John 11; John 12

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John 11

1 Lazarus, who lived in Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived, was sick.
2 (Mary was the woman who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was the one who was sick.)
3 So the sisters sent a messenger to tell Jesus, "Lord, your close friend is sick."
4 When Jesus heard the message, he said, "His sickness won't result in death. Instead, this sickness will bring glory to God so that the Son of God will receive glory through it."
5 Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus.
6 Yet, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days.
7 Then, after the two days, Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go back to Judea."
8 The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, not long ago the Jews wanted to stone you to death. Do you really want to go back there?"
9 Jesus answered, "Aren't there twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day don't stumble, because they see the light of this world.
10 However, those who walk at night stumble because they have no light in themselves."
11 After Jesus said this, he told his disciples, "Our friend Lazarus is sleeping, and I'm going to Bethany to wake him."
12 His disciples said to him, "Lord, if he's sleeping, he'll get well."
13 Jesus meant that Lazarus was dead, but the disciples thought Jesus meant that Lazarus was only sleeping.
14 Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died,
15 but I'm glad that I wasn't there so that you can grow in faith. Let's go to Lazarus."
16 Thomas, who was called Didymus, said to the rest of the disciples, "Let's go so that we, too, can die with Jesus."
17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days.
18 (Bethany was near Jerusalem, not quite two miles away.)
19 Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.
20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. Mary stayed at home.
21 Martha told Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask him."
23 Jesus told Martha, "Your brother will come back to life."
24 Martha answered Jesus, "I know that he'll come back to life on the last day, when everyone will come back to life."
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the one who brings people back to life, and I am life itself. Those who believe in me will live even if they die.
26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe that?"
27 Martha said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who was expected to come into the world."
28 After Martha had said this, she went back home and whispered to her sister Mary, "The teacher is here, and he is calling for you."
29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Jesus.
30 (Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still where Martha had met him.)
31 The Jews who were comforting Mary in the house saw her get up quickly and leave. So they followed her. They thought that she was going to the tomb to cry.
32 When Mary arrived where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who were crying with her, he was deeply moved and troubled.
34 So Jesus asked, "Where did you put Lazarus?" They answered him, "Lord, come and see."
35 Jesus cried.
36 The Jews said, "See how much Jesus loved him."
37 But some of the Jews asked, "Couldn't this man who gave a blind man sight keep Lazarus from dying?"
38 Deeply moved again, Jesus went to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone covering the entrance.
39 Jesus said, "Take the stone away." Martha, the dead man's sister, told Jesus, "Lord, there must already be a stench. He's been dead for four days."
40 Jesus said to her, "Didn't I tell you that if you believe, you would see God's glory?"
41 So the stone was moved away from the entrance of the tomb. Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you for hearing me.
42 I've known that you always hear me. However, I've said this so that the crowd standing around me will believe that you sent me."
43 After Jesus had said this, he shouted as loudly as he could, "Lazarus, come out!"
44 The dead man came out. Strips of cloth were wound around his feet and hands, and his face was wrapped with a handkerchief. Jesus told them, "Free Lazarus, and let him go."
45 Many Jews who had visited Mary and had seen what Jesus had done believed in him.
46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council. They asked, "What are we doing? This man is performing a lot of miracles.
48 If we let him continue what he's doing, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will take away our position and our nation."
49 One of them, Caiaphas, who was chief priest that year, told them, "You people don't know anything.
50 You haven't even considered this: It is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed."
51 Caiaphas didn't say this on his own. As chief priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation.
52 He prophesied that Jesus wouldn't die merely for this nation, but that Jesus would die to bring God's scattered children together and make them one.
53 From that day on, the Jewish council planned to kill Jesus.
54 So Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews. Instead, he left Bethany and went to the countryside near the desert, to a city called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
55 The Jewish Passover was near. Many people came from the countryside to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover.
56 As they stood in the temple courtyard, they looked for Jesus and asked each other, "Do you think that he'll avoid coming to the festival?"
57 (The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that whoever knew where Jesus was should tell them so that they could arrest him.)
GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

John 12

1 Six days before Passover, Jesus arrived in Bethany. Lazarus, whom Jesus had brought back to life, lived there.
2 Dinner was prepared for Jesus in Bethany. Martha served the dinner, and Lazarus was one of the people eating with Jesus.
3 Mary took a bottle of very expensive perfume made from pure nard and poured it on Jesus' feet. Then she dried his feet with her hair. The fragrance of the perfume filled the house.
4 One of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was going to betray him, asked,
5 "Why wasn't this perfume sold for a high price and the money given to the poor?"
6 (Judas didn't say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the moneybag and carried the contributions.)
7 Jesus said to Judas, "Leave her alone! She has done this to prepare me for the day I will be placed in a tomb.
8 You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me with you."
9 A large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was in Bethany. So they went there not only to see Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom Jesus had brought back to life.
10 The chief priests planned to kill Lazarus too.
11 Lazarus was the reason why many people were leaving the Jews and believing in Jesus.
12 On the next day the large crowd that had come to the Passover festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
13 So they took palm branches and went to meet him. They were shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel!"
14 Jesus obtained a donkey and sat on it, as Scripture says:
15 "Don't be afraid, people of Zion! Your king is coming. He is riding on a donkey's colt."
16 At first Jesus' disciples didn't know what these prophecies meant. However, when Jesus was glorified, the disciples remembered that these prophecies had been written about him. The disciples remembered that they had taken part in fulfilling the prophecies.
17 The people who had been with Jesus when he called Lazarus from the tomb and brought him back to life reported what they had seen.
18 Because the crowd heard that Jesus had performed this miracle, they came to meet him.
19 The Pharisees said to each other, "This is getting us nowhere. Look! The whole world is following him!"
20 Some Greeks were among those who came to worship during the Passover festival.
21 They went to Philip (who was from Bethsaida in Galilee) and told him, "Sir, we would like to meet Jesus."
22 Philip told Andrew, and they told Jesus.
23 Jesus replied to them, "The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
24 I can guarantee this truth: A single grain of wheat doesn't produce anything unless it is planted in the ground and dies. If it dies, it will produce a lot of grain.
25 Those who love their lives will destroy them, and those who hate their lives in this world will guard them for everlasting life.
26 Those who serve me must follow me. My servants will be with me wherever I will be. If people serve me, the Father will honor them.
27 "I am too deeply troubled now to know how to express my feelings. Should I say, 'Father, save me from this time [of suffering]'? No! I came for this time of suffering.
28 Father, give glory to your name." A voice from heaven said, "I have given it glory, and I will give it glory again."
29 The crowd standing there heard the voice and said that it had thundered. Others in the crowd said that an angel had talked to him.
30 Jesus replied, "That voice wasn't for my benefit but for yours.
31 "This world is being judged now. The ruler of this world will be thrown out now.
32 When I have been lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people toward me."
33 By saying this, he indicated how he was going to die.
34 The crowd responded to him, "We have heard from the Scriptures that the Messiah will remain here forever. So how can you say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up from the earth'? Who is this 'Son of Man'?"
35 Jesus answered the crowd, "The light will still be with you for a little while. Walk while you have light so that darkness won't defeat you. Those who walk in the dark don't know where they're going.
36 While you have the light, believe in the light so that you will become people whose lives show the light." After Jesus had said this, he was concealed as he left.
37 Although they had seen Jesus perform so many miracles, they wouldn't believe in him.
38 In this way the words of the prophet Isaiah came true: "Lord, who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord's power been revealed?"
39 So the people couldn't believe because, as Isaiah also said,
40 "God blinded them and made them close-minded so that their eyes don't see and their minds don't understand. And they never turn to me for healing!"
41 Isaiah said this because he had seen Jesus' glory and had spoken about him.
42 Many rulers believed in Jesus. However, they wouldn't admit it publicly because the Pharisees would have thrown them out of the synagogue.
43 They were more concerned about what people thought of them than about what God thought of them.
44 Then Jesus said loudly, "Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me.
45 Whoever sees me sees the one who sent me.
46 I am the light that has come into the world so that everyone who believes in me will not live in the dark.
47 If anyone hears my words and doesn't follow them, I don't condemn them. I didn't come to condemn the world but to save the world.
48 Those who reject me by not accepting what I say have a judge appointed for them. The words that I have spoken will judge them on the last day.
49 I have not spoken on my own. Instead, the Father who sent me told me what I should say and how I should say it.
50 I know that what he commands is eternal life. Whatever I say is what the Father told me to say."
GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.