Bible Reading Plan – Day 353

₃₂The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Jesus, so they and the chief priests sent some guards to arrest him. ₃₃Jesus said, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I shall go away to him who sent me. ₃₄You will look for me, but you will not find me, because you cannot go where I will be.”

₃₅The Jewish authorities said among themselves, “Where is he about to go so that we shall not find him? Will he go to the Greek cities where our people live, and teach the Greeks? ₃₆He says that we will look for him but will not find him, and that we cannot go where he will be. What does he mean?”

₃₇On the last and most important day of the festival Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, “Whoever is thirsty should come to me, and ₃₈whoever believes in me should drink. As the scripture says, ‘Streams of life-giving water will pour out from his side.’ ” ₃₉Jesus said this about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were going to receive. At that time the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not been raised to glory.

₄₀Some of the people in the crowd heard him say this and said, “This man is really the Prophet!”

₄₁Others said, “He is the Messiah!”

But others said, “The Messiah will not come from Galilee! ₄₂The scripture says that the Messiah will be a descendant of King David and will be born in Bethlehem, the town where David lived.” ₄₃So there was a division in the crowd because of Jesus. ₄₄Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

₄₅When the guards went back, the chief priests and Pharisees asked them, “Why did you not bring him?”

₄₆The guards answered, “Nobody has ever talked like this man!”

₄₇“Did he fool you, too?” the Pharisees asked them. ₄₈“Have you ever known one of the authorities or one Pharisee to believe in him? ₄₉This crowd does not know the Law of Moses, so they are under God's curse!”

₅₀One of the Pharisees there was Nicodemus, the man who had gone to see Jesus before. He said to the others, ₅₁“According to our Law we cannot condemn anyone before hearing him and finding out what he has done.”

₅₂“Well,” they answered, “are you also from Galilee? Study the Scriptures and you will learn that no prophet ever comes from Galilee.”

[ ₁Then everyone went home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ₂Early the next morning he went back to the Temple. All the people gathered round him, and he sat down and began to teach them. ₃The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery, and they made her stand before them all. ₄“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. ₅In our Law Moses commanded that such a woman must be stoned to death. Now, what do you say?” ₆They said this to trap Jesus, so that they could accuse him. But he bent over and wrote on the ground with his finger.

₇As they stood there asking him questions, he straightened himself up and said to them, “Whichever one of you has committed no sin may throw the first stone at her.” ₈Then he bent over again and wrote on the ground. ₉When they heard this, they all left, one by one, the older ones first. Jesus was left alone, with the woman still standing there. ₁₀He straightened himself up and said to her, “Where are they? Is there no one left to condemn you?”

₁₁“No one, sir,” she answered.

“Well, then,” Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, but do not sin again.”]

₁₂Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again. “I am the light of the world,” he said. “Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness.”

₁₃The Pharisees said to him, “Now you are testifying on your own behalf; what you say proves nothing.”

₁₄“No,” Jesus answered, “even though I do testify on my own behalf, what I say is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going. You do not know where I came from or where I am going. ₁₅You make judgements in a purely human way; I pass judgement on no one. ₁₆But if I were to do so, my judgement would be true, because I am not alone in this; the Father who sent me is with me. ₁₇It is written in your Law that when two witnesses agree, what they say is true. ₁₈I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me also testifies on my behalf.”

₁₉“Where is your father?” they asked him.

“You know neither me nor my Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

₂₀Jesus said all this as he taught in the Temple, in the room where the offering boxes were placed. And no one arrested him, because his hour had not come.

₂₁Again Jesus said to them, “I will go away; you will look for me, but you will die in your sins. You cannot go where I am going.”

₂₂So the Jewish authorities said, “He says that we cannot go where he is going. Does this mean that he will kill himself?”

₂₃Jesus answered, “You belong to this world here below, but I come from above. You are from this world, but I am not from this world. ₂₄That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. And you will die in your sins if you do not believe that ‘I Am Who I Am’.”

₂₅“Who are you?” they asked him.

Jesus answered, “What I have told you from the very beginning. ₂₆I have much to say about you, much to condemn you for. The one who sent me, however, is truthful, and I tell the world only what I have heard from him.”

₂₇They did not understand that Jesus was talking to them about the Father. ₂₈So he said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, you will know that ‘I Am Who I Am’; then you will know that I do nothing on my own authority, but I say only what the Father has instructed me to say. ₂₉And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”

₃₀Many who heard Jesus say these things believed in him.

₃₁So Jesus said to those who believed in him, “If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples; ₃₂you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

₃₃“We are the descendants of Abraham,” they answered, “and we have never been anybody's slaves. What do you mean, then, by saying, ‘You will be free’?”

₃₄Jesus said to them, “I am telling you the truth: everyone who sins is a slave of sin. ₃₅A slave does not belong to a family permanently, but a son belongs there for ever. ₃₆If the Son sets you free, then you will be really free. ₃₇I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are trying to kill me, because you will not accept my teaching. ₃₈I talk about what my Father has shown me, but you do what your father has told you.”

₃₉They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.”

“If you really were Abraham's children,” Jesus replied, “you would do the same things that he did. ₄₀All I have ever done is to tell you the truth I heard from God, yet you are trying to kill me. Abraham did nothing like this! ₄₁You are doing what your father did.”

“God himself is the only Father we have,” they answered, “and we are his true children.”

₄₂Jesus said to them, “If God really were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own authority, but he sent me. ₄₃Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to listen to my message. ₄₄You are the children of your father, the Devil, and you want to follow your father's desires. From the very beginning he was a murderer and has never been on the side of truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is only doing what is natural to him, because he is a liar and the father of all lies. ₄₅But I tell the truth, and that is why you do not believe me. ₄₆Which one of you can prove that I am guilty of sin? If I tell the truth, then why do you not believe me? ₄₇He who comes from God listens to God's words. You, however, are not from God, and that is why you will not listen.”

₄₈They asked Jesus, “Were we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon in you?”

₄₉“I have no demon,” Jesus answered. “I honour my Father, but you dishonour me. ₅₀I am not seeking honour for myself. But there is one who is seeking it and who judges in my favour. ₅₁I am telling you the truth: whoever obeys my teaching will never die.”

₅₂They said to him, “Now we are certain that you have a demon! Abraham died, and the prophets died, yet you say that whoever obeys your teaching will never die. ₅₃Our father Abraham died; you do not claim to be greater than Abraham, do you? And the prophets also died. Who do you think you are?”

₅₄Jesus answered, “If I were to honour myself, that honour would be worth nothing. The one who honours me is my Father — the very one you say is your God. ₅₅You have never known him, but I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey his word. ₅₆Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see the time of my coming; he saw it and was glad.”

₅₇They said to him, “You are not even fifty years old — and you have seen Abraham?”

₅₈“I am telling you the truth,” Jesus replied. “Before Abraham was born, ‘I Am’.”

₅₉Then they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and left the Temple.