More of the Word
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John Chapter 11
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The Death of Lazarus
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1 ... Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village
of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 ... This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who
poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.
3 ... So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."
4 ... When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness
will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may
be glorified through it."
5 ... Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
6 ... Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two
more days.
7 ... Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back
to Judea."
8 ... "But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone
you, and yet you are going back there?"
9 ... Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours
of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this
world's light.
10 ... It is when he walks by night that he stumbles,
for he has no light."
11 ... After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our
friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."
12 ... His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better."
13 ... Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought
he meant natural sleep.
14 ... So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is
dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.
But let us go to him."
16 ... Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples,
"Let us also go, that we may die with him."
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Jesus Comforts the Sisters
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17 ... On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the
tomb for four days.
18 ... Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had
come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.
20 ... When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him,
but Mary stayed at home.
21 ... "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother
would not have died.
22 ... But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
23 ... Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise
again."
24 ... Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection
at the last day."
25 ... Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection
and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and
whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?
27 ... "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the
Son of God, who was to come into the world."
28 ... And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister
Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you."
29 ... When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.
30 ... Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the
place where Martha had met him.
31 ... When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her,
noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing
she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 ... When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell
at this feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not
have died."
33 ... When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with
her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
34 ... "Where have you laid him?" he asked.
"Come and see, Lord," they replied.
35 ... Jesus wept.
36 ... Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
37 ... But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the
blind man have kept this man from dying?"
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Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
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38 ... Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with
a stone laid across the entrance.
39 ... "Take away the stone," he said.
"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there
is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."
40 ... Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that
if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
41 ... So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father,
I thank you that you have heard me.
42 ... I knew that you always hear me, but I said
this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe
that you sent me."
43 ... When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus,
come out!"
44 ... The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of
linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and
let him go."
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The Plot to Kill Jesus
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45 ... Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen
what Jesus did, put their faith in him.
46 ... But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus
had done.
47 ... Then the chief priests and the pharisees called a meeting of the
Sanhedrin.
"What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many
miraculous signs.
48 ... If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and
then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."
49 ... Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year,
spoke up, "You know nothing at all!
50 ... You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for
the people than that the whole nation perish."
51 ... He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he
prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for
that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together
and make them one.
53 ... So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
54 ... Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead
he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where
he stayed with his disciples.
55 ... When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from
the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover.
56 ... They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area
they asked one another, "What do you think? Isn't he coming to the Feast
at all?"
57 ... But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone
found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest
him.
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Jesus Anointed at Bethany
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Chapter 12 ...
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1 ... Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus
lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
2 ... Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus
was among those reclining at the table with him.
3 ... Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she
poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house
was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4 ... But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray
him, objected, "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the
poor? It was worth a year's wages."
6 ... He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he
was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what
was put into it.
7 ... "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "It
was intended that she sould save this perfume for the day of my burial.
8 ... You will always have the poor among you, but
you will not always have me."
9 ... Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and
came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised
from the dead.
10 ... So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on
account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their
faith in him.
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The Triumphal Entry
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12 ... The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.
13 ... They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna!"
"Blessed is the King of Israel!"
14 ... Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
15 ... "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey's colt."
16 ... At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus
was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about
him and that they had done these things to him.
17 ... Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the
tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word.
18 ... Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous
sign, went out to meet him.
19 ... So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere.
Look how the whole world has gone after him!"
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Jesus Predicts His Death
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20 ... Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at
the Feast.
21 ... They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request.
"Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus."
22 ... Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
23 ... Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the
Son of Man to be glorified.
24 ... I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat
falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it
dies, it produces many seeds.
25 ... The man who loves his life will lose it, while
the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
26 ... Whoever serves me must follow me; and where
I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves
me.
27 ... "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall
I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason
I came to this hour.
28 ... Father, glorify your name!" Then a
voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again."
29 ... The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others
said an angel had spoken to him.
30 ... Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit,
not mine.
31 ... Now is the time for judgment on this world;
now the prince of this world will be driven out.
32 ... But I, when I am lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men to myself."
33 ... He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
34 ... The crowd spoke up, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ
will remain forever, so how can you say, 'The Son
of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this 'Son of Man'?"
35 ... Then Jesus told them, "You are going to have
the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before
darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where
he is going.
36 ... Put your trust in the light while you have
it, so that you may become sons of light." When he had finished
speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
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The Jews Continue in Their Unbelief
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37 ... Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence,
they still would not believe in him.
38 ... This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:
"Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord
been revealed?"
39 ... For this reason they could not believe, because as Isaiah says elsewhere:
40 ... "He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can
neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn
... and I would heal them."
41 ... Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him.
42 ... Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him.
But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear
they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men
more than praise from God.
44 ... Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes
in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.
45 ... When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent
me.
46 ... I have come into the world as a light, so
that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
47 ... "As for the person who hears my words but
does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the
world, but to save it.
48 ... There is a judge for the one who rejects me
and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn
him at the last day.
49 ... For I did not speak of my own accord, but
the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.
50 ... I know that his command leads to eternal life.
So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say."
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Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet
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Chapter 13 ...
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