John 5

1 Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem.2 Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves.3 Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves.5 One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years.6 When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, “Do you want to get well?”7 The sick man said, “Sir, when the water is stirred, I don’t have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in.”8 Jesus said, “Get up, take your bedroll, start walking.”

9 The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.
That day happened to be the Sabbath.10 The Jews stopped the healed man and said, “It’s the Sabbath. You can’t carry your bedroll around. It’s against the rules.”11 But he told them, “The man who made me well told me to. He said, ‘Take your bedroll and start walking.’”12 They asked, “Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?”13 But the healed man didn’t know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.14 A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, “You look wonderful! You’re well! Don’t return to a sinning life or something worse might happen.”15 The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.16 That is why the Jews were out to get Jesus—because he did this kind of thing on the Sabbath.17 But Jesus defended himself. “My Father is working straight through, even on the Sabbath. So am I.”

18 That really set them off. The Jews were now not only out to expose him; they were out to kill him. Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was calling God his own Father, putting himself on a level with God.
What the Father Does, the Son Does19 So Jesus explained himself at length. “I’m telling you this straight. The Son can’t independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does.

20 The Father loves the Son and includes him in everything he is doing.
“But you haven’t seen the half of it yet,21 for in the same way that the Father raises the dead and creates life, so does the Son. The Son gives life to anyone he chooses.22 Neither he nor the Father shuts anyone out. The Father handed all authority to judge over to the Son23 so that the Son will be honored equally with the Father. Anyone who dishonors the Son, dishonors the Father, for it was the Father’s decision to put the Son in the place of honor.24 “It’s urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.25 “It’s urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived—I mean right now!—when dead men and women will hear the voice of the Son of God and, hearing, will come alive.26 Just as the Father has life in himself, he has conferred on the Son life in himself.27 And he has given him the authority, simply because he is the Son of Man, to decide and carry out matters of Judgment.28 “Don’t act so surprised at all this. The time is coming when everyone dead and buried will hear his voice.29 Those who have lived the right way will walk out into a resurrection Life; those who have lived the wrong way, into a resurrection Judgment.30 “I can’t do a solitary thing on my own: I listen, then I decide. You can trust my decision because I’m not out to get my own way but only to carry out orders.31 If I were simply speaking on my own account, it would be an empty, self-serving witness.32 But an independent witness confirms me, the most reliable Witness of all.33 Furthermore, you all saw and heard John, and he gave expert and reliable testimony about me, didn’t he?34 “But my purpose is not to get your vote, and not to appeal to mere human testimony. I’m speaking to you this way so that you will be saved.35 John was a torch, blazing and bright, and you were glad enough to dance for an hour or so in his bright light.36 But the witness that really confirms me far exceeds John’s witness. It’s the work the Father gave me to complete. These very tasks, as I go about completing them, confirm that the Father, in fact, sent me.37 The Father who sent me, confirmed me. And you missed it. You never heard his voice, you never saw his appearance.38 There is nothing left in your memory of his Message because you do not take his Messenger seriously.39 “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me!40 And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.41 “I’m not interested in crowd approval.42 And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God’s love, is not on your working agenda.43 I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms.44 How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God?45 “But don’t think I’m going to accuse you before my Father. Moses, in whom you put so much stock, is your accuser.46 If you believed, really believed, what Moses said, you would believe me. He wrote of me.

47 If you won’t take seriously what he wrote, how can I expect you to take seriously what I speak?”
Bread and Fish for All

John 6

1 After this, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee (some call it Tiberias).2 A huge crowd followed him, attracted by the miracles they had seen him do among the sick.3 When he got to the other side, he climbed a hill and sat down, surrounded by his disciples.4 It was nearly time for the Feast of Passover, kept annually by the Jews.5 When Jesus looked out and saw that a large crowd had arrived, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread to feed these people?”6 He said this to stretch Philip’s faith. He already knew what he was going to do.7 Philip answered, “Two hundred silver pieces wouldn’t be enough to buy bread for each person to get a piece.”8 One of the disciples—it was Andrew, brother to Simon Peter—said,9 “There’s a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that’s a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this.”10 Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” There was a nice carpet of green grass in this place. They sat down, about five thousand of them.11 Then Jesus took the bread and, having given thanks, gave it to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish. All ate as much as they wanted.12 When the people had eaten their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the leftovers so nothing is wasted.”13 They went to work and filled twelve large baskets with leftovers from the five barley loaves.14 The people realized that God was at work among them in what Jesus had just done. They said, “This is the Prophet for sure, God’s Prophet right here in Galilee!”15 Jesus saw that in their enthusiasm, they were about to grab him and make him king, so he slipped off and went back up the mountain to be by himself.16 In the evening his disciples went down to the sea,17 got in the boat, and headed back across the water to Capernaum. It had grown quite dark and Jesus had not yet returned.18 A huge wind blew up, churning the sea.19 They were maybe three or four miles out when they saw Jesus walking on the sea, quite near the boat. They were scared senseless,20 but he reassured them, “It’s me. It’s all right. Don’t be afraid.”21 So they took him on board. In no time they reached land—the exact spot they were headed to.22 The next day the crowd that was left behind realized that there had been only one boat, and that Jesus had not gotten into it with his disciples. They had seen them go off without him.23 By now boats from Tiberias had pulled up near where they had eaten the bread blessed by the Master.24 So when the crowd realized he was gone and wasn’t coming back, they piled into the Tiberias boats and headed for Capernaum, looking for Jesus.25 When they found him back across the sea, they said, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26 Jesus answered, “You’ve come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs—and for free.
The Bread of Life27 “Don’t waste your energy striving for perishable food like that. Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last.”28 To that they said, “Well, what do we do then to get in on God’s works?”29 Jesus said, “Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God’s works.”30 They waffled: “Why don’t you give us a clue about who you are, just a hint of what’s going on? When we see what’s up, we’ll commit ourselves. Show us what you can do.31 Moses fed our ancestors with bread in the desert. It says so in the Scriptures: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”32 Jesus responded, “The real significance of that Scripture is not that Moses gave you bread from heaven but that my Father is right now offering you bread from heaven, the real bread.33 The Bread of God came down out of heaven and is giving life to the world.”34 They jumped at that: “Master, give us this bread, now and forever!”35 Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever.36 I have told you this explicitly because even though you have seen me in action, you don’t really believe me.37 Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go.38 I came down from heaven not to follow my own whim but to accomplish the will of the One who sent me.39 “This, in a nutshell, is that will: that everything handed over to me by the Father be completed—not a single detail missed—and at the wrap-up of time I have everything and everyone put together, upright and whole.40 This is what my Father wants: that anyone who sees the Son and trusts who he is and what he does and then aligns with him will enter real life, eternal life. My part is to put them on their feet alive and whole at the completion of time.”41 At this, because he said, “I am the Bread that came down from heaven,” the Jews started arguing over him:42 “Isn’t this the son of Joseph? Don’t we know his father? Don’t we know his mother? How can he now say, ‘I came down out of heaven’ and expect anyone to believe him?”43 Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over me.44 You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End.45 This is what the prophets meant when they wrote, ‘And then they will all be personally taught by God.’ Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to the Father, really listening and therefore learning, comes to me to be taught personally—to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, from me, since I have it firsthand from the Father.46 No one has seen the Father except the One who has his Being alongside the Father—and you can see me.47 “I’m telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life.48 I am the Bread of Life.49 Your ancestors ate the manna bread in the desert and died.50 But now here is Bread that truly comes down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread will not die, ever.51 I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live—and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self.”52 At this, the Jews started fighting among themselves: “How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?”53 But Jesus didn’t give an inch. “Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you.54 The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day.55 My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.56 By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you.57 In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me.58 This is the Bread from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always.”

59 He said these things while teaching in the meeting place in Capernaum.
Too Tough to Swallow60 Many among his disciples heard this and said, “This is tough teaching, too tough to swallow.”61 Jesus sensed that his disciples were having a hard time with this and said, “Does this throw you completely?62 What would happen if you saw the Son of Man ascending to where he came from?63 The Spirit can make life. Sheer muscle and willpower don’t make anything happen. Every word I’ve spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making.64 But some of you are resisting, refusing to have any part in this.” (Jesus knew from the start that some weren’t going to risk themselves with him. He knew also who would betray him.)65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you earlier that no one is capable of coming to me on his own. You get to me only as a gift from the Father.”66 After this a lot of his disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with him.67 Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: “Do you also want to leave?”68 Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life.69 We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.”70 Jesus responded, “Haven’t I handpicked you, the Twelve? Still, one of you is a devil!”71 He was referring to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. This man—one from the Twelve!—was even then getting ready to betray him.

John 7

1 Later Jesus was going about his business in Galilee. He didn’t want to travel in Judea because the Jews there were looking for a chance to kill him.2 It was near the time of Tabernacles, a feast observed annually by the Jews.3 His brothers said, “Why don’t you leave here and go up to the Feast so your disciples can get a good look at the works you do?4 No one who intends to be publicly known does everything behind the scenes. If you’re serious about what you are doing, come out in the open and show the world.”5 His brothers were pushing him like this because they didn’t believe in him either.6 Jesus came back at them, “Don’t crowd me. This isn’t my time. It’s your time—it’s always your time; you have nothing to lose.7 The world has nothing against you, but it’s up in arms against me. It’s against me because I expose the evil behind its pretensions.8 You go ahead, go up to the Feast. Don’t wait for me. I’m not ready. It’s not the right time for me.”9 He said this and stayed on in Galilee.10 But later, after his family had gone up to the Feast, he also went. But he kept out of the way, careful not to draw attention to himself.11 The Jews were already out looking for him, asking around, “Where is that man?”12 There was a lot of contentious talk about him circulating through the crowds. Some were saying, “He’s a good man.” But others said, “Not so. He’s selling snake oil.”

13 This kind of talk went on in guarded whispers because of the intimidating Jewish leaders.
Could It Be the Messiah?14 With the Feast already half over, Jesus showed up in the Temple, teaching.15 The Jews were impressed, but puzzled: “How does he know so much without being schooled?”16 Jesus said, “I didn’t make this up. What I teach comes from the One who sent me.17 Anyone who wants to do his will can test this teaching and know whether it’s from God or whether I’m making it up.18 A person making things up tries to make himself look good. But someone trying to honor the one who sent him sticks to the facts and doesn’t tamper with reality.19 It was Moses, wasn’t it, who gave you God’s Law? But none of you are living it. So why are you trying to kill me?”20 The crowd said, “You’re crazy! Who’s trying to kill you? You’re demon-possessed.”21 Jesus said, “I did one miraculous thing a few months ago, and you’re still standing around getting all upset, wondering what I’m up to.22 Moses prescribed circumcision—originally it came not from Moses but from his ancestors—and so you circumcise a man, dealing with one part of his body, even if it’s the Sabbath.23 You do this in order to preserve one item in the Law of Moses. So why are you upset with me because I made a man’s whole body well on the Sabbath?24 Don’t be nitpickers; use your head—and heart!—to discern what is right, to test what is authentically right.”25 That’s when some of the people of Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this the one they were out to kill?26 And here he is out in the open, saying whatever he pleases, and no one is stopping him. Could it be that the rulers know that he is, in fact, the Messiah?27 And yet we know where this man came from. The Messiah is going to come out of nowhere. Nobody is going to know where he comes from.”28 That provoked Jesus, who was teaching in the Temple, to cry out, “Yes, you think you know me and where I’m from, but that’s not where I’m from. I didn’t set myself up in business. My true origin is in the One who sent me, and you don’t know him at all.29 I come from him—that’s how I know him. He sent me here.”30 They were looking for a way to arrest him, but not a hand was laid on him because it wasn’t yet God’s time.31 Many from the crowd committed themselves in faith to him, saying, “Will the Messiah, when he comes, provide better or more convincing evidence than this?”32 The Pharisees, alarmed at this seditious undertow going through the crowd, teamed up with the high priests and sent their police to arrest him.33 Jesus rebuffed them: “I am with you only a short time. Then I go on to the One who sent me.34 You will look for me, but you won’t find me. Where I am, you can’t come.”35 The Jews put their heads together. “Where do you think he is going that we won’t be able to find him? Do you think he is about to travel to the Greek world to teach the Jews?36 What is he talking about, anyway: ‘You will look for me, but you won’t find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you can’t come’?”37 On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.38 Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.”39 (He said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)40 Those in the crowd who heard these words were saying, “This has to be the Prophet.”41 Others said, “He is the Messiah!” But others were saying, “The Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does he?42 Don’t the Scriptures tell us that the Messiah comes from David’s line and from Bethlehem, David’s village?”43 So there was a split in the crowd over him.44 Some went so far as wanting to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him.45 That’s when the Temple police reported back to the high priests and Pharisees, who demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him with you?”46 The police answered, “Have you heard the way he talks? We’ve never heard anyone speak like this man.”47 The Pharisees said, “Are you carried away like the rest of the rabble?48 You don’t see any of the leaders believing in him, do you? Or any from the Pharisees?49 It’s only this crowd, ignorant of God’s Law, that is taken in by him—and damned.”50 Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus earlier and was both a ruler and a Pharisee, spoke up.51 “Does our Law decide about a man’s guilt without first listening to him and finding out what he is doing?”52 But they cut him off. “Are you also campaigning for the Galilean?

53 Examine the evidence. See if any prophet ever comes from Galilee.”
Then they all went home.
To Throw the Stone