the story of Jesus

Jesus:                 Even before the time began, I existed. God and I were one. I was with God when the time began.

In me there was life. The life was the light of humanity. The universe was made through me. Everything came to exist because of me.

Then, I came into the world to shines my light more clearly. In other words, I became a man and moved in with people. All people got one favor after another from my overflowing abundance. More over, I gave them my integrity and my kindness. Since no one has ever actually seen my Father, I have come to made him known. Some people were able to see me through as the only son of the father who is full of kindness and integrity.     

I came into the world that I made. I came into the people I had made and loved. And to those who let me into their hearts, I gave the authority to be God’s children. Such children were like born right from God.

My Father sent a man before me. His name was John. John came forward as a witness, to testify for my light, so that people might believe in me. He was a witness for my light.

I should say I am the true light. I was entering the world to enlighten every human being. When John was around he preached about me like this.

John:                  This is who I meant when I said, ‘The one coming behind me has gotten ahead of me, because he existed way before I was.’ I told you again and again. I am not the Christ. I am not an Elijah. No, I am not the Prophet. But I am what Isaiah the prophet said—a voice crying in the wild, saying ‘Straighten out the way of the Lord.’

For this reason, I am initiating baptism, in water. But right in your midst is the one who you guys don’t recognize. He comes after me, but boy, I myself am not fit to shine his shoes.

(Then, John saw me coming to him)  "Y’all look! There’s the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world! That’s the one I was talking about when I said, ‘A man is coming behind me who has gotten ahead of me, because he existed way before I was.’ Even I was not sure of him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that I might show him to the nation, as the one who reveals who God is.

I saw the Spirit, come down like a dove from the sky, and stay on him. As I said, even I was not sure about him, but he who sent me to dip you in water also told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit coming down and staying will be the one who baptizes you in Holy Spirit.’ Well, I saw it! And I’m telling you that this is the Son of God."

Jesus:                              The following day John was standing with two of his students, and when he saw me walking around, he again said, "Y’all look! There’s God’s Lamb!" Hearing what John was saying, the two students started following me. When I noticed them following me, I turned around and asked, "What’s up?" They asked, "Doc, where are you staying?" I told them, "Come and see." So they went and saw where I was staying, and they visited with me that whole day until about four o’clock.

Andy, the brother of Simon Rock, was one of the two who got the word from John and followed me. The first thing he did was to find his own brother and tell him, "We have found the Leader.”[1] He took him to me. I sized him up and said, "You are Simon Johnson; you’ll be nicknamed Rock.

A day later, I wanted to leave for Galilee. I ran across Phil, who was from the hometown of the Johnson brothers, and said to him, "Join me."
         Phil looked up Nat and told him:

Phil:                                  "We have found the One the Bible talks about! His name is Jesus (Joseph’s boy), and he’s from Schenectady!

Nat:                   "From Schenectady! Could anybody worth his salt come from there?"        

Phil:                    "Come and take a look."

Jesus:                 I saw Nat approaching me and commented, "Look! There’s a real spiritual man! There’s nothing phony about him."

Nat:                   "Where did you hear about me?"

Jesus:                 "I saw you, before Phil talked with you under the fig tree.

Nat:                   "Reverend, you are the Son of God; you are the nation’s Leader, the King of Israel!"

Jesus:                             "Are you convinced merely because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You’ll see a whole lot more than that. In fact, I want to tell y’all that you’ll see the sky busted open and God’s angels climbing up and down and up and down on the Son of Man!"

                                        On Tuesday there was a Jewish wedding celebration where my mother went. My students and I were invited as well. Well, the wine started running low, and my mother told me, "That’s all the wine they’ve got." I said, "What do you want from me, ma’am? … I’m not just quite ready…" My mother turned to the servants, ‘Help him in any way he needs you.’

Now there were six stone water jars put there, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial cleansing.  Each held from twenty to thirty gallons.

I told the servants, "Fill the crocks with water," and they filled them up to the top. Then I said, "Now let your bucket down and draw up some for the emcee." They fetched it. When the emcee tasted the water-become-wine, he didn’t know where it came from, though the servants who had bucketed it up knew. The emcee called the groom and said, "People always put on the good wine first, and when everybody is pretty well tanked up, they bring out the cheap wine. But you have saved the best wine till last."

My students love it and put their faith in me. John thought it is a great sign showing my credentials.

Later, my mother, my brothers and my students and I went down to Albany and stayed there a short while. Then, it was about time for a big religious festival, so I went to New York City.

In the church I found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So I got a long-bandied fly swatter and a broom and began clearing out the crowd and wrecking the merchandise booths. "Get out of here with all this stuff!" I shouted. "Stop turning my Father’s house into a cheating place!" My students recalled the verse of Bible: "I am eaten up with concern for my Father’s prayer house."

The people:        Can you prove that you have the right to act in this way?

Jesus:                 Pull down this church, and in three days I will raise it up.

The people:        It took forty-six years to build this church, and you are going to raise it in three days?"

The church I was talking about, however, was my body. I was thinking about when I am raised from the dead, they would recall that I had said this, and put their faith in me.

While I was in New York City for the religious festival, many people, upon seeing the remarkable things I did, entrusted their lives to me. On the other hand, I didn’t need to entrust myself to any of them, simply because I knew everyone inside out. They were like an open book to me. I didn’t need any information about anybody. I just knew them more than they know themselves.

                          During the night, a theologian came to me.

Nicodemus:         Doc, we know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.

Jesus:                 I want to make it clear, that you become a member of God’s family by being born again from above.

Nicodemus:        But how can a man be born again, once he is born and grown up? He can’t return to his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?"    

Jesus:                 By being born by both water and Spirit, one can be a member of God’s family. Flesh gives birth to flesh. And Spirit gives birth to spirit, right? That is why I told you that people have to be born from above. The wind blows as it will, and you listen to its sound. You know it is there even though you don’t really see where it’s coming from or where it’s going. It’s like that when a person is born by the Spirit."[2] 

Nicodemus:       How can this be?

Jesus:                 You are the nation’s foremost theologian. You can grasp these things, no? Listen to me. I assure you that we speak and testify from firsthand knowledge and experience. So, accept our evidence. It is a simple illustration for you to understand. If you understand that, I can give you a lot of spiritual knowledge.

The son of man understands the spiritual realm because he came right out of it. And just as Moses put a brass snake on a pole in the wilderness,[3]  even so must the son of man be put on a pole, in order that all who trust him might have spiritual life.

In the same way, God loved the world so much that God gave the one and only Son, that whoever trusts him might have spiritual life. For God did send his Son into the world that through him the world might be saved. The one who lives by the Spirit can live up to the name of God’s only Son.

So, this is my summary: The Light came into the world. Those whose ways are true are delighted because of the Light. Any person whose life is true comes to the Light, right? The person whose life is true comes out into the Light, so that it might be clear that his or her ways are rooted in God."

Next day, my students and I were doing some baptizing in the place where there was plenty of water. People were coming to me and getting dipped.

Well, John’s students and a certain Jew got into a fuss over dipping and sprinkling. So they came to John and told him, "Pastor, you remember that fellow who was with you, and who you yourself praised? Guess what! Now he’s dipping and everybody is joining up with him!"

John:                  A person can receive what is given from above. You yourselves can bear me out that I told you, ‘I am not the Christ, but I was sent ahead of him.’ The one with the bride is the bridegroom. I as a friend stand with the groom and share his joy. That’s why I’m so happy. That man must grow, while I must fade out.

The one who comes from above is over everything. The earthly being from the earth, speaks earthly things. The spiritual person, however, is above all this.

I have told you what I have seen and heard. Take my words seriously. If you take my words seriously, you become evidence that God is true.

Jesus:              Anyone who is sent from God bears God’s message. God fully equips the person with the Spirit.

The Father loves me and has put me in charge of everything. When anyone lives by me, the person has spiritual life. When anyone obeys me, the person will catch a glimpse of life. God’s pleasure hangs over that person.

Anyway, the word spread that I was making and baptizing more converts than John. (I myself, however, wasn’t doing any baptizing, but my students were.) So when I found out about this, I pulled out of there.[4] On the way out I had to go through a predominantly Muslim area. It was like a Muslim village, which is near the farm that Mr. Jake gave to his boy Joe. There’s a well there called "Jake’s well." By then, I was pretty tired from traveling. Thankfully, my students had all gone to town to buy some food. So I sat on the curbing of the well. It was about noon. Now here comes a Muslim woman to draw some water. But I say to her, "Please give me a drink."

The woman:       You know, typically, Muslims and Christians don’t have much to do with one another. How come a Christian man like you is asking for a drink from a Muslim woman like me?

Jesus:                 If you just knew God’s goodness, and who it is asking you for a drink, you would ask him and he would give you running water."

The woman:       Mister, that well is deep, and you don’t even have a bucket. So where you gonna get running water? Do you have it over Grandpa Jake, who dug the well and used it for his family and livestock?"

Jesus:                 When you drink this water you get thirsty again. When you drink the water I give you, you’ll never again get thirsty; in fact, the water I give you becomes an inner-flowing spring, bubbling over with spiritual life.

The woman:       Mister, gimme that water, so I won’t get thirsty, and so I won’t have to come back here to draw water!

Jesus:                 Okay, go call your husband, and come here."

The woman:   I ain’t got a husband.

Jesus:                 You’re telling the truth when you say, ‘I ain’t got a husband,’ because you’ve had five men, and the one you’re living with now isn’t your husband. You are absolutely correct.

The woman:      Eh, wow, mister, I can tell that you’re a prophet, right? Well, you know, my people have always said that the best place to worship God is in a mosque, but you folks insist in a church.

Jesus:                  Listen here, ma’am, the time is coming when you’ll worship the Father neither in the mosque nor in the church. You folks aren’t sure about your worship; we Christian folks are, because we invented worship! Just the same, the time is coming—it’s here already—when the sincere worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and with honesty. Indeed, the Father is looking for people like that to worship him. God is spirit, and when people worship God they must do it in spirit and with honesty.

The woman:        I realize that the God promised that the Leader is coming. When he does, he’ll straighten us out on everything!

Jesus:                 I myself, the person talking with you, am he!

                          Along about this time, my students returned, and they were quite surprised that I was talking with a Muslim woman, yet nobody asked, "What are you up to?" or "Why are you talking with her?" So the lady left her water bucket, checked out for town, and said to the people there, "Come and meet a fellow who told me everything I ever did. Do you suppose he might be the Leader?" They went tearing out of the city and came to me.

The students:   Come on, Doc, let’s eat.

Jesus:                 I have some food to eat that you don’t know about.

The students:  (start asking one another) You reckon somebody brought him something to eat?

Jesus:                 My food is doing the will of my Father and getting on with his work. You all say that the harvest is four months away, don’t you? Well, listen to what I’m telling you: Open your eyes and look at those fields. Right now they are at the peak of harvesting. Already the Harvester is hired and he is gathering spiritual life fruit, so that the Planter and the Harvester may rejoice together. The statement about this is correct, because the Planter is one and the Harvester is another. And I sent you to harvest a crop that you haven’t sweated over. Now reap the benefit of it.

Many people of the Muslim village trusted me simply on the grounds of the woman’s statement that "he told me everything I ever did." So when the Muslims gathered about him, they started asking him to spend a while with them. I did so, staying there two days. An even larger group put their faith in me on the basis of my own words. They told the woman, "Our faith is no longer based on your story alone, for we ourselves have heard him and are convinced that he is truly the world’s deliverer."

At the end of the two days, I left there for Albany. So when I arrived in Albany, the people welcomed me. They had been at the religious festival in New York City and had seen for themselves all that I had done. Well, I returned to Scotia, where I had made the water into wine. There was this government bigwig who had a sick son in Seattle. Having heard that I had arrived in Albany, he went to me and urged me to come over and heal his boy, who was in mighty bad shape.

I said to him, “you need to be trustful even if you don’t see signs and miracles." The big man said, "Please, pastor, come on before my boy dies!" I told him, "Okay, you may go now; your boy is well." The fellow acted on my instructions, and went. As he was returning, some friends met him and said, "Your boy is well!’ He then asked them what time his boy started to get better. "About one o’clock afternoon," they said, "the fever went away." The father recognized this as the exact time that I had told him, "Your boy is well." So he surely put his faith in me, and his whole family did, too. Later my students heard about it and they were delighted.

                           After this, I attended a religious gathering in New York City. They were known as Sabbath Keepers. Now, there is a healing pool which is surrounded by five pavilions. In these pavilions were many afflicted people—blind, crippled, paralyzed. One of them was a man who had been afflicted for thirty-eight years. When I saw him lying there, and knowing that he had been in this condition for a long time, I said to him, "Would you like to get well?" The afflicted man answered, "Mister, I don’t have a soul to help me get in the pool while the water is all stirred up. When I try to put myself in, somebody heats me there." I said to him. "Get up, pick up your pallet, and start walking!" And right then the man was well, and he picked up his pallet and started walking!

But, it so happened that it was the Sunday. So the religious people told the healed man, "Today is the Sunday, and it isn’t right for you to be moving your furniture around." He replied, "Well, the same guy who made me well told me to pick up my pallet and start walking." They asked, "Who is the fellow who said for you to pick it up and start walking?" The healed guy really didn’t know who it was because there was a big crowd and I had gotten lost in it.

But later on, I found him and said to him, "Look, you’re well; don’t let your life get messed up or something worse might happen to you.”

The man left, and told the religious people that it was Jesus who had healed him. So they gave me a fit for doing such things on the Sunday. My answer was simply, "My Father is working right on, so I’m working." For this they were trying all the more to kill me, not only because I broke the Sunday, but because I called God my own father, thus making myself equal with God.

So I really explained it to them. "Let me set you straight: The Son only does what he sees his Father doing. When his Father does something, the Son does the same thing. The Father likes the Son and shares with him his concerns. And you will be surprised because my father will cause his sign on an even greater scale. For example, even as the Father lifts up the dead and gives them newness of life, so will the Son, too, give newness of life to people of his choice.

Now the Father has referred every decision to the Son, so that all will respect the Son in the same way they respect the Father. When one respects the Son, one respects the Father who appointed him.

Let me make it clear to you that the person who listens to my message and puts his faith in the Father who appointed me has spiritual life; this person has transferred to the true life.

I’m telling you, the time is coming—it’s here already—when the lifeless ones will tune in to the voice of God’s Son and, having heard him, will come alive. For as the Father is a life-bearer, so he has made the Son a life-bearer. He has also given him, as the son of man, the right to set up a standard. Don’t let this surprise you, because the day is coming when the graveyard set will hear his voice and will move on out. Those who have done good will rise to experience the celebration of life.  

If I am my own witness, my testimony won’t hold water. But John is also my witness. His testimony about me stands up. You all questioned John, but he gave you the honest truth. That guy, John, was turned on as a shining light and you were willing to dance in his light for a little while. But I have even greater evidence than John. They are my teaching and my miracles. Also, the program that I’m engaged in is evidence that the Father sent me. So the same Father who sent me has testified in my behalf. The reason you’ve never heard his voice, or seen his face, or had his word to take root in you is that you’re putting no trust in the one whom God appointed.  You do study the Bible, expecting to find spiritual life in it, and all the while it is loaded with evidence about me. Yet, you refuse to go my route to find life. Here I come flying my Father’s flag, so that you would accept me. You can be people of faith when you accept my credentials which are from the One God.  

After leaving New York City, I came back to Albany and was followed by a large crowd, because they saw the tremendous things I was doing for the sick. So I climbed up the hill and sat down with my students around me. Now the international religious gathering, the huge gathering was drawing near. Well, I looked up and saw that a lot of people were coming to me, so I said to Phil, "How will we buy enough food to feed all these people?"

Phil:                    Even if everybody got only a taste, it would take about two hundred dollars’ worth!"

Andy:                 (One of my students, who was Rock’s brother)

There’s a kid here who has five buns and two hot dogs, but that won’t go a long way toward feeding this crowd!

Jesus:                 "Please tell the people to be seated."

There was a Jot of grass at this spot. So the crowd, numbering about five thousand, sat down, and I took the buns, said grace, and served the seated people. I did the same with the hot dogs, and everybody took as many as they wanted. When they finished eating, I told the students, "Y’all gather up the leftovers so we don’t waste anything." They collected them, and even after the people had eaten all they could hold, there still were left twelve big basketsful of leftovers of the five buns.
            Seeing me do such a tremendous thing, the people said, "There’s no doubt about it, this is God’s Man for the world!" And when I realized that they were planning to draft me for presidency, I checked out of there and again went into the mountain alone.

About sundown the students went down to the river, got in a boat, and headed back first. It had already gotten dark, and still I hadn’t joined them. A strong wind was blowing, causing the sea to swell. When they were three or four miles out, they saw me walking on the sea and drawing near the boat, and it just about scared their pants off. "Hey, it’s me!" I shouted. "Y’all stop being so scared." Well, they did agree to take me on board, and that quick the boat was at the land they were heading toward.

Next morning the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea noticed that only one little boat was left there. They knew that I had not left in the boat with my students, but that they had gone away by themselves. However, some small boats were near the spot where they had eaten the buns that I had blessed. So when the crowd realized that neither I nor my students were there, they clambered aboard the boats and went to look for me. Upon finding me over there they said:

The people:         "Pastor, how did you get here?

Jesus:                 It’s as clear as day that you are looking me up not because you’re reading my signs but because you got your bellies full of buns. Don’t busy yourselves with groceries but with the food that nourishes spiritual life, which the son of man will give you. The Father-God authorized him to do this.

The people:         What shall we do to busy ourselves with God’s business?

Jesus:                 God’s business is this: that you live by him whom he sent.

The people:        Well, what evidence are you presenting that we can examine and that will cause us to trust you? What are you offering?

Jesus:                 My Father does give you the real bread from on high. The bread of God is the one who comes down from on high and gives the world life."

The people:        "Mister, evermore load us up with this bread."

Jesus:                 I am the bread of life. The person who takes my route will never go hungry, and the one who bases his life on mine will never stay thirsty.

 "But as I told you, you have looked and still you aren’t leaping. I’ll take all that the Father gives me, and will by no means cast aside anyone who takes my route. I haven’t come down from on high just to carry out my own desire but that of him who sent me. And what is his desire? That I should not let a single one of those he gave me slip through my fingers, but that I should give them newness of life in the final hour. It is also my Father’s desire that everyone who really looks at the Son and takes the leap with him should have spiritual life, and I myself will make him new in the final hour."

I myself am the bread that came down from on high.

The people:        (Then the people raised a stink) Why, isn’t this old Joe’s boy? Don’t we ourselves know his mama and daddy? How come he now claims that ‘I have come down from on high’?"

Jesus:                 Y’all quit your bellyaching. Nobody can go with me unless the Father, who sent me, attracts him. And I’ll make him new in the final hour. The Bible says, ‘And all will be God-taught.’ Anyone who listens and learns from the Father comes my way. It’s not that a person has actually seen God. Only the One who is from the Father has done that. I truly tell you that he who lives his faith has spiritual life. I repeat, I myself am the bread of the life. This bread has come down from on high so that a person might eat from it and never die. I am indeed the live bread that came down from on high. If one eats from this loaf, he’ll be alive in the new age. Now the bread that I’ll give for the life of the world is my own flesh."

(Then the people got into a big hassle with one another over this.)

The people:        "How can this cat give us his flesh to eat?"

Jesus:                 "I want to make it clear to you that if you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the son of man, you’ll have inner life. He who feasts on my flesh and drinks my blood has spiritual life, and I’ll make him new in the final hour. My flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. He who feasts on my flesh and drinks my blood lives on in me and I in him. Even as the living Father sent me, so does the Father sustain me. And the one who feasts on me will also be sustained by me. This, I say, is the food that descended from on high. He who feasts on this food will be alive in the new age." These words were spoken while I was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Well, upon hearing all this, a good number of my students said, "This lesson is mighty hard to swallow. Who can take it?"
            When I realized that my students were griping about this, I said to them, "Does this gag you? What if you should see the son of man ascending to his former position? Listen, it is the spirit that makes a man alive; the body does nothing for him. It is spirit and life that I’ve been talking to you about, but some of you still don’t go for it!" I continued, "That’s why I told you that nobody could come my way unless he were motivated by the Father."

 At this point a lot of my students called it quits and dropped out. So I said to the twelve, "Do you too want to leave?"

Rock:                 Sir, to whom shall we turn? You have the words of spiritual life. Besides, we have confidence and knowledge that you are God’s special One.

Jesus:                 Following this, I went on a tour of Galilee. I had no desire to tour Judea, because the Jews there were trying to kill me. When the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, the Jews were trying to find me at the Feast and were asking, "Where is that guy?" Quite an argument broke out among the crowd. Some said, "He’s great." Others said, "Naw, he’s an outside agitator." But nobody would express himself freely about me, because they were afraid of one another.

When the Feast was about half over, I went up to the temple courts and began teaching. People were really amazed by me.

The crowd:         How can this guy be so educated without going to college?

Jesus:                 "I am not a self-educated man; my instruction came from the One who sent me. If anybody truly wants to do God’s will, he or she will be convinced as to whether this instruction is from God or not.

When one seeks the credit of his sender, then he is honest and above board.

Look, you’ve been given the Bible, haven’t you? It says, “Thou shall not kill.” So then, why are you trying to kill me?"

The crowd:         You’re crazy in the bead; who’s trying to kill you?" "Just because I did some work on the Sunday you’re all in a tizzy. All right, now listen. The Bible tells you to baptize—well, not exactly, but it is a Christian tradition—and you have no qualms about baptizing on the Sunday. If you break the Sunday just to baptize a baby, then what is wrong with my healing people on the Sunday? Don’t hold to opinions because they’re popular but because they’re right. 

Other people:     Isn’t this the fellow they’re trying to get rid of? Well, what do you know, there he is preaching in public! Do you reckon the Establishment honestly believes that this cat is the Leader? Of course, where the Leader comes from nobody knows, but we do know where this man s from.

Jesus:                 "Okay, you know me and where I’m from. Yet you don’t know the True One who sent me. I do know him, because I am from him and he sent me.”

They set in to trap me, but nobody laid a finger on me because it wasn’t yet my day. But on the other hand, a considerable number did come over to my side.

The group:          Suppose our great Leader should arise, would he be able to do anything this man isn’t doing?

Jesus:                 When the church people heard that his poll rating was rising, they got together with their officials and sent some hoods to rough him up. Then I said, "I’ll be with you a little while longer, and then I’m going to him who sent me. You’ll look for me but won’t find me, because I’ll be where you can’t come. The good folks said to one another, "Where do you reckon he’ll be going that we can’t find him? Does he plan to go to the Muslims and teach the Muslims? What did he mean when he said, ‘You’ll look for me and won’t find me, and I’ll be where you can’t come’?"

On the big day at the close of the revival, I got up and shouted, "If anyone is thirsting, let him come to me and drink. From the heart of the man who lives, my life will flow, as the Bible says, floods of life-giving water."

I was referring to the Spirit, which those who live my life were to receive. There was not yet a Spirit because I still hadn’t brought things to a climax.

The crowd’s reaction to my message varied.

Person A:           There’s no doubt about it; this is the Man of God.

Others:               yeah!

Person B:           He is the heaven-sent Leader.

Others:               yeah!

Person C:           The heaven-sent Leader isn’t a hillbilly, is he? Doesn’t the Bible predict that he’ll come from an old-line family in south New York?

Others:               yeah?

Jesus:                 So the crowd was split over me. Some of them even wanted to kill me, but nobody put their hands on me. 

Then I went out to the Mount of Olives.  Early next morning I returned to the church, where a crowd gathered and I began teaching them. Then some preachers and members of the official board led in a lady caught with someone she wasn’t married to. They stood her up front and said to me, "Professor, this woman was caught in the act of extramarital relationship. Now our Bible specifically condemns such an act. What do you say about it?" I looked down and wrote in the sand with my finger. And when they kept on pestering me, I glanced up and said, "Okay, let the man whose heart is pure lead off." I looked down again and kept writing in the sand. They got the point and, beginning with the elders, they sneaked out one by one, until only I was left with the lady standing in front of me. I looked up and said to her, "Where did they all go, ma’am? Didn’t anybody condemn you?" She said, "Not a soul, sir." I said, "Well, I surely don’t condemn you. Run along now, and don’t do it again."

And the following discussion took place while I was teaching. Once more I was telling people, "I am the light of the world. He who lets me lead him will never stumble in the dark, but will have life’s light."

The people:        Now you’re blowing your own horn. What you’re saying just isn’t so.

Jesus:                 All right, even if I am blowing my own horn, I’m telling the truth, because I know where I came from and where I’m going. But you all know neither of these things about me. You measure by human standards; I don’t measure anybody. But even if I should measure a man, I would do so honestly, because I wouldn’t do it alone but with him who sent me. Even in your Bible it says that the evidence of two witnesses is reliable. Now, I’m testifying in my own behalf, and the Father who sent me is also testifying for me."

The people:       Where is your father?

Jesus:                 “You don’t understand me, and you don’t understand my Father. If you had understood me, you would have understood my Father.”

 And nobody arrested me because it just wasn’t my day yet. So, I continue. 

"I’m leaving and you’ll look for me, and you’ll rot in your mess. You can’t come where I’m going."

The people:        Do you reckon he’s considering suicide—talking about ‘you can’t come where I’m going’?

Jesus:                 I am not talking in the human point of view, but in the divine. I am not belonging to the old order. That’s why I would not rot.

If you wake up to who I am, you will last too.        

The people:        Who are you?

Jesus:                 "I am what I’ve been telling you all along. I have many things about you to tell and discuss, He who sent me is for real, and I am repeating in the world what I’ve heard from him."

(They still didn’t understand that I was talking to them about my Father.)

"When you respect the son of man, then you will know who I am and that I do nothing on my own. I speak only the things my Father taught me. And he who sent me backs me up and doesn’t leave me alone, because I am always engaged in the things he wants."

These words convinced many to come over to me. So I said to the good folks who had come over to me, "If y’all stick by what I’ve said, you are honest followers of mine. You’ll understand the truth, and the truth will liberate you.

The people:       But we are blue-blooded folks, and have never been anybody’s slave. Why, then, are you telling us, ‘You’ll be liberated’?

Jesus:                 "Everyone who is addicted to sin is sin’s slave. Now the slave never lives in ‘the big house’: the free-born son lives there. So then, if the Son liberates you, you are genuinely liberated. I know that you are blue-blooded folks, but just the same you’re trying to do me in because my ideas don’t appeal to you. I’m preaching what I’ve actually seen from the Father; but you, you’re practicing what you’ve heard from your father."

The people:        Our father is Abraham the original good man.

Jesus:                 "If indeed you are sons of the original good man, you would act like it. But here you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I got from the Father. A really good man would never stoop to that. Yes, you’re behaving like your father’s children all right."

The people:       We aren’t bastards. The One God is our Father.

Jesus:                 "If God were truly your Father, you would love me, for God sent me and that’s why I’m here. I haven’t come simply of my own accord; God sent me. What’s the matter? Aren’t you catching on to what I’m saying? Perhaps it’s because you can’t take my ideas. You fellows are the sons of your daddy, the Confuser, and you are determined to carry out your daddy's desires. Well, your daddy has always been a man-killer, and has never sided with the truth, because there’s no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is simply repeating himself, because he’s a liar and the daddy of liars. But when I tell you the truth you don’t believe me. Can any of you prove me guilty of any wrongdoing? Okay, if I’m shooting straight, why don’t you believe me? When a man is rooted in God, he pays attention to what God says. Since you don’t pay attention, it is clear that you’re not rooted in God."

The people:        We sure hit the nail on the head when we said that you are a Samaritan and are full of the demons.

Jesus:                 "I am not full of the demons, but I do respect my Father, even though you all disrespect me. I’m not concerned about making a name for myself; however, there is One who is concerned about his name and has the final say-so. I tell you for a fact that if a person latches onto my idea, be will surely be immortal."

The people:        (they shouted at me) “Now we’re positively sure that you’re full of the demons, Look, both Abraham and the old prophets of God passed away, yet you are saying, ‘If a person latches onto my idea, he will surely be immortal.’ Do you think you’re greater than our farther Abraham? Well, he died, as did the prophets. So what do you make of yourself?"

Jesus:                 "If I okay myself, my okay is no good. The one who okays me is my Father, who you claim is your God. But you have no knowledge of him. I do, though, and even if I said I didn’t, I’d only be a liar like you. I truly do know him and I carry out his idea. Abraham, your farther, was tickled pink that he should catch a glimpse of my rule—and he did see it and was delighted."

The people:       So you’ve seen Abraham even though you’re not yet fifty?"

Jesus:                 "I existed before Abraham was born."

            They picked up rocks to throw at me, but I hid and then ducked out of the church.

Jesus:                 Walking down the street, we saw a blind man from birth.

My students:        "Pastor, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?"

Jesus:                 "That is an irresponsible question. You are not here to find someone to blame. Don’t try to judge but look instead for what God can do. We need to be at work for the One who sent us here, working while the sun shines. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world's Light."

Then I spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man's eyes, and said:

"Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam" (Siloam means "Sent").

The man went and washed—and saw.

Soon the town was buzzing. His relatives and those who year after year had seen him as a blind man begging were saying, "Why, isn't this the man we knew, who sat here and begged?" Others said, "It's him all right!"  But others objected, "It's not the same man at all. It just looks like him." He said, "It's me, the very one."

The people:        How did your eyes get opened?

The healed:         A man named Jesus made a paste and rubbed it on my eyes and told me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' I did what he said. When I washed, I saw.

The people:        So where is he?

The healed:         I don't know.

Jesus:                 They marched the man to the Pharisees. The day when I made the paste and healed his blindness was the Sabbath. The Pharisees grilled him again on how he had come to see. He said, "He put a clay paste on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see."

Pharisee 1:         Obviously, this man can't be from God. He doesn't keep the Sabbath.

Pharisee 2:         How can a bad man do miraculous, God-revealing things like this?

Jesus:                 There was a split in their ranks. They came back at the man.

Pharisees:           You're the expert. He opened your eyes. What do you say about him?  

The healed:         He is a prophet.

Jesus:                 The Jews didn't believe it, didn't believe the man was blind to begin with. So they called the parents of the man now bright-eyed with sight.

The Jews:           Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? So how is it that he now sees?

The parents:       We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But we don't know how he came to see—haven't a clue about who opened his eyes. Why don't you ask him? He's a grown man and can speak for himself.

Jesus:                 His parents were talking like this because they were intimidated by the Jewish leaders, who had already decided that anyone who took a stand that this was the Messiah would be kicked out of the meeting place. That's why his parents said, "Ask him. He's a grown man."

They called the man back a second time—the man who had been blind— and told him,

The Jews:           Give credit to God. We know this man is an impostor.

The healed:         I know nothing about that one way or the other. But I know one thing for sure: I was blind . . . I now see.

The Jews:           What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?

The healed:         I've told you over and over and you haven't listened. Why do you want to hear it again? Are you so eager to become his students?

The Jews:           (With that they jumped all over him.) "You might be a student of that man, but we're students of Moses. We know for sure that God spoke to Moses, but we have no idea where this man even comes from.

The healed:         This is amazing! You claim to know nothing about him, but the fact is, he opened my eyes! It's well known that God isn't at the beck and call of sinners, but listens carefully to anyone who lives in reverence and does his will. That someone opened the eyes of a man born blind has never been heard of—ever. If this man didn't come from God, he wouldn't be able to do anything.

The Jews:           You're nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone with us!

Jesus:                 Then they threw him out in the street. I heard that they had thrown him out, and went and found him. I asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

The healed:         Point him out to me, sir, so that I can believe in him.

Jesus:                 You're looking right at him. Don't you recognize my voice?

The healed:         Master, I believe," the man said, and worshiped me.

Jesus:                 "I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind."

Pharisee 3:         Does that mean you're calling us blind?

Jesus:                 If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you're accountable for every fault and failure."

                          "Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They follow his voice because they are used to the sound of his voice."

 I told this simple story, but they had no idea what I was talking about.[5] So I tried again. "I'll be explicit, then. I am like the Gate for the sheep. The sheep pass through me. I am the responsible Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

"I am the Good Shepherd. Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. I am a real shepherd. The sheep mean everything to me. The sheep matter to me.

"I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They'll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life. And so I am free to take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own free will. I have the right to lay it down; I also have the right to take it up again. I received this authority personally from my Father."

This kind of talk caused another split in the Jewish ranks. A lot of them were saying, "He's crazy, a maniac—out of his head completely. Why bother listening to him?" But others weren't so sure: "These aren't the words of a crazy man. Can a 'maniac' open blind eyes?"

They were celebrating Hanukkah just then in Jerusalem. It was winter. I was strolling in the Temple across Solomon's Porch.

The Jews:           (circling me) How long are you going to keep us guessing? If you're the Messiah, tell us straight out.

Jesus:                 "I told you, but you don't believe. Everything I have done has been authorized by my Father, actions that speak louder than words. You know what; I know that my sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected. No one can steal them from out of my hand. The Father put them under my care.  No one could ever get them away from me and my father. You know what: I and the Father are one heart and mind."

Again the Jews picked up rocks to throw at me. I said, "I have made a present to you from the Father of a great many good actions. For which of these acts do you stone me?"

The Jews:          We're not stoning you for anything good you did, but for what you said—this blasphemy of calling yourself God.

Jesus:                "I'm only quoting your inspired Bible, where God said, 'I tell you—you are gods.' If God called your ancestors 'gods'—and the Bible doesn't lie—why do you yell, 'Blasphemer! Blasphemer!' at the unique One the Father consecrated and sent into the world, just because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? If I don't do the things my Father does, well and good; don't believe me. But if I am doing them, put aside for a moment what you hear me say about myself and just take the evidence of the actions that are right before your eyes. Then perhaps things will come together for you, and you'll see that not only are we doing the same thing, we are the same—Father and Son. He is in me; I am in him."

They tried yet again to arrest me, but I slipped through their fingers. I went back across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized, and stayed there. A lot of people followed me over. They were saying, "John did no miracles, but everything he said about this man has come true." Many believed in me then and there.

                          A man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. This was the same Mary who massaged my feet with aromatic oils and then wiped them with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick. So the sisters sent word to me, saying, "Master, the one you love so very much is sick."

When I got the message, I said to my students, "This sickness is not fatal. It will become an occasion to show God's glory by glorifying God's Son."

My students knew that I loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, but, when I heard that Lazarus was sick, I stayed on where I was for two more days. After the two days, I said to my students, "Let's go back to Judea."

My students:      Pastor, you can't do that. The Jews are out to kill you, and you're going back?

Jesus:                 "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in daylight doesn't stumble because there's plenty of light from the sun.”

I said these things, and then announced, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I'm going to wake him up."

My students:       Master, if he's gone to sleep, he'll get a good rest and wake up feeling fine.

Jesus:                 I was talking about death, while my students thought I was talking about taking a nap.   Then I became explicit: "Lazarus died. And I am glad for your sakes that I wasn't there. You're about to be given new grounds for believing. Now let's go to him."

That's when Thomas, the one called the Twin, said to his companions, "Come along. We might as well die with him."

When I finally got there, I found Lazarus already four days dead. Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away, and many of the Jews were visiting Martha and Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother. Martha heard I was coming and went out to meet me. Mary remained in the house.

Martha:              Master, if you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give you.[6]

Jesus:                 "Your brother will be raised up."

Martha:              I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time.[7]

Jesus:                 "You don't have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?"

Martha:              Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world.

Jesus:                 After saying this, she went to her sister Mary and whispered in her ear, "The Teacher is here and is asking for you."

The moment she heard that, she jumped up and ran out to me. I had not yet entered the town but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When her sympathizing Jewish friends saw Mary run off, they followed her, thinking she was on her way to the tomb to weep there. Mary came to where I was waiting and fell at my feet.

Mary:                 Master, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.[8]

Jesus:                 When I saw her sobbing and the Jews with her sobbing, I got very emotional. I said, "Where did you put him?"

Mary:                 Master, come and see.

Jesus:                 Now I wept.

The Jews 1:        Look how deeply he loved him.

The Jews 2:        Well, if he loved him so much, why didn't he do something to keep him from dying? After all, he opened the eyes of a blind man.

Jesus:                 Then I got really emotional. Anyway, I arrived at the tomb. It was a simple cave in the hillside with a slab of stone laid against it. I said, "Remove the stone."

Martha:              (The sister of the dead man) "Master, by this time there's a stench. He's been dead four days!"

Jesus:                 I looked her in the eye. "Didn't I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

Then, to the others, "Go ahead, take away the stone."    They removed the stone. I raised my eyes to heaven and prayed, "Father, I'm grateful that you have listened to me. I know you always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I've spoken so that they might believe that you sent me."

Then I shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face.    I told them, "Unwrap him and let him loose."

That was a turnaround for many of the Jews who were with Mary. They saw what I did, and believed in me. But some went back to the Pharisees and told on me. The high priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Jewish ruling body.

Religious leader:

What do we do now? This man keeps on doing things, creating God-signs. If we let him go on, pretty soon everyone will be believing in him and the Romans will come and remove what little power and privilege we still have.

Jesus:                              Then one of them—it was Caiaphas, the designated Chief Priest that year—spoke up.

Caiaphas:          Don't you know anything? Can't you see that it's to our advantage that one man dies for the people rather than the whole nation be destroyed?

Jesus:                  He didn't say this of his own accord, but as Chief Priest that year he unwittingly prophesied that I was about to die sacrificially for the nation, and not only for the nation but so that all God's exile-scattered children might be gathered together into one people.

From that day on, they plotted to kill me. So I no longer went out in public among the Jews. I withdrew into the country bordering the desert to a town called Ephraim and secluded myself there with my students.

The Jewish Passover was coming up. Crowds of people were making their way from the country up to Jerusalem to get themselves ready for the Feast. They were curious about me. There was a lot of talk of me among those standing around in the Temple: "What do you think? Do you think he'll show up at the Feast or not?"

Meanwhile, the high priests and Pharisees gave out the word that anyone getting wind of me should inform them. They were all set to arrest me.

                          Six days before Passover, I entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited me to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged my feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house. Judas Iscariot, one of my students, even then getting ready to betray me, said,

Judas:                 Why wasn't this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces.

Jesus:                 "Let her alone. She's anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you. You don't always have me."

Word got out that I was back in town. The people came to take a look, not only at me but also at Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead. So the high priests plotted to kill Lazarus because so many of the Jews were going over and believing in me on account of him.

The next day the huge crowd that had arrived for the Feast heard that I was entering New York City. They broke off branches and went out to meet me. And they cheered:   “Hosanna!    Blessed is he who comes in the name of God!    Yes! The President of the nation!” I got a young donkey and rode it, just as the Bible has it:

                          No fear, Daughters of New York City:
                          See how your president comes,
                          riding a donkey's colt.

The students didn't notice the fulfillment of the Bible at the time, but after I was glorified, they remembered that what was written about me matched what was done to me.

The crowd that had been with me when I called Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, was there giving eyewitness accounts. It was because they had spread the word of this latest God-sign that the crowd swelled to a welcoming parade. The Pharisees took one look and threw up their hands: "It's out of control. The world's in a stampede after him."

There were some Chinese in town who had come up to worship at the Feast. They approached Phil, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee: "Sir, we want to see Jesus. Can you help us?"

Phil went and told Andy. Andy and Phil together told me. I answered, "Time's up. The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

"Listen carefully: If a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, if you understand life, you will let it go, reckless in your love. Then you'll have it forever, real and eternal.

"If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you'll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment's notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me.

"Right now I am storm-tossed. And what am I going to say? 'Father, get me out of this'? No, this is why I came in the first place. I'll say, 'Father, put your glory on display.'"    A voice came out of the sky: "I have glorified it, and I'll glorify it again."

 The listening crowd said, "Thunder!"    Others said, "An angel spoke to him!"

I said, "The voice didn't come for me but for you. At this moment the world is in crisis. Now Satan, the ruler of this world, will be thrown out. And I, as I am lifted up from the earth, will attract everyone to me and gather them around me." I put it this way to show how I was going to be put to death.

The crowd:         We heard from the Bible that the Leader lasts forever. How can it be necessary, as you put it, that the Son of Man 'be lifted up'? Who is this 'Son of Man'?[9]

Jesus:                 "For a brief time still, the light is among you. Walk by the light you have. If you walk in the light, you know where you're going. As you have the light, believe in the light. Then the light will be within you, and shining through your lives. You'll be children of light."

I summed it all up when I cried out, "Whoever believes in me, believes not just in me but in the One who sent me. Whoever looks at me is looking, in fact, at the One who sent me. I am Light that has come into the world so that all may believe in me.

"If anyone hears what I am saying and doesn't take it seriously, I don't reject him. I didn't come to reject the world; I came to save the world.

                          I knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved my dear companions, I continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.[10]

I knew that the Father had put me in complete charge of everything, that I came from God and was on my way back to God. So I got up from the supper table, set aside my robe, and put on an apron. Then I poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the students, drying them with my apron. When I got to Simon Rock, Rock said,

Rock:                  Master, you wash my feet?

Jesus:                 You don't understand now what I'm doing, but it will be clear enough to you later."[11]

Rock:                 You're not going to wash my feet—ever!  

Jesus:                 If I don't wash you, you can't be part of what I'm doing.

Rock:                 Master! Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!

Jesus:                 If you've had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you're clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you're clean. After I had finished washing their feet, I took my robe, put it back on, and went back to my place at the table.

Then I said, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as 'Teacher' and 'Master,' and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other's feet. I've laid down a pattern for you. What I've done, you do. I'm only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn't give orders to the employer. If you understand what I'm telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life. 

"I'm not including all of you in this. I know precisely whom I've selected, so as not to interfere with the fulfillment of the Bible: “The one who ate bread at my table Turned on his heel against me.”

"I'm telling you all this ahead of time so that when it happens you will believe that I am who I say I am. Make sure you get this right: Receiving someone I send is the same as receiving me, just as receiving me is the same as receiving the One who sent me."

After I said these things, I became visibly emotional, and then I told them why. "One of you is going to betray me."

The students looked around at one another, wondering who on earth I was talking about. One of the students was reclining against me, his head on my shoulder. Rock motioned to him to ask who I might be talking about. So, being the closest, he said, "Master, who?"

I said, "The one to whom I give this crust of bread after I've dipped it." Then I dipped the crust and gave it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. As soon as the bread was in his hand, Satan entered him. I said, “What you must do, do. Do it and get it over with."

             No one else around the supper table knew why I said this to him. Some thought that since Judas was their treasurer, I was telling him to buy what they needed for the Feast, or that he should give something to the poor.

                           Judas, with the piece of bread, left. It was night.  

 When Judas had left, I said, “the human being Son of Man is now glorified, because God is glorified within me. The moment God is seen in him, the glory of God displays. In glorifying the Son, God is glorified: glory all around!

"My children, I am with you for only a short time longer. You are going to look high and low for me. But just as I told everyone, I'm telling you: 'Where I go, you are not able to come.'

 So, let me give you a new advice: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my students—when they see the love you have for each other."

 Simon Rock:     Master, just where are you going?

Jesus:                 You can't now follow me where I'm going. You will follow later.

Rock:                 Master, why can't I follow now? I'll lay down my life for you!

Jesus:                 The truth is that before the rooster crows, you'll deny me three times.

                           (Silence)

                          "Don't let this throw you. You trust God, don't you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father's home. If that weren't so, would I have told you that I'm on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I'm on my way to get your room ready, I'll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I'm taking."

Thomas:             Master, we have no idea where you're going. How do you expect us to know the road?

Jesus:                 I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You've even seen him!

Phil:                    Master, show us the Father; then we'll be content.

Jesus:                 "You've been with me all this time, Phil, and you still don't understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, 'Where is the Father?' Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren't mere words. I don't just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act.

                           "Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can't believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I'm doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I've been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I'll do it. That's how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I'll do. 

"If you love me, show it by doing what I've told you. I will talk to the Father, and he'll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can't take him in because it doesn't have eyes to see him, doesn't know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!

 "I will not leave you orphaned. I'm coming back. In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you're going to see me because I am alive and you're about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely that I'm in my Father, and you're in me, and I'm in you.

"The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that's who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.

Judas (not Iscariot):         Master, why is it that you are about to make yourself plain to us but not to the world?

Jesus:                 "Because a loveless world is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we'll move right into the neighborhood! Not loving me means not keeping my words. The message you are hearing isn't mine. It's the message of the Father who sent me.

"I'm telling you these things while I'm still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. The Spirit will remind you of all the things I have told you. I'm leaving you well and whole. That's my parting gift to you. Peace. I don't leave you the way you're used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don't be upset. Don't be distraught.

 "You've heard me tell you, 'I'm going away, and I'm coming back.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I'm on my way to the Father because the Father is the goal and purpose of my life.

 "I've told you this ahead of time, before it happens, so that when it does happen, the confirmation will deepen your belief in me. I'll not be talking with you much more like this because the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don't worry—he has nothing on me, no claim on me. But so the world might know how thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out my Father's instructions right down to the last detail.

                           "Get up. Let's go. It's time to leave here."

(Jesus turning around)

"I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.

"Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me.

"I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my students.

             “I have loved you as the Father has loved me. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love one another as I have loved you. 

            This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father.

             "You didn't choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won't spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.

             "But remember the root command: Love one another.         

             "If you find the godless world is hating you, remember it got its start hating me. If you lived on the world's terms, the world would love you as one of its own. But since I picked you to live on God's terms and no longer on the world's terms, the world is going to hate you.

"When that happens, remember this: Servants don't get better treatment than their masters. If they beat on me, they will certainly beat on you. If they did what I told them, they will do what you tell them.

"They are going to do all these things to you because of the way they treated me, because they don't know the One who sent me. If I hadn't come and told them all this in plain language, it wouldn't be so bad. As it is, they have no excuse. Hate me, hate my Father—it's all the same. If I hadn't done what I have done among them, works no one has ever done, they wouldn't be to blame. But they saw the God-signs and hated anyway, both me and my Father. Interesting—they have verified the truth of their own Bible where it is written, 'They hated me for no good reason.'

"When the Friend I plan to send you from the Father comes—the Spirit of Truth issuing from the Father—he will confirm everything about me. You, too, from your side must give your confirming evidence, since you are in this with me from the start."

"I need to tell you these things. There will be some people who may throw you out of the meeting places. There will even come a time when anyone who kills you will think he's doing God a favor. They will do these things because they never really understood the Father. I've told you these things so that when the time comes and they start in on you, you'll be well-warned and ready for them. 

"I didn't tell you this earlier because I was with you every day. But now I am on my way to the One who sent me. Not one of you has asked, 'Where are you going?' Instead, the longer I've talked, the sadder you've become. So let me say it again, this truth: It's better for you that I leave. If I don't leave, the Friend won't come. But if I go, I'll send him to you.

            "When he comes, he'll expose the error of the godless world's view of sin, righteousness, and judgment: He'll show them that their refusal to believe in me is their basic sin; that righteousness comes from above, where I am with the Father, out of their sight and control; that judgment takes place as the ruler of this godless world is brought to trial and convicted.

            "I still have many things to tell you, but you can't handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won't draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you. Everything the Father has is also mine. That is why I've said, 'He takes from me and delivers to you.'

             "In a day or so you're not going to see me, but then in another day or so you will see me."   

            That stirred up a hornet's nest of questions among the students: "What's he talking about: 'In a day or so you're not going to see me, but then in another day or so you will see me'? And, 'Because I'm on my way to the Father'? What is this 'day or so'? We don't know what he's talking about."

          I knew they were dying to ask me what I meant, so I said, "Are you trying to figure out among yourselves what I meant when I said, 'In a day or so you're not going to see me, but then in another day or so you will see me'? Then fix this firmly in your minds: You're going to be in deep mourning while the godless world throws a party. You'll be sad, very sad, but your sadness will develop into gladness.

           "When a woman gives birth, she has a hard time, there's no getting around it. But when the baby is born, there is joy in the birth. This new life in the world wipes out memory of the pain. The sadness you have right now is similar to that pain, but the coming joy is also similar. When I see you again, you'll be full of joy, and it will be a joy no one can rob from you. You'll no longer be so full of questions.[12]

             "This is what I want you to do: Ask the Father for whatever is in keeping with the things I've revealed to you. Ask in my name, according to my will, and he'll most certainly give it to you. Your joy will be a river overflowing its banks!

            "I've used figures of speech in telling you these things. Soon I'll drop the figures and tell you about the Father in plain language. Then you can make your requests directly to him in relation to this life I've revealed to you. I won't continue making requests of the Father on your behalf. I won't need to. Because you've gone out on a limb, committed yourselves to love and trust in me, believing I came directly from the Father, the Father loves you directly. First, I left the Father and arrived in the world; now I leave the world and travel to the Father."

My students:       "Finally! You're giving it to us straight, in plain talk—no more figures of speech. Now we know that you know everything—it all comes together in you. You won't have to put up with our questions anymore. We're convinced you came from God."

Jesus:                 "Do you finally believe? In fact, you're about to make a run for it—saving your own skins and abandoning me. But I'm not abandoned. The Father is with me. I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world."

After I said these things, I raise my eyes in prayer: Father, it's time. Display the glory of your Son, so the Son in turn may show your glory. You put him in charge of everything human, so he might give real and eternal life to all.

And this is the real and eternal life: That they know you, the one and only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.  

I glorified you on earth by completing what you assigned me to do.  And now, Father, glorify me with your very own glory, the very glory I had with you before there was a world.

I spelled out your character in detail to the men and women you gave me.
   They were yours in the first place; then you gave them to me, and they have now done what you said.  They know now that everything you gave me is firsthand from you, for the message you gave me, I gave them; and they took it, and were convinced that I came from you.

They believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I'm praying for those you gave me, for they are yours.     Everything mine is yours, and yours mine, and my life is on display in them.       For I'm no longer going to be visible in the world, but they'll continue in the world while I return to you.
                Holy Daddy, guard them as they pursue this life that you conferred as a gift through me, so they can be one heart and mind as we are one heart and mind.
                As long as I was with them, I guarded them in the pursuit of the life you gave through me; I even posted a night watch.        

Now I'm returning to you. I'm saying these things in the world's hearing, so my people can experience my joy completed in them.
                I gave them your word. Guard them in the world. They are more defined by who I am. Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth; your word is consecrating truth. In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world.
                I'm consecrating myself for their sakes so they'll be truth-consecrated in their mission.

I'm praying not only for them but also for those who will believe in me, because of them and their witness about me. The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, so they might be one heart and mind with us.
                Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
                The same glory you gave me, I gave them, so they'll be as unified and together as we are— I in them and you in me.
                Then they'll be mature in this oneness, and give the godless world evidence that you've sent me and loved them in the same way you've loved me.

Father, I want those you gave me to be with me, right where I am,
             So they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me, having loved me long before there ever was a world.
             Righteous Father, the world has never known you, but I have known you, and these students know that you sent me on this mission.
             I have made your very being known to them— who you are and what you do—and continue to make it known, so that your love for me might be in them exactly as I am in them.

                           Having prayed this prayer, I left with my students and went to a place where there was a garden. My students and I entered it. Judas knew the place because my students and I went there often. So Judas led the way to the garden, and the Roman soldiers and police sent by the high priests and Pharisees followed. They arrived there with lanterns and torches and swords. I, knowing by now everything that was coming down on me, went out and met them. I said, "Who are you after?"    They answered, "Jesus the Nazarene."

            I said, "That's me." The soldiers recoiled, totally taken aback. Judas, his betrayer, stood out like a sore thumb.

             I asked again, "Who are you after?"    They answered, "Jesus the Nazarene."

            "I told you," said I, "that's me. I'm the one. So if it's me you're after, let these others go." (This validated the words in his prayer, "I didn't lose one of those you gave.")

            Just then Simon Rock, who was carrying a sword, pulled it from its sheath and struck the Chief Priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. Malchus was the servant's name.[13]

             I ordered Rock, "Put back your switchblade. Do you think for a minute I'm not going to drink this cup the Father gave me?"

Then the Roman soldiers under their commander, joined by the Jewish police, seized me and tied me up. They took me first to Annas, father-in-law of Caiaphas. Caiaphas was the Chief Priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it was to their advantage that one man die for the people.

   Simon Rock and John followed me. John was known to the Chief Priest, and so he went in with me to the Chief Priest's courtyard. Rock had to stay outside. Then John went out, spoke to the doorkeeper, and got Rock in.

The young woman who was the doorkeeper said to Rock, "Aren't you one of this man's students?"   He said, "No, I'm not."

The servants and police had made a fire because of the cold and were huddled there warming themselves. Rock stood with them, trying to get warm.  

Annas interrogated me regarding my students and my teaching. I answered, "I've spoken openly in public. I've taught regularly in meeting places and the Temple, where the Jews all come together. Everything has been out in the open. I've said nothing in secret. So why are you treating me like a conspirator? Question those who have been listening to me. They know well what I have said. My teachings have all been aboveboard."

When I said this, one of the policemen standing there slapped me across the face, saying, "How dare you speak to the Chief Priest like that!"

I replied, "If I've said something wrong, prove it. But if I've spoken the plain truth, why this slapping around?"

  Then Annas sent me, still tied up, to the Chief Priest Caiaphas.

Meanwhile, Simon Rock was back at the fire, still trying to get warm. The others there said to him, "Aren't you one of his students?"    He denied it, "Not me."

  One of the Chief Priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Rock had cut off, said, "Didn't I see you in the garden with him?"

Again, Rock denied it. Just then a rooster crowed.

They led me then from Caiaphas to the governor's palace. It was early morning. They themselves didn't enter the palace because they didn't want to be disqualified from eating the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and spoke. "What charge do you bring against this man?"

  They said, "If he hadn't been doing something evil, do you think we'd be here bothering you?"

Pilate:                 You take him. Judge him by your law.

The Jews:           We're not allowed to kill anyone.

Jesus:                 This would confirm my word indicating the way he would die.             Pilate went back into the palace and called for me.

Pilate:                 Are you the 'President of the Jews'?

Jesus:                 Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you this about me?

Pilate:                 Do I look like a Jew!!! Your people and your high priests turned you over to me! What did you do?

Jesus:                 My kingdom doesn't consist of what you see around you. If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn't be handed over to the Jews. But I'm not that kind of president, not the world's kind of president.

Pilate:                 So, are you a president or not?

Jesus:                 You tell me. Because I am King, I was born and entered the world so that I could witness to the truth. Everyone who cares for truth, who has any feeling for the truth, recognizes my voice.

Pilate:                 What is truth?

Jesus:                  Then he went back out to the Jews and told them:  

Pilate:                 I find nothing wrong in this man. It's your custom that I pardon one prisoner at Passover. Do you want me to pardon the 'President of the Jews'?

The Jews:           Not this one, but Barabbas!" Barabbas was a Jewish freedom fighter.[14]

Jesus:                 So Pilate took me and had me whipped. The soldiers, having braided a crown from thorns, set it on his head, threw a purple robe over me, and approached me with, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Then they greeted me with slaps in the face.

Pilate went back out again and said to them, "I present him to you, but I want you to know that I do not find him guilty of any crime." Just then Jesus came out wearing the thorn crown and purple robe.    Pilate announced, "Here he is: the Man."

When the high priests and police saw him, they shouted in a frenzy, "Crucify! Crucify!" Pilate told them, "You take him. You crucify him. I find nothing wrong with him." 

The Jews:           We have a law, and by that law he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God.

Jesus:                 When Pilate heard this, he became even more scared. He went back into the palace and said to me:

Peter:                 Where did you come from?

Jesus:                 (I gave no answer.)

Pilate:                 You won't talk? Don't you know that I have the authority to pardon you, and the authority to—crucify you?

Jesus:                 "You haven't a shred of authority over me except what has been given you from heaven. That's why the one who betrayed me to you has committed a far greater fault."

At this, Pilate tried his best to pardon me, but the Jews shouted him down: "If you pardon this man, you're no friend of Caesar's. Anyone setting himself up as 'president' defies Caesar."

When Pilate heard those words, he led me outside. He sat down at the judgment seat in the area designated Stone Court. It was the preparation day for Passover. The hour was noon.

Pilate:                 Here is your president.

The crowd:        (They shouted back) Kill him! Kill him! Crucify him!

Pilate:                 I am to crucify your president?

The high priests:               We have no president except Caesar.

Jesus:                 Pilate caved in to their demand. He turned him over to be crucified.

They took me away. Carrying my cross, I went out to the place called Skull Hill, where they crucified me, and with me two others, one on each side, I in the middle. Pilate wrote a sign and had it placed on the cross. It read:

   Jesus the Nazarene
   the President of the Jews.

Many of the Jews read the sign because the place where I was crucified was right next to the city. The Jewish high priests objected and said to Pilate:

The high priests: Don't write, ‘The President of the Jews.’ Make it, ‘This man claimed, "I am the President of the Jews.’”

Pilate:                 What I've written, I've written.

Jesus:                 When they crucified me, the Roman soldiers took my clothes and divided them up four ways, to each soldier a fourth. But his robe was seamless, a single piece of weaving, so they said to each other, "Let's not tear it up. Let's throw dice to see who gets it." This confirmed the Bible that said, "They divided up my clothes among them and threw dice for my coat." (The soldiers validated the Bible!)

While the soldiers were looking after themselves, my mother, my aunt, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene stood at the foot of the cross. I saw my mother and John standing near her. I said to my mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then to John, "Here is your mother." From that moment John accepted her as his own mother.

I, seeing that everything had been completed so that the Bible record might also be complete, then said, "I'm thirsty."

A jug of sour wine was standing by. Someone put a sponge soaked with the wine on a javelin and lifted it to my mouth. After I took the wine, I said, "It's done . . . complete." Bowing my head, I offered up my spirit.

Then the Jews, since it was the day of Sabbath preparation, and so the bodies wouldn't stay on the crosses over the Sabbath (it was a high holy day that year), petitioned Pilate that their legs be broken to speed death, and the bodies taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man crucified with Jesus, and then the other. When they got to me, they saw that I was already dead, so they didn't break my legs. One of the soldiers stabbed me in the side with his spear. Blood and water gushed out.

These things that happened confirmed the Bible, "Not a bone in his body was broken," and the other Bible that reads, "They will stare at the one they pierced."

After all this, Joseph of Arimathea (he was a student of mine, but secretly, because he was intimidated by the Jews) petitioned Pilate to take the body of mine. Pilate gave permission. So Joseph came and took the body.

Nicodemus, who had first come to me at night, came now in broad daylight carrying a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. They took my body and, following the Jewish burial custom, wrapped it in linen with the spices. There was a garden near the place I was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed. So, because it was Sabbath preparation for the Jews and the tomb was convenient, they placed me in it.

Jesus:                 Early in the Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. She ran at once to Simon Rock and John, breathlessly panting, "They took the Master from the tomb. We don't know where they've put him."

Rock and the other student left immediately for the tomb. They ran, neck and neck. John got to the tomb first, outrunning Rock. Stooping to look in, he saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in. Simon Rock arrived after him, entered the tomb, observed the linen cloths lying there, and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself.

Then John who had gotten there first, went into the tomb, took one look at the evidence, and believed. No one yet understood from the Bible that I had to rise from the dead. My students then went back home.

But Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where the body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

One angel:          Woman, why are you crying?

Mary:                 They took my Lord away, and I don't know where they put him."

Jesus:                 Woman, why do you crying? Who are you looking for?

Mary:                 Mister, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.

Jesus:                 Mary.

Mary:                 (She turned toward me and cried out) My teacher.

Jesus:                 Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "

Mary Magdalene went to the students with the news: "I saw the Lord!" And she told them everything I said to her. 

Later on that day, the students had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. I entered, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you." Then I showed them my hands and side.

The students, seeing me, with their own eyes, were exuberant. I repeated my greeting: "Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you."

Then I took a deep breath and breathed into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good. If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?"

But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when I came. The other students told him, "We saw the Master."

Thomas:             Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won't believe it."

Jesus:                 Eight days later, my students were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. I came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you."

Then I focused my attention on Thomas. "Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don't be unbelieving. Believe."

Thomas:             My Master! My God!

Jesus:                 "So, you believe because you've seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing."

I provided far more God-revealing signs to them so that they will believe that I am the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way I personally revealed it.

                          After this, I appeared again to the students, this time at the Tiberias Sea (the Sea of Galilee). This is how I did it: Simon Rock, Thomas (nicknamed "Twin"), Nat from Cana in Galilee, the brothers Zebedee, and two other students were together. Simon Rock announced, "I'm going fishing."

The rest of them replied, "We're going with you." They went out and got in the boat. They caught nothing that night. When the sun came up, I was standing on the beach, but they didn't recognize me.

I spoke to them: "Good morning! Did you catch anything for breakfast?"    They answered, "No."

I said, "Throw the net off the right side of the boat and see what happens." [15]

They did what I said. All of a sudden there were so many fish in it, they weren't strong enough to pull it in.

             Then John said to Rock, "It's the Master!"

When Simon Rock realized that it was the Master, he threw on some clothes, for he was stripped for work, and dove into the sea. The other students came in by boat for they weren't far from land, a hundred yards or so, pulling along the net full of fish. When they got out of the boat, they saw a fire laid, with fish and bread cooking on it.

I said, "Bring some of the fish you've just caught." Simon Rock joined them and pulled the net to shore—153 big fish! And even with all those fish, the net didn't rip.

I said, "Breakfast is ready." Not one of the students dared ask, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Master.

I then took the bread and gave it to them. I did the same with the fish. This was now the third time I had shown myself alive to the students since being raised from the dead. 

After breakfast, I said to Simon Rock, "Simon Johnson, do you truly love me more than these?"

Rock:               "Yes, Lord, you know I love you."

Jesus:                 "Feed my lambs."

"Simon, Johnson, do you truly love me?"

Rock:                "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."

Jesus:                 "Shepherd my sheep."

"Simon, Johnson, do you love me?"

Rock was embarrassed because I asked him for the third time, "Do you love me?"

Rock:                 "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."

Jesus:                 "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted, but when are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." I said this to indicate the kind of death by which Rock would glorify God. Then I said to him, "Follow me!"

Turning his head, Rock noticed John following right behind. When Rock noticed him, he asked me, "Master, what's going to happen to him?"

I said, "If I want him to live until I come again, what's that to you? You—follow me." That is how the rumor got out among the brothers that this John wouldn't die. But that is not what I said. I simply said, "If I want him to live until I come again, what's that to you?"

That is it.

There are so many other things I did. But if I am to speak of everything, one by one, I will take eternality. So, let’s finish here now.

© Hwa Ryu