John – Gospel 11 – Jesus Wakes Lazarus

Now a man named Lazarus, of Bethany, was lying ill; he belonged to the same village as Mary and her sister Martha. 2 This Mary, whose brother Lazarus was ill, was the Mary who anointed the Master with perfume, and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 The sisters, therefore, sent this message to Jesus: ‘Master, your friend is ill;’

4 And, when Jesus heard it, he said: “This illness is not to end in death, but is to rebound to the honor of God, in order that the Son of God may be honored through it.”

5 Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 6 Yet, when he heard of the illness of Lazarus, he still stayed two days in the place where he was. 7 Then, after that, he said to his disciples: “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 “Rabbi,” they replied, “the Jews were but just now seeking to stone you; and are you going there again?”

9 “Are not there twelve hours in the day?” answered Jesus. “If you walk about in the day-time, you do not stumble, because you can see the light of the sun; 10 But, if you walk about at night, you stumble, because you have not the light.” 11 And, when he had said this, he added: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going that I may wake him.”

12 “If he has fallen asleep, Master, he will get well,” said the disciples. 13 But Jesus meant that he was dead; they, however, supposed that he was speaking of natural sleep. 14 Then he said to them plainly: “Lazarus is dead; 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may learn to believe in me. But let us go to him.” 16 At this, Thomas, who was called Didymus, said to his fellow-disciples: “Let us go too, so that we may die with him.”

17 When Jesus reached the place, he found that Lazarus had been four days in the tomb already. 18 Bethany being only about two miles from Jerusalem, 19 A number of the Jews had come there to condole with Martha and Mary on their brother’s death. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat quietly at home.

21 “Master,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 Even now, I know that God will grant you whatever you ask him.” 23 “Your brother shall rise to life,” said Jesus.

24 “I know that he will,” replied Martha, “in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 “I am the resurrection and the life,” said Jesus. “He that believes in me shall live, though he die; 26 And he who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes Master,” she answered; “I have learned to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

28 After saying this, Martha went and called her sister Mary, and whispered: “The Teacher is here, and is asking for you.” 29 As soon as Mary heard that, she got up quickly, and went to meet him. 30 Jesus had not then come into the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 So the Jews, who were in the house with Mary, consoling her, when they saw her get up quickly and go out, followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

32 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she threw herself at his feet. “Master,” she exclaimed, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died!” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her weeping also, he groaned deeply, and was greatly distressed.

34 “Where have you buried him?” he asked. “Come and see, Master,” they answered. 35 Jesus burst into tears. 36 “How he must have loved him!” the Jews exclaimed; 37 But some of them said: “Could not this man, who gave sight to the blind man, have also prevented Lazarus from dying?”

38 Again groaning inwardly, Jesus came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against the mouth of it. 39 “Move the stone away,” said Jesus. “Master,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time the smell must be offensive, for this is the fourth day since his death.” 40 “Did not I tell you,” replied Jesus, “that, if you would believe in me, you should see the glory of God?”

41 So they moved the stone away; and Jesus, with uplifted eyes, said: “Father, I thank thee that thou has heard my prayer; 42 I know that thou always heard me; but I say this for the sake of the people standing near, so that they may believe that thou has sent me as thy messenger.”

43 Then, after saying this, Jesus called in a loud voice: “Lazarus! come out!” 44 The dead man came out, wrapped hand and foot in a winding- sheet; his face, too, had been wrapped in a cloth. “Set him free,” said Jesus, “and let him go.”

45 Because of this, many of the Jews, who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did, learned to believe in him. 46 Some of them, however, went to the Pharisees, and told them what he had done. 47 Upon this the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the high council, and said: “What are we to do, now that this man is giving so many signs? 48 If we let him alone as we are doing, everyone will believe in him; and the Romans will come and will take from us both our city and our nationality.”

49 One of them, however, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them: 50 “You are utterly mistaken. You do not consider that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, rather than the whole nation should be destroyed.” 51 Now he did not say this of his own accord; but, as high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was to die for the nation, 52 And not for the nation only, but also that he might unite in one body the children of God now scattered far and wide. 53 So from that day they plotted to put Jesus to death.

54 Because of this, Jesus did not go about publicly among the Jews any more, but left that neighborhood, and went into the country bordering on the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. 55 But the Jewish festival of the Passover was near; and many people had gone up from the country to Jerusalem for their purification before the festival began.

56 So they looked for Jesus there, and said to one another as they stood in the temple courts: “What do you think? Do you think he will come to the festival?” 57 The chief priests and the Pharisees had already issued orders that, if anyone learned where Jesus was, that person should give information so that they might arrest him.

To read the next chapter of the Book of John, please go to The Gospel of John – 12.

Challenge your perceptions on the Gospel of Christ, Jesus’s parables, and the Kingdom of God by purchasing The Lord’s Prayer book today. Produced by LivingHour.org, a Thailand-based small press dedicated to publishing unique Learning Easy Thai Language Books, as well as works on progressive spirituality.

John – Gospel 18 – Christ’s Kingdom Is Now

When Jesus had said this, he went out with his disciples and crossed the brook Cedron to a place where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples went. 2 The place was well known to Judas, the betrayer, for Jesus and his disciples had often met there. 3 So Judas (who had obtained soldiers of the Roman garrison, and some officers from the chief priests and Pharisees) came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. 4 Jesus, aware of all that was coming upon him, went to meet them, and said to them: “For whom are you looking?”

5 “Jesus of Nazareth,” was their answer. “I am he,” said Jesus. (Judas, the betrayer, was also standing with them.) 6 When Jesus said ‘I am he,’ they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he again asked for whom they were looking, and they answered: “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 “I have already told you that I am he,” replied Jesus, “so, if it is for me that you are looking, let these men go.” 9 This was in fulfillment of his words: ‘Of those whom thou has given me I have not lost one.’

10 At this, Simon Peter, who had a sword with him, drew it, and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. 11 But Jesus said to Peter: “Sheathe your sword. Shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?” 12 So the soldiers of the garrison, with their captain and the Jewish officers, arrested Jesus and bound him, 13 And took him first of all to Annas. Annas was the father-in- law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews that it was best that one man should die for the people.

15 Meanwhile Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. That disciple, being well-known to the high priest, went with Jesus into the high priest’s court-yard, 16 While Peter stood outside by the door. Presently the other disciple—the one well-known to the high priest—went out and spoke to the maidservant, and brought Peter in. 17 So the maidservant said to Peter: “Are not you also one of this man’s disciples?” “No, I am not,” he said.

18 The servants and officers were standing round a charcoal fire (which they had made because it was cold), and were warming themselves. Peter, too, was with them, standing and warming himself. 19 The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.

20 “For my part,” answered Jesus, “I have spoken to all the world openly. I always taught in some synagogue, or in the temple courts, places where all the Jews assemble, and I never spoke of anything in secret. 21 Why question me? Question those who have listened to me as to what I have spoken about to them. They must know what I said.”

22 When Jesus said this, one of the officers, who was standing near, gave him a blow with his hand. “Do you answer the high priest like that?” he exclaimed. 23 “If I said anything wrong, give evidence about it,” replied Jesus; “but if not, why do you strike me?” 24 Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

25 Meanwhile Simon Peter was standing there, warming himself; so they said to him: “Are not you also one of his disciples?” Peter denied it. “No, I am not,” he said. 26 One of the high priest’s servants, a relation of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, exclaimed: “Did not I myself see you with him in the garden?” 27 Peter again denied it; and at that moment a cock crowed.

28 From Caiaphas they took Jesus to the government house. It was early in the morning. But they did not enter the government house themselves; otherwise they should become ‘defiled,’ and so be unable to eat the Passover. 29 Therefore Pilate came outside to speak to them. “What charge do you bring against this man?” he asked.

30 “If he had not been a criminal, we should not have given him up to you,” they answered. 31 “Take him yourselves,” said Pilate, “and try him by your own law.” “We have no power to put anyone to death,” the Jews replied—32 In fulfillment of what Jesus had said when indicating the death that he was destined to die.

33 After that, Pilate went into the Government House again, and calling Jesus up, asked him: “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 “Do you ask me that yourself?” replied Jesus, “or did others say it to you about me?” 35 “Do you take me for a Jew?” was Pilate’s answer. “It is your own nation, and the chief priests, who have given you up to me. What have you done?”

36 “My kingdom,” replied Jesus, “is not of this world. If it had been so, my servants would be doing their utmost to prevent my being given up to the Jews; but now is my kingdom, not from hence.”

37 “Are you a king then?” asked Pilate. “You say that I am a king,” answered Jesus. “To this end was I born, and for this cause I came into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is on the side of truth listens to my voice.” 38 “What is truth?” asked Pilate.

After saying this, he went out to the Jews again, and said: “For my part, I find nothing with which he can be charged. 39 It is, however, the custom for me to grant you the release of one man at the Passover festival. Do you wish for the release of the King of the Jews?” 40 “No, not this man,” they shouted again, “but Barabbas!” This Barabbas was a robber.

To read the next chapter of the Book of John, please go to The Gospel of John – 19.

This Online New Testament Gospel of John is excerpted from the book The Living Hour: The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life (with New Century Gospels). Including over 200 bookmarked citations from the canonical Gospels, this Progressive Christian book appeals to the Unitarian spirit at the heart of all faiths.

Challenge your perceptions on the Gospel of Christ, Jesus’s parables, and the Kingdom of God by purchasing The Lord’s Prayer book today. Produced by LivingHour.org, a Thailand-based small press dedicated to publishing unique Learning Easy Thai Language Books, as well as works on progressive spirituality.