprised.
How does this man know so much...
when he has never been to school?
What I teach is not my own teaching, but it comes from God, who sent me.
Those willing to do what God wants will know...
whether what I teach comes from God, or whether I speak on my own authority.
Those who speak on their own authority are trying to gain glory for themselves.
But he who wants glory for the one who sent him is honest...
and there is nothing false in him.
Moses gave you the Law, didn't he?
But not one of you obeys the Law.
Why are you trying to kill me?
You have a demon in you. Who is trying to kill you?
I performed one miracle, and you were all surprised.
Moses ordered you to circumcise your sons...
although it was not Moses but your ancestors who started it.
And so, you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath.
If a boy is circumcised on the Sabbath so that Moses' Law is not broken...
why are you angry with me...
because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?
Stop judging by external standards...
and judge by true standards.
Some of the people of Jerusalem said:
"lsn't this the man the authorities are trying to kill?
"Look, he is talking in public, and they say nothing against him.
"Can it be that they really know that he is the Messiah?
"But when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.
"And we all know where this man comes from. "
As Jesus taught in the Temple, he said in a loud voice:
Do you really know me...
and know where I am from?
I have not come on my own authority.
He who sent me, however, is truthful.
You do not know him, but I know him...
because I come from him, and he sent me.
Then they tried to seize him...
but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
But many in the crowd believed in him.
When the Messiah comes, will he perform more miracles than this man has?
The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Jesus...
so they and the chief priests sent some guards to arrest him.
I shall be with you a little while longer...
and then I shall go away to him who sent me.
You will look for me, but you will not find me...
because you cannot go where I will be.
The Jewish authorities said among themselves:
"Where is he about to go so that we shall not find him?"
Will he go to the Greek cities, where our people live and teach the Greeks?
He says that we will look for him...
but will not find him...
and that we cannot go where he will be.
What does he mean?
On the last and most important day of the festival...
Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice:
Whoever is thirsty should come to me, and whoever believes in me should drink.
As the scripture says:
"Streams of life-giving water will pour out from his side."
Jesus said this about the Spirit...
which those who believed in him were going to receive.
At that time, the Spirit had not yet been given...
because Jesus had not been raised to glory.
Some of the people in the crowd heard him say this.
This man is really the Prophet!
The Messiah will not come from Galilee!
The scripture says that the Messiah will be a descendant of King David...
and will be born in Bethlehem, the town where David lived.
So there was a division in the crowd because of Jesus.
Some wanted to seize him...
but no one laid a hand on him.
When the guards went back...
the chief priests and Pharisees asked them:
Why did you not bring him?
Nobody has ever talked the way this man does.
Did he fool you, too?
Have you ever known one of the authorities or one Pharisee to believe in him?
This crowd does not know the Law of Moses.
So they are under God's curse.
One of the Pharisees there was Nicodemus, the man who had gone to see Jesus before.
According to our Law, we cannot condemn people before hearing them...
and finding out what they have done.
Are you also from Galilee?
Study the scriptures...
and you will learn that no prophet ever comes from Galilee.
Then everyone went home...
but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
Early the next morning, he went back to the Temple.
All the people gathered round him, and he sat down and began to teach them.
The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees...
brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery...
and they made her stand before them all.
Teacher...
this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery!
In our Law, Moses commanded...
that such a woman must be stoned to death.
Now, what do you say?
They said this to trap Jesus, so that they could accuse him.
But he bent over and wrote on the ground with his finger.
As they stood there asking him questions...
he straightened up.
Whichever one of you has committed no sin...
may throw the first stone at her.
Then he bent over again and wrote on the ground.
When they heard this, they all left, one by one...
the older ones first.
Jesus was left alone with the woman still standing there.
He straightened up.
Where are they?
Is there no one left to condemn you?
No one, sir.
Well, then...
I do not condemn you either.
Go...
but do not sin again.
Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again.
I am the light of the world.
Who follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness.
Now you are testifying on your own behalf!
-What you say proves nothing! -No.
Even though I do testify on my own behalf, what I say is true...
because I know where I came from and where I am going.
You do not know where I came from or where I'm going.
You make judgments in a purely human way.
I pass judgment on no one.
But if I were to do so, my judgment would be true...
because I am not alone in this.
The Father who sent me is with me.
It is written in your Law...
that when two witnesses agree...
what they say is true.
I testify on my own behalf...
and the Father who sent me also testifies on my behalf.
Where is your "Father"?
You know neither me nor my Father.
If you knew me, you would know my Father also.
Jesus said all this as he taught in the Temple...
in the room where the offering boxes were placed.
And no one arrested him...
because his hour had not come.
I will go away, and you will look for me...
but you will die in your sins.
You cannot go where I am going.
He says that we cannot go where he is going.
Does this mean that he will kill himself?
You belong to this world here below...
but I come from above.
You are from this world, but I am not from this world.
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.
And you will die in your sins...
if you do not believe that "I Am Who I Am."
Who are you?
What I have told you from the very beginning.
I have much to say about you...
much to condemn you for.
The one who sent me, however, is truthful...
and I tell the world only what I have heard from him.
They did not understand that Jesus was talking to them about the Father.
When you lift up the Son of Man, you will know...
that "l Am Who I Am."
Then you will know that I do nothing on my own authority...
but I say only what the Father has instructed me to say.
And he who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone...
because I always do what pleases him.
Many who heard Jesus say these things believed in him.
If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples.
You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
We are the descendants of Abraham, and we have never been anybody's slaves.
What do you mean, then, by saying, "You will be free"?
I am telling you the truth.
Everyone who sins is a slave of sin.
A slave does not belong to a family permanently...
but a son belongs there forever.
If the Son sets you free, then you will be really free.
I know you are Abraham's descendants.
Yet you are trying to kill me because you will not accept my teaching.
I talk about what my Father has shown me...
but you do what your father has told you!
Our father is Abraham.
If you really were Abraham's children, you would do the same things that he did!
All I have ever done is to tell you the truth I heard from God...
yet you are trying to kill me.
Abraham did nothing like this.
You are doing what your father did.
God Himself is the only Father we have...
and we are his true children.
If God really were your father...
you would love me because I came from God...
and now I am here.
I did not come on my own authority...
but He sent me!
Why do you not understand what I say?
It is because you cannot bear to listen to my message.
You are the children of your father, the Devil...
and you want to follow your father's desires!
From the very beginning, he was a murderer...
and has never been on the side of truth...
because there is no truth in him!
When he tells a lie, he is only doing what is natural to him...
because he is a liar and the father of all lies!
But I tell the truth...
and that is why you do not believe me.
Which one of you can prove that I am guilty of sin?
If I tell the truth, then why do you not believe me?
He who comes from God listens to God's words.
You, however, are not from God...
and that is why you will not listen.
Were we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan...
and have a demon in you?
I have no demon.
I honor my Father, but you dishonor me.
I am not seeking honor for myself.
But there is one who is seeking it, and who judges in my favor.
I am telling you the truth!
Whoever obeys my teaching will never die!
Now we know for sure that you have a demon.
Abraham died, and the prophets died...
yet you say that whoever obeys your teaching will never die.
Our father Abraham died.
You do not claim to be greater than Abraham, do you?
And the prophets also died.
Who do you think you are?
If I were to honor myself, that honor would be worth nothing.
The one who honors me is my Father, the very one you say is your God!
You have never known him, but I know him.
If I were to say I do not know him...
I would be a liar like you, but I do know him, and I obey his Word.
Your father Abraham rejoiced...
that he was to see the time of my coming.
He saw it and was glad.
You are not even 50 years old, and you have seen Abraham?
I am telling you the truth.
Before Abraham was born...
"I am."
Stone him!
Then they picked up stones to throw at him...
but Jesus hid himself and left the Temple.
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been born blind.
Teacher...
whose sin caused him to be born blind?
Was it his own, or his parents' sin?
His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents' sins.
He is blind so that God's power might be seen at work in him.
As long as it is day...
we must keep on doing the work of him who sent me.
Night is coming...
when no one can work.
While I am in the world...
I am the light for the world.
After he said this, Jesus spat on the ground...
and made some mud with the spittle.
He rubbed the mud on the man's eyes.
Go and wash your face in the pool of Siloam.
This name means "Sent. "
So the man went, washed his face...
and came back seeing.
His neighbors, then, and the people who had seen him begging before this asked:
"lsn't this the man who used to sit and beg?"
-He is the one. -No, he isn't. He just looks like him.
I am the man.
How is it that you can now see?
The man called Jesus made some mud, rubbed it on my eyes...
and told me to go to Siloam and wash my face.
So I went, and as soon as I washed...
I could see.
-Where is he? -I don't know.
Then they took to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.
The day that Jesus made the mud and cured him of his blindness was a Sabbath.
The Pharisees then asked the man again how he had received his sight.
He put some mud on my eyes...
I washed my face, and now I can see.
The man who did this cannot be from God, for he does not obey the Sabbath law.
How could a man who is a sinner perform such miracles as these?
And there was division among them.
You say he cured you of your blindness.
What do you say about him?
He is a prophet!
The Jewish authorities, however, were not willing to believe...
that he had been blind and could now see until they called his parents.
Is this your son?
You say that he was born blind.
How is it, then, that he can now see?
We know that he is our son, and we know that he was born blind.
But we don't know how it is that he is now able to see...
nor do we know who cured him of his blindness.
Ask him.
He is old enough, and he can answer for himself.
His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities...
who had already agreed that anyone who said he believed...
that Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue.
That is why his parents said, "He is old enough. Ask him. "
A second time, they called back the man who had been born blind.
Promise before God that you will tell the truth.
We know that this man who cured you is a sinner.
I do not know if he is a sinner or not.
One thing I do know.
I was blind...
and now I see.
What did he do to you?
How did he cure you of your blindness?
I have already told you, and you would not listen.
Why do you want to hear it again? Maybe you, too, would like to be his disciples?
They insulted him and said:
You are that fellow's disciple, but we are Moses' disciples!
We know that God spoke to Moses!
As for that fellow, however, we do not even know where he comes from.
What a strange thing that is.
You do not know where he comes from, but he cured me of my blindness.
We know that God does not listen to sinners.
He does listen to people who respect him and do what he wants them to do.
Since the beginning of the world...
nobody has heard of anyone giving sight to a person born blind.
Unless this man came from God, he would not be able to do a thing!
You were born and brought up in sin...
and you are trying to teach us?
And they expelled him from the synagogue.
When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man.
Do you believe in the Son of Man?
Tell me who he is, sir, so that I can believe in him.
You have already seen him...
and he is the one who is talking with you now.
I believe, Lord.
And he knelt down before Jesus.
I came to this world to judge...
so that the blind should see...
and those who see should become blind.
Some Pharisees who were there with him heard him say this and asked him:
Surely you don't mean that we are blind, too?
If you were blind, then you would not be guilty.
But since you claim that you can see...
this means that you are still guilty.
I am telling you the truth!
The man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate...
but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber!
The man who goes in through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens the gate for him.
The sheep hear his voice as he calls his own sheep by name...
and he leads them out. When he has brought them out...
he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
They will not follow someone else.
lnstead they will run away from such a person...
because they do not know his voice.
Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he meant.
So Jesus said again:
I am telling you the truth. I am the gate for the sheep.
All others who came before me are thieves and robbers...
but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate.
Those who come in by me will be saved.
They will come in and go out and find pasture.
The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy.
I have come in order that you might have life.
Life in all its fullness.
I am the good shepherd, who is willing to die for the sheep.
When the hired man, who is not a shepherd and does not own the sheep...
sees a wolf coming...
he leaves the sheep and runs away.
So the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them.
The hired man runs away because he is only a hired man...
and does not care about the sheep.
I am the good shepherd.
As the Father knows me, and I know the Father...
in the same way I know my sheep, and they know me.
And I am willing to die for them.
There are other sheep which belong to me...
that are not in this sheep pen.
I must bring them, too.
They will listen to my voice...
and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
The Father loves me...
because I am willing to give up my life in order that I may receive it back again.
No one takes my life away from me.
I give it up of my own free will.
I have the right to give it up...
and I have the right to take it back.
This is what my Father has commanded me to do.
Again there was division among the people because of these words.
-He has a demon! -He is crazy!
-Why do you listen to him? -A man with a demon cannot talk like this!
How could a demon give sight to blind people?
It was winter...
and the Festival of the Dedication of the Temple was being celebrated in Jerusalem.
Jesus was walking in Solomon's Porch in the Temple...
when the people gathered round him.
How long are you going to keep us in suspense?
Tell us the plain truth. Are you the Messiah?
I have already told you, but you would not believe me.
The deeds I do by my Father's authority speak on my behalf.
But you will not believe...
for you are not my sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice.
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never die.
No one can snatch them away from me.
What my Father has given me is greater than everything...
and no one can snatch them away from the Father's care.
The Father and I are one.
Blasphemy! Stone him!
Then the people again picked up stones to throw at him.
I have done many good deeds in your presence...
which the Father gave me to do.
For which one of these do you want to stone me?
We do not want to stone you because of any good deeds...
but because of your blasphemy!
You are only a man, but you are trying to make yourself God!
It is written in your own Law...
that God said, "You are gods."
We know that what the scripture says is true forever...
and God called those people gods...
the people to whom his message was given.
As for me, the Father chose me and sent me into the world.
How, then, can you say that I blaspheme...
because I said that I am the Son of God?
Do not believe me, then, if I am not doing the things my Father wants me to do.
But if I do them, even though you do not believe me...
you should at least believe my deeds...
in order that you may know, once and for all...
that the Father is in me...
and that I am in the Father.
Blasphemy!
Once more, they tried to seize Jesus, but he slipped out of their hands.
Jesus then went back again across the Jordan River...
to the place where John had been baptizing...
and he stayed there.
Many people came to him.
"John performed no miracles, " they said...
"but everything he said about this man was true. "
And many people there believed in him.
A man named Lazarus, who lived in Bethany, became sick.
Bethany was the town where Mary and her sister Martha lived.
This Mary was the one who poured the perfume on the Lord's feet...
and wiped them with her hair.
It was her brother, Lazarus, who was sick.
The sisters sent Jesus a message:
"Lord, your dear friend is sick. "
When Jesus heard it, he said:
"The final result of this sickness will not be the death of Lazarus.
"This has happened in order to bring glory to God...
"and it will be the means by which the Son of God will receive glory. "
Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
Yet when he received the news that Lazarus was sick...
he stayed where he was for two more days.
Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea. "
Teacher, just a short time ago, the people there wanted to stone you...
and are you planning to go back?
A day has 1 2 hours, doesn't it?
So those who walk in broad daylight do not stumble...
for they see the light of this world.
But if they walk during the night, they stumble...
because they have no light.
Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep...
but I will go and wake him up.
If he is asleep, Lord, he will get well.
Jesus meant that Lazarus had died...
but they thought he meant natural sleep.
So Jesus told them plainly:
Lazarus is dead.
But for your sake...
I am glad that I was not with him...
so that you will believe.
Let us go to him.
Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples:
Let us all go along with the Teacher, so that we may die with him!
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been buried four days before.
Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem...
and many Judeans had come to see Martha and Mary...
to comfort them about their brother's death.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him...
but Mary stayed in the house.
If you had been here, Lord...
my brother would not have died.
But I know that even now...
God will give you whatever you ask him for.
Your brother will rise to life.
I know that he will rise to life on the last day.
I am the resurrection and the life.
Those who believe in me will live...
even though they die.
And those who live and believe in me...
will never die.
Do you believe this?
Yes, Lord.
I do believe that you are the Messiah...
the Son of God, who is to come into the world.
After Martha said this...
she went back and called her sister Mary privately.
The Teacher is here...
and is asking for you.
When Mary heard this, she got up and hurried out to meet him.
Jesus had not yet arrived in the village...
but was still in the place where Martha had met him.
The people who were in the house with Mary, comforting her...
followed her when they saw her get up and hurry out.
They thought that she was going to the grave to weep there.
Mary arrived where Jesus was, and as soon as she saw him, she fell at his feet.
Lord...
if you had been here...
my brother would not have died.
Jesus saw her weeping...
and he saw how the people with her were weeping also.
His heart was touched, and he was deeply moved.
Where have you buried him?
Come and see, Lord.
Jesus wept.
"See how much he loved him, " the people said.
But some of them said:
"He gave sight to the blind man, didn't he?
"Could he not have kept Lazarus from dying?"
Deeply moved once more, Jesus went to the tomb...
which was a cave with a stone placed at the entrance.
Take the stone away.
There will be a bad smell, Lord. He has been buried four days.
Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believed?
They took the stone away.
Jesus looked up.
I thank you, Father, that you listen to me.
I know that you always listen to me...
but I say this for the sake of the people here...
so that they will believe that you sent me.
After he had said this, he called out in a loud voice:
Lazarus...
come out!
He came out...
his hands and feet wrapped in grave clothes...
and with a cloth round his face.
Untie him, and let him go.
Many of the people who had come to visit Mary saw what Jesus did...
and they believed in him.
But some of them returned to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
So the Pharisees and the chief priests met with the Council and said:
"What shall we do?"
Look at all the miracles this man is performing!
If we let him go on in this way, everyone will believe in him...
and the Roman authorities will take action and destroy our temple and our nation!
One of them, named Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, said:
What fools you are!
Don't you realize...
that it is better for you to have let one man die for the people...
instead of having the whole nation destroyed?
Actually, he did not say this of his own accord.
Rather, as he was High Priest that year...
he was prophesying that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish people...
and not only for them, but also to bring together into one body...
all the scattered people of God.
From that day on, the Jewish authorities made plans to kill Jesus.
So Jesus did not travel openly in Judea, but left, and went to a place near the desert...
to a town named Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
The time for the Passover Festival was near...
and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem...
to perform the ritual of purification before the festival.
They were looking for Jesus...
and as they gathered in the Temple, they asked one another:
"What do you think? Surely, he will not come to the Festival, will he?"
The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders...
that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he must report it...
so that they could arrest him.
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN WAS WRITTEN TWO GENERATIONS AFTER THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST.
IT IS SET IN A TIME WHEN THE ROMAN EMPIRE CONTROLLED JERUSALEM.
ALTHOUGH CRUCIFIXION WAS THE PREFERRED ROMAN METHOD OF PUNISHMENT,IT WAS NOT ONE SANCTIONED BY JEWISH LAW.
JESUS AND ALL HIS EARLY FOLLOWERS WERE JEWISH.
THE GOSPEL REFLECTS A PERIOD OF UNPRECEDENTED POLEMIC AND ANTAGONISM BETWEEN THE EMERGING CHURCH AND THE RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENT OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE.
THIS FILM IS A FAITHFUL REPRESENTATION OF THAT GOSPEL.