CREATOR’S WORD COMES DOWN

^1-2Long ago, in the time before all days, before the creation of all things, the one who is known as the Word was there face to face with the Great Spirit. This Word fully represents Creator and shows us who he is and what he is like. He has always been there from the beginning, for the Word and Creator are one and the same. ³Through the Word all things came into being, and not one thing exists that he did not create.

⁴Creator’s life shined out from the Word, giving light to all human beings. This is the true Light that comes to all the peoples of the world and shines on everyone. ⁵The Light shines into the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it or put it out.

^6-7Into the wilderness of the Land of Promise (Judea) came a man named Gift of Goodwill (John). He was sent by the Great Spirit to tell what he knew about the Light so everyone could believe. ⁸He was not the Light but came to speak the truth about the Light. ⁹The true Light that shines on all people was coming into the darkness of this world.

¹⁰He came down into this world, and even though he made all things, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹Even his own tribe did not welcome or honor him. ¹²But all who welcome and trust him receive their birthright as children of the Great Spirit. ¹³They are born in a new way, not from a human father’s plans or desires, but born from above—by the Great Spirit.

¹⁴Creator’s Word became a flesh-and-blood human being and pitched his sacred tent among us, living as one of us. We looked upon his great beauty and saw how honorable he was, the kind of honor held only by this one Son who fully represents his Father—full of his great kindness and truth.

¹⁵Gift of Goodwill (John) told what he knew about him and cried out with a loud voice, “The one I have told you about is here! He comes after me, but is much greater—my elder! He has more honor, for even though he is thought to be younger, he existed before I was born.”

¹⁶From the fullness of his being we have all had many gifts of kindness poured out on us. ¹⁷Drawn from the Water (Moses) gave us our tribal laws, but the gift of great kindness and truth came from Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One.

¹⁸No one has ever seen the Great Spirit, but the one Son, who is himself the Great Spirit and closest to the Father’s heart, has shown us what he is like.

TRIBAL LEADERS QUESTION HIM

¹⁹Some of the holy men and tribal leaders from the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) were sent from Village of Peace (Jerusalem).

“Who are you?” they asked.

²⁰He knew what they were asking, so he hid nothing and said plainly, “I am not the Chosen One.”

²¹“Who are you, then?” they demanded. “The prophet from long ago, Great Spirit Is Creator (Elijah)?”

“No,” he answered, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet1 who is to come?” they asked.

“No,” was his answer again.

²²So they said to him, “Tell us who you are, so we will have an answer for the ones who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?”

²³“I am saying the same thing the prophet Creator Will Help Us (Isaiah) said. I am a voice howling in the desert, ‘Make a straight pathway for our Honored Chief.’”

²⁴These tribal leaders were sent by the Separated Ones (Pharisees), ²⁵so they asked Gift of Goodwill (John), “Why do you perform the purification ceremony2 if you are not the Chosen One, or Great Spirit Is Creator (Elijah), or the Prophet who is to come?”

²⁶“I perform the purification ceremony^b with water,” he answered, “but there is one you do not know, who is walking among you. ²⁷He is the one who comes after me, but with greater honor. I am not even worthy to untie his moccasins.”

²⁸These things took place in House of Figs (Bethany) on the far side of the river Flowing Down (Jordan).

CREATOR’S LAMB

²⁹The next day Gift of Goodwill (John) saw Creator Sets Free (Jesus) walking toward him from a distance. “Behold!” he said to the ones gathered with him. “There is Creator’s Lamb, the one who carries away and heals the bad hearts and broken ways of the world!”

³⁰“He is the one I said is greater than I, for he existed before I was born. ³¹The reason I perform the purification ceremony4 with water is to make him known to the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel). ³²With my own eyes I saw the Holy Spirit come down from above like a dove and rest on him. ³³I now know he is the one, because the Father above who sent me said, ‘The man you see the Spirit come down and rest on will perform the purification ceremony^d with the Holy Spirit.’”

³⁴Gift of Goodwill (John) finished by saying, “With my own eyes I have seen the one who has been chosen by the Great Spirit.”

COME AND SEE

³⁵The next day, Gift of Goodwill (John) was standing with two of his followers. ³⁶They saw Creator Sets Free (Jesus) walking nearby.

He said to them, “Look! There is Creator’s Lamb!”

³⁷So they took off after Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

³⁸When they caught up to him, he saw them and asked, “What are you looking for?”

“Wisdomkeeper,” they asked, “where are you staying?”

³⁹“Come,” he said, “and you will see.”

So they went with him, saw where he was staying, and spent the rest of the day with him, for the day was almost over.

⁴⁰One of the two men, Stands with Courage (Andrew), went to find his brother, One Who Hears (Simon), also named Stands on the Rock (Peter). ⁴¹When he found him, he ran up to him and said, “My brother! We have found the Messiah” (which means “the Chosen One”5). ⁴²So he took his brother to meet Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked deep into his eyes and said, “You are One Who Hears (Simon), son of Gift of Kindness (John). I will give you the name Stands on the Rock (Peter).”

THE GREAT LADDER

⁴³The next morning Creator Sets Free (Jesus) walked to the territory of Circle of Nations (Galilee). There he found a man named Friend of Horses (Philip) and said to him, “Come, and from now on walk the road with me.”

⁴⁴Friend of Horses (Philip) was from House of Fishing (Bethsaida), the same village where Stands with Courage (Andrew) and Stands on the Rock (Peter) also lived. ⁴⁵Friend of Horses (Philip) looked for his friend Creator Gives (Nathanael) and found him sitting under a fig tree.

“We have found him!” he said as he ran up to him. “The one the lawgiver Drawn from the Water (Moses) told us about, the one foretold by the prophets of old. He is Creator Sets Free (Jesus), son of He Gives Sons (Joseph), from Seed Planter Village (Nazareth).”

⁴⁶Creator Gives (Nathanael) crossed his arms and, shaking his head, said to him, “How can anything good come from Seed Planter Village (Nazareth)?”

“Come,” he said, “and you will see!”

⁴⁷When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) saw Creator Gives (Nathanael) walking toward him, he said, “Look, a true descendant of Wrestles with Creator (Israel)! There is nothing false in him.”

⁴⁸Creator Gives (Nathanael) asked him, “How do you know me?”

Creator Sets Free (Jesus) smiled and said, “Before Friend of Horses (Philip) found you, I saw you under a fig tree.”

⁴⁹“Wisdomkeeper!” Creator Gives (Nathanael) answered. “You are the Son of the Great Spirit and the Chieftain of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel)!”

⁵⁰“You believe me because I said I saw you under the fig tree?” he said to him. “I speak truth from my heart. You will see much more than this! ⁵¹You will see the sky open wide and the spirit-messengers from Creator climbing up and down a great ladder.6 On the True Human Being they will climb from the spirit-world above to the earth below and back again.”

HIS FIRST SIGN

¹Three days later there was a wedding in Village of Reeds (Cana), in the territory of Circle of Nations (Galilee). Bitter Tears (Mary), the mother of Creator Sets Free (Jesus), was there. ²Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and the ones who walked the road with him were invited as guests to the wedding.

³During the celebration, they ran out of wine.

So the mother of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to him, “Son, they have no more wine.”

⁴“Honored woman,” he said to her. “Why are you telling me? Is this our concern? It is not yet my time to show who I am.”

⁵But his mother turned to the helpers and said, “Do whatever he says.”

⁶There were six traditional stone water pots, used for purification ceremonies, that could hold large amounts of water.

^7-8“Fill them to the top,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) told them, “and take some to the headman of the feast.”

They filled the pots until they could hold no more and did what he said.

^9-10The water had turned into wine. The headman did not know where it had come from, but the helpers who were serving the wine knew.

The headman took a drink and called to the groom, “Everyone serves the best wine first, and after the guests have had enough to drink, they bring out the watered-down wine. But even though you served good wine at first, you have saved the best wine for last.”

¹¹This was the first of the signs through which Creator Sets Free (Jesus) displayed his power. When his new followers saw this, their trust in him grew stronger. All of this happened in the territory of Circle of Nations (Galilee) at Village of Reeds (Cana). ¹²After this he went with his mother, his brothers, and his followers to Village of Comfort (Capernaum), where he stayed for a few days.

PASSOVER FESTIVAL

¹³The time of the year had come for the ancient Passover festival. Creator Sets Free (Jesus) made his way to the Great Spirit’s lodge in Village of Peace (Jerusalem).

¹⁴As Creator Sets Free (Jesus) entered the lodge, he saw people sitting at money tables. There were also others who were trading, buying, and selling the cattle, sheep, and doves for the ceremonies—inside the lodge!

SACRED LODGE KEEPER

¹⁵So Creator Sets Free (Jesus) took some leather straps and made a whip. He cracked the whip to startle and move the animals, and to drive all the people from the lodge. He tipped over the tables, which scattered their money on the floor. ¹⁶He then turned to speak to the ones who were selling the ceremonial doves.

“Go!” he roared at them. “Take these things out from here. Do not make my Father’s sacred lodge into a trading post!”

¹⁷The ones who walked the road with him listened and remembered the ancient prophecy, “My desire to honor your sacred lodge burns like a fire in my belly.”7

¹⁸“What gives you the right to do these things?” the tribal leaders said to him. “Prove yourself and show us a sign!”

¹⁹“Tear down this sacred lodge,” he answered, “and in three days I will raise it up again.”

²⁰The people shook their heads and said to him, “It took forty-six winters to build this great lodge. How could you raise it up in three days?”

²¹They did not understand that he was speaking about the lodge of his own body. ²²After he was raised up from the dead, his followers remembered what he said and then believed the ancient Sacred Teachings and the words he spoke to them.

²³During the Passover festival many people began to believe in him because they saw the powerful miracles he was performing. ²⁴But he did not trust himself to them, for he could see right through them. ²⁵He did not need anyone to tell him about human beings, for he knew the hearts of humankind.

BORN FROM ABOVE

^1-2A man named Conquers the People (Nicodemus) came to Creator Sets Free (Jesus) in secret at night. He was one of the Separated Ones (Pharisees) and a headman of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) who sat in the Great Council.

Out of the shadows he whispered, “Wisdomkeeper, we know the Great Spirit sent you to teach us. No one can perform powerful signs like these unless the Maker of Life walks with him.”

³“I speak from my heart,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered, “Only one who has been born from above can see Creator’s good road.”

⁴Conquers the People (Nicodemus) was surprised by this strange answer, so he asked, “Can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother’s womb to be born a second time?”

⁵“Listen closely,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered. “One must be born of both water and spirit to walk Creator’s good road. ⁶The human body only gives birth to natural life, but it takes the Spirit of Creator to give birth to spiritual life.8 ⁷Do not be surprised that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ ⁸Everyone born in this way is like the wind that blows wherever it wants. You can hear its sound, but no one knows where it comes from or where it goes.”

⁹“How can these things be?” Conquers the People (Nicodemus) asked.

¹⁰“How can it be that a wisdomkeeper and spiritual leader of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) does not understand these things? ^11-12Listen closely, for you fail to hear what we are talking about. We are speaking about things we know to be true, but if you do not believe me when I talk about things on earth, how will you believe me when I talk about the things from the spirit-world above? ¹³For there is only one who has gone up and come down from the world above—the True Human Being.

^14-15“Do you not remember when Drawn from the Water (Moses) lifted up a pole with a snake on it in the desert wilderness?9 This is what will happen to the True Human Being, so people will put their trust in him and have the life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony.”

¹⁶“The Great Spirit loves this world of human beings so deeply he gave us his Son—the only Son who fully represents him. All who trust in him and his way will not come to a bad end, but will have the life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony. ¹⁷Creator did not send his Son to decide against the people of this world, but to set them free from the worthless ways of the world.

¹⁸“The ones who trust in him are released from their guilt, but, for the ones who turn away from him to follow the ways of this world, their guilt remains. This is because they are turning away from the life of beauty and harmony the Great Spirit offers through his Son.

¹⁹“This is what decides for or against them. My light has shined into this dark world, but because of their worthless ways people loved the dark path more than the light. ²⁰When they choose the dark path, they do not want others to see, so they hide in the darkness and hate the light. ²¹But the ones who are true and do what is right are walking in the daylight so others can clearly see they are walking with Creator.”

GIFT OF GOODWILL STEPS BACK

²²Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and the ones who walked the road with him went to the nearby countryside in the Land of Promise (Judea). They stayed there and began to perform the purification ceremony10 as the people came to the river.

²³About a two-day walk to the north, Gift of Goodwill (John) was also performing the purification ceremony,11 at Spring of Water (Aenon), near Peaceful Village (Salem), where there was much water. ²⁴This was before Gift of Goodwill (John) had been put in prison.

²⁵Some of the followers of Gift of Goodwill (John) began to argue with a local Tribal Member about the purification ceremony.^{a 26}They took their argument to Gift of Goodwill (John).

“Wisdomkeeper,” they said to him, “the one you told us about at the river Flowing Down (Jordan) is performing the purification ceremony.^a All of the people are going to him now.”

²⁷“No one has anything,” Gift of Goodwill (John) answered, “unless it is gifted from the spirit-world above. ²⁸You heard me say, ‘I am not the Chosen One.’ I was sent to clear the way for him. ²⁹The bride at a wedding belongs to the groom, and like the best man, a friend who stands with the groom, I am glad to hear his voice. ³⁰But it is time for me to step back and for him to come forward into his place of honor. My part is fading away.

^31-32“The one who is greater than all speaks from the spirit-world above. The one who is from the earth speaks only about earthly things. The one from above speaks about the things he has seen and heard, but who believes him? ³³But I am one who receives his words, and I know for sure that the Great Spirit approves of all he says and does.

³⁴“The one whom Creator sent is the one who has all the fullness of Creator’s Spirit and clearly speaks his words. ³⁵The Father above loves his Son and gives him all things.

³⁶“The ones who trust in his Son have the life of the world that never fades away, but the ones who do not walk in his ways will not have this life. Instead, they will remain under the power of death, which reveals Creator’s great anger.”

LIVING WATER

^1-3Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was gathering more followers for the purification ceremony12 than Gift of Goodwill (John), although it was not he but his followers who were performing the ceremony. When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) found out that the Separated Ones (Pharisees) knew of this, ⁴he left the Land of Promise (Judea) to return to Circle of Nations (Galilee). On the way he had to journey through the territory of High Place (Samaria).

⁵There he came to a place called Burial Site (Sychar), which was near a piece of land Heel Grabber (Jacob) had passed down to his son Creator Gives More (Joseph).

^6-8Weary from his journey, about the sixth hour of the day, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) sat down to rest at the ancient watering hole of Heel Grabber (Jacob), while the ones who walked the road with him went to the nearby village to find some food.

A WOMAN FROM HIGH PLACE

A woman from High Place (Samaria) came to the well to draw water. Creator Sets Free (Jesus) saw the woman and said to her, “Would you give me some water to drink?”

⁹She found her voice and asked, “Why would you, a man from the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel), ask me for a drink, seeing I am a woman from High Place (Samaria)?”

She said this because the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) have no dealings with the people from High Place (Samaria).

¹⁰“If you only knew about Creator’s good gift,” he answered, “and who it is who asks you for a drink, you would ask him for living water and he would give it to you.”

¹¹She said to him, “Honored One, this watering hole is deep, and you have no way to draw out the water. Where will you get this living water? ¹²Are you greater than our ancestor Heel Grabber (Jacob), who gave us this well and was first to drink from it with his children and animals?”

¹³“The ones who drink from this well will thirst again,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered. ¹⁴“But the ones who drink the water I give will never thirst, for this water will become a river flowing from inside them, giving them the life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony.”

¹⁵“Honored One, please give me this water,” she said to him, “so I will never thirst again or need to walk this long path to get a drink.”

¹⁶He said to her, “Go to your husband and bring him here.”

¹⁷“I have no husband,” she answered.

“Yes, that is true,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said. ¹⁸“You have had five husbands, and the man you are with now is not your husband.”

¹⁹“Oh! I see. You are a prophet!” she said back to him. ²⁰“Our ancestors honored and served the Great Spirit on this mountain. But your people say the only place to make our prayers and perform our ceremonies is in Village of Peace (Jerusalem).”

^21-23“Honored woman, trust my words,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to her. “Your people honor and serve him, but in ways they do not fully understand. We honor and serve him with understanding, for the good road that sets us free has been entrusted to the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel).

SPIRIT AND TRUTH

“But the time is coming when all who honor and serve the Great Mystery will not need to do so in this mountain, nor in Village of Peace (Jerusalem). The Father is looking for the ones who will honor him in spirit and truth—and the day for this has now come. ²⁴The One Above Us All is spirit, and all who honor and serve the Great Spirit must do so in spirit and truth.”

²⁵“I know the Chosen One will come,” she said, “and when he comes, he will make all things clear to us.”

²⁶Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to her, “I am the Chosen One, the one who is speaking to you now.”

²⁷Just then his followers returned. They wondered why he was talking to a woman, but no one said to her, “What do you want?” or to him, “Why are you talking to her?”

THE HARVEST IS NOW

²⁸The woman left her water pouch, went to the village, and told the people, ²⁹“Come and see this man who knows everything about me. Could he be the Chosen One?”

³⁰The people of the village went out to find him. ³¹Meanwhile, the ones who walked the road with him said, “Wisdomkeeper, here is some food to eat!”

³²“I have food to eat you know nothing about,” he said.

³³His followers whispered to each other, “None of us brought him anything to eat.”

³⁴He knew what they were saying, so he said to them, “What feeds me is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. ³⁵It has been said, ‘Is it not four moons until the harvest?’ Open your eyes! The harvest is upon you now! ³⁶The ones who reap the harvest are rewarded because they are gathering grain for the life of the world to come that never fades away. Both the ones who plant the seed and the ones who harvest will celebrate together. ³⁷This is a true saying, ‘One plants and another reaps.’ ³⁸I send you to reap where others have done the work of planting, and now it is you who will gather.”

MANY BELIEVE

³⁹Soon many people from the woman’s village in High Place (Samaria) arrived. Many believed in him because the woman had said, “He knows everything about me.” ⁴⁰They asked him to stay, so he remained there for two more days. ⁴¹When they heard him speak, many more believed in him.

⁴²They said to the woman, “We believe now, not just because of your words, but because we have heard him ourselves. We now see that this is the one who will restore the world and set all people free.”

HE CONTINUES HIS JOURNEY

⁴³After the two days he continued on his journey to Circle of Nations (Galilee), the territory near his boyhood home. ⁴⁴Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had said that a prophet is given much honor except in his own village, among his own clan, and in his own house. ⁴⁵But even so, the people there welcomed him, because they had seen with their own eyes the powerful things he had done at the Passover festival.

SECOND SIGN

⁴⁶He returned to Village of Reeds (Cana), where he had turned the water into wine. At Village of Comfort (Capernaum), almost a day’s walk away, the son of a government official was sick and near death. ⁴⁷When the man heard that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had come to Circle of Nations (Galilee) from the Land of Promise (Judea), he came to him and asked him to come and heal his son.

⁴⁸Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked around at the crowd and said, “Why do you need to see signs and wonders before you will believe?”

⁴⁹“Honored one,” the man spoke, with desperation in his voice. “Please come before my child dies!”

⁵⁰“Go home!” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) instructed him. “Your son will live.”

The man believed him and left to go home. ⁵¹On the way his servants met him and told him his son was getting stronger. ⁵²He asked them the hour when this occurred.

“Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him,” they answered.

⁵³The father knew it was the same time that he was told, “Your son will live,” so he and his family believed.

⁵⁴This was the second powerful sign Creator Sets Free (Jesus) performed in Village of Reeds (Cana), having come from the southern territory of the Land of Promise (Judea) to Circle of Nations (Galilee).

WORKING ON THE DAY OF RESTING

¹A short time later Creator Sets Free (Jesus) went again to Village of Peace (Jerusalem) to another traditional feast for all the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel).

²In Village of Peace (Jerusalem) near the Sheep Gate, there is a water hole with five covered porches called House of Kindness (Bethesda) in our tribal language. Under these porches ³lay a great number of people who were sick, blind, or could not walk or stand. They were waiting for the swirling of the water, ⁴because from time to time a spirit-messenger would go down into the water hole and make the water swirl. Then the first one to get into the water would be healed.

⁵A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight winters. ⁶Creator Sets Free (Jesus) saw him lying there and knew that he had been sick for a long time.

He asked him, “Do you want to be healed?”

⁷“Honored One,” the man answered. “When the water swirls, there is no one to help me into the water, and someone else gets there first.”

⁸“Get up!” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to the man. “Roll up your sleeping bundle and walk.”

⁹Right then the man was healed! He got up, rolled up his bundle, and walked.

Creator Sets Free (Jesus) healed this man on the Day of Resting. ¹⁰The strict traditional Tribal Members saw the healed man carrying his bundle.

“It is the Day of Resting,” they said to him. “Tribal law forbids you to carry your sleeping bundle.”

¹¹He said to them, “The one who healed me instructed me to take up my bundle and walk.”

¹²“Who is the man who told you this?” they asked.

¹³But the man who was healed did not know who he was. Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had left because too many people were there.

¹⁴Later on, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) saw the man in the sacred lodge.

“Look! You are healed,” he said to him. “Now that you have been set free, do not use your freedom to walk a path that leads to broken ways, or something worse may come to you.”

¹⁵The man went back to the strict traditional people and told them it was Creator Sets Free (Jesus) who had made him well again. ¹⁶Because of this, the tribal leaders were giving Creator Sets Free (Jesus) trouble and wanted to put him to death, because he was doing this on the Day of Resting.

¹⁷Creator Sets Free (Jesus) made it clear to them, “My Father has been working, so I am working also.”

¹⁸This made them want to kill him all the more, for he not only showed no regard for the Day of Resting, but he also was making himself out to be equal with the Great Spirit—calling him his own Father.

EQUAL HONOR BELONGS TO THE SON

¹⁹“I speak from my heart,” he said to them, “the Son only does what he sees the Father doing, for the Father and the Son do the same things. ²⁰The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does. He will show him great and powerful medicine, things that will fill you with wonder. ²¹You will see the Son give life to whomever he wants and bring the dead back to life again—just like the Father does.

²²“The Father does not make the final decision about anyone. He has given that decision to the Son. ²³He did this so all will honor the Son in the same way they honor the Father. The ones who do not honor the Son do not honor the Father who sent him.

²⁴“I speak from my heart. The ones who listen to me and trust the one who sent me have the life of the world to come that never fades away. The final decision about their end has been made, for they have already crossed over from death to life. ²⁵The time has now come when the ones who are spiritually dead will hear the voice of Creator’s own Son, and all who hear it will live. ²⁶Just as all life comes from the Father, in the same way he has made all life come from the Son.

²⁷“I speak from my heart. The final decision about everyone has been given to the Son. It is his right, because he is the True Human Being.

²⁸“Do not look so surprised! For the day is dawning when the dead and buried will hear his voice and come out of their graves. ²⁹The ones who have done good will rise to a new life, but the ones who do what has no worth will rise to face the final decision about their end.

FATHER AND SON

³⁰“I do nothing on my own. I listen to my Father before I decide about anyone. What I decide is right because I am not seeking my own way but the way of the one who sent me. ³¹If I am the only one who speaks for myself, then my words are empty, ³²but there is another who speaks for me, and what he says is true.

³³“You sent messengers to Gift of Goodwill (John), and he told you the truth about me, ^34-35but I do not need a human being to speak for me. Gift of Goodwill (John) shined like a burning torch, and for a short time you were glad to walk in his light. Now, to be set free from your broken ways, you must listen to me. ³⁶My words carry more weight than his and are proven by the things I do. I have done the things the Father sent me to do. That is all the proof that is needed.

³⁷“The Father is the one who sent me, and he is the one who speaks for me. But, since you have never seen his form or heard his voice, ³⁸you do not trust the one he sent, so his words have no root in you.

³⁹“You search the Sacred Teachings, for you think they will give you the life of the world to come—but they tell my story. ⁴⁰Why do you refuse to come to me for this life?”

⁴¹Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to them, “I came representing my Father, yet you show me no respect. But I am not looking for honor or respect from you, ⁴²for I know you are empty inside, and the love of the Great Spirit has no place in you. ⁴³But you will honor the one who comes representing himself. ⁴⁴If you only look for honor from each other, and not from the only Creator, how will you believe?

⁴⁵“I have not come to tell the Father how wrong you are. It is Drawn from the Water (Moses), the one you have put your hope in, who will do this. ⁴⁶If you trust him, then you should trust me, for he told my story. ⁴⁷But if you do not believe his words, how will you ever believe mine?”

HE FEEDS FIVE THOUSAND

¹After this Creator Sets Free (Jesus) went over to the other side of Lake of Circle of Nations (Sea of Galilee), also called Sea of Rolling Water (Sea of Tiberias). ²A great crowd of people followed him because they saw the powerful signs he performed, healing the sick. ³Creator Sets Free (Jesus) walked up to the mountainside and sat down with his followers. ⁴Soon it would be time again for the yearly Passover festival for the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel).

⁵From the mountainside Creator Sets Free (Jesus) could see how large the crowd following behind him had become. There were over five thousand men, along with women and children!

He then looked at Friend of Horses (Philip) and said, “Where will we find enough food to feed all these people?”

⁶He said this to test him, for he already knew what he would do.

⁷Friend of Horses (Philip) answered, “‘Eight moons’ worth of gathered food would only give them enough for one small bite apiece!”

⁸Stands with Courage (Andrew), one of the twelve, the brother of Stands on the Rock (Peter), tried to be helpful and said, ⁹“Here is a boy with five pieces of frybread and two small fish, but how would that possibly be enough?”

¹⁰Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to them, “Have the people sit down on the grass.”

There was much grass there, so all of the five thousand men began to sit down, along with women and children.

¹¹He took the five pieces of frybread given by the little boy and held them up to the sky. He gave thanks to the Great Spirit and began to break the frybread into smaller pieces and gave them to his followers to give to the people. In the same manner he also divided the two fish, and they were given out to the people. ¹²Everyone ate until they were full!

When they were done eating, he instructed them to gather the leftovers of fish and frybread, so nothing would go to waste. ¹³It took twelve baskets to hold it all.

HE MUST BE THE PROPHET

¹⁴The people began to realize what had happened. This was a powerful sign that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had just performed.

They were saying to one another, “This must be the Prophet, spoken of long ago, who would come into the world!”

¹⁵Creator Sets Free (Jesus) knew in his spirit that the people were about to take him by force to make him their chief, so he left the crowd and went to a quiet place on the mountainside to be alone and pray.

WATER WALKER

¹⁶Later, as the sun began to set, his followers climbed into a canoe to go to Village of Comfort (Capernaum) on the other side. ¹⁷Darkness was beginning to creep across the water with no sign of Creator Sets Free (Jesus), so they pushed off from shore.

^18-19A strong wind blew in over the waters. The waves grew large and pounded against them, threatening to overturn the canoe. They were pulling hard on the paddles, trying to make headway, but had only traveled partway across13 the great lake and were still a long way from land.

They looked out through the storm, and their eyes grew wide with fear, for they saw Creator Sets Free (Jesus) coming toward them, walking on the water!

²⁰Creator Sets Free (Jesus) saw the fear in their faces and called out to them, “Do not fear. Take heart, it is I!”

²¹When they knew it was Creator Sets Free (Jesus), they were glad to bring him into the canoe, and suddenly they were at the shoreline on the other side of the great lake.

LOOKING FOR THE WRONG FOOD

²²It was now morning, and the crowd of people on the other side of Lake of Circle of Nations (Sea of Galilee) began to look for Creator Sets Free (Jesus), for they knew there was only one canoe and that he did not go with his followers. ²³Just then some canoes arrived from Rolling Water (Tiberias) at the same place where Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had given thanks for the frybread and fed them all. ²⁴When they could not find Creator Sets Free (Jesus) or his followers, they climbed into the canoes to go to Village of Comfort (Capernaum) to find him.

²⁵When they arrived on the other side and found Creator Sets Free (Jesus), they asked, “Wisdomkeeper, when did you get here?”

²⁶Creator Sets Free (Jesus) ignored their question and said to them, “Listen closely to my words, you are not looking for me because of the powerful sign you saw, but only because you filled your bellies with food. ²⁷Why are you working so hard for food that fades away? You should work for the food that gives you the life of the world to come that never fades away. The True Human Being will give you this food, for he has the Father’s full approval.”

²⁸“What does Great Spirit require from us,” they asked, “so we can do what he wants and have his approval also?”

²⁹“Here is what he wants you to do,” he answered, “put your trust in the one he has sent.”

BREAD FROM THE WORLD ABOVE

³⁰“What powerful sign will you show us, that we should trust in you?” they asked. “What sign will you perform? ³¹When our ancestors were wandering in the desert they ate bread, just as the Sacred Teachings tell us, ‘From the spirit-world above he gave them bread to eat.’14”

³²“Listen closely,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered. “Drawn from the Water (Moses) did not give you the bread from the spirit-world above. It is my Father who gives you the true bread that comes down from the spirit-world above. ³³This bread gives the life of beauty and harmony to the world.”

³⁴“Honored One,” they said, “from now on give us this bread.”

³⁵Creator Sets Free (Jesus) smiled, held out his arms to them, and said, “I am the bread of life that came down from the spirit-world above. The ones who come to me will hunger no more. The ones who trust me will thirst no more.”

³⁶He lowered his arms and with a heavy heart he continued, “But even as I told you before, you have seen me but you still do not trust me. ³⁷The ones my Father has given to me will come to me. They are a gift from my Father that I will always keep.

³⁸“I came down from the spirit-world above, from the one who sent me, to walk his path, not to walk my own. ³⁹He wants me to keep safe the ones he has given me and bring them back to life again at the end of all days. ⁴⁰The ones who see who the Son truly is will put their trust and hope in him and have the life of the world to come that never fades away. Yes! I will bring them back to life again at the end of all days, for this is what my Father who sent me wants.”

⁴¹Upon hearing this, the Tribal Members complained, “Who is this ‘Bread from the spirit-world above’? ⁴²Is this not the son of He Gives Sons (Joseph)? We know who his mother and father are. How can he say ‘I came down from the spirit-world above’?”

⁴³“Stop grumbling to each other,” he answered. ⁴⁴“The only ones who come to me have been drawn by my Father. These are the ones I will bring back to life at the end of all days. ⁴⁵The Sacred Teachings from the prophets of old tell us, ‘There will come a time when the Great Spirit will instruct everyone.’15 That is why the ones who hear and listen to the Father come to me.

⁴⁶“The only one who has seen the Father is the one sent from the Great Spirit. This one has clearly seen the Father. ⁴⁷I speak truth from my heart, the ones who trust in me have the life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony.

⁴⁸“I am the bread that gives this life. ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate bread in the desert wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰Here, standing before you, is the bread that comes down from above. The ones who eat this bread will not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread from above. The ones who eat this bread will live beyond the end of all days. And this is the bread that I will give as a gift to the world—my human body.”

⁵²His words caused a great division among the Tribal Members, and they began to argue with one another.

“How can this be?” they asked. “Will he give us his flesh to eat?”

⁵³“I speak from my heart,” he answered. “The only way to have my life in you is to eat the body of the True Human Being and drink his blood. ⁵⁴Then, the life of the world to come will be yours, and at the end of all days I will bring your body back to life. ⁵⁵My body is true food. My blood is pure drink. ⁵⁶The ones who eat and drink my body and blood live in me, and I live in them. ⁵⁷In the same way the living Father sent me and gave me his life, the ones who feed on me will have my life. ⁵⁸The bread from above is not like the bread our ancestors ate—and then died. This bread gives the life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony.”

⁵⁹These are the words he spoke to the people at the gathering house in Village of Comfort (Capernaum).

MANY FOLLOWERS WALK AWAY

⁶⁰When the ones who walked the road with Creator Sets Free (Jesus) heard this, many of them said, “These words are too hard to hear. Who can even listen to them?”

⁶¹Creator Sets Free (Jesus) knew in his spirit what was troubling them, so he said, “Do these words make you stumble from the path? ⁶²What will you do when you see the True Human Being going back up to where he came from?

⁶³“Life comes from the spirit, not from the human body.16 My words have spirit and life in them—⁶⁴but some of you have no faith in who I am.”

He said this because he knew, from the beginning, the ones who did not believe and who would betray him.

⁶⁵He then finished by saying, “That is why I said no one can come to me on their own, but only as a gift from my Father.”

⁶⁶When they heard this, many who followed him turned and walked away. ⁶⁷Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked at the twelve and said, “Do you also want to walk away?”

⁶⁸“Wisdomkeeper,” One Who Hears (Simon), also named Stands on the Rock (Peter), answered him, “who else would we walk the road with? You have the words that give the life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony. ⁶⁹We have come to know and trust in you as the Holy One from the Great Spirit.”

⁷⁰Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to them, “Even though I chose all twelve of you, one of you is an enemy.”17

⁷¹He was talking about Speaks Well Of (Judas), one of the twelve, who would later turn on him and betray him.

FESTIVAL OF SHELTERS

¹Creator Sets Free (Jesus) left the Land of Promise (Judea) because the Tribal Members there wanted to put him to death. To avoid conflict with them, he had been staying in the territory of Circle of Nations (Galilee), going from village to village. ²But now it was almost time for the Festival of Shelters in Village of Peace (Jerusalem), which all the tribes participated in.

³The brothers from the family of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) came to him and said, “You should leave here and go back to the Land of Promise (Judea) for the festival. This way more of your followers will see the powerful signs you can do. ⁴Why not show everyone who you are? The ones who want to be well known do not hide in secret. You should show all the world who you are.”

⁵Even his own brothers did not believe that he was the Chosen One.

^6-7Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered them, “You are free to go anytime you want, for the people there do not hate you. But they do hate me, because I show them their bent and crooked ways. ⁸You can go to the festival, but I am not going now—it is not my time yet.”

⁹After he said this, he stayed behind in Circle of Nations (Galilee) ¹⁰until his family left. Then he went to the festival, not openly, but in secret.

LOOKING FOR HIM AT THE FESTIVAL

¹¹Many were looking for Creator Sets Free (Jesus) at the festival. The people who had gathered there were whispering and wondering about him.

“Where is he?” they asked.

¹²Some of them said, “He is a true human being with a good heart.”

But others were saying, “No! He is leading the crowds down a false path.”

¹³No one was saying these things out in the open, because they feared what the tribal leaders might do to them.

WHY DO YOU WANT TO KILL ME?

¹⁴Creator Sets Free (Jesus) came secretly to the festival and stayed away from the crowds. He waited until the midpoint of the festival, went to the sacred lodge, and began to teach.

¹⁵The tribal leaders were amazed at his teaching.

“Where did he get this wisdom and understanding?” they asked. “He has not studied under our wisdomkeepers or attended our learning houses.”

¹⁶Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered them, “The wisdom I share is not my own but comes from the one who sent me. ¹⁷The ones who desire to walk in the ways of the Great Spirit will understand my wisdom comes from him. ¹⁸The one who represents himself is seeking his own honor. The one who represents the one who sent him is true and upright, and there is nothing false in him.

¹⁹“Drawn from the Water (Moses) gave you the law, but none of you keep it. Why do you want to kill me?”

²⁰“You must have an evil spirit!” they answered back. “Why else would you think we are trying to kill you?”

²¹He answered them, “I did one work. I healed a man. You were amazed to see such power, but you were offended because this was done on the Day of Resting.

²²“Do you not see? Drawn from the Water (Moses) gave you the cutting of the flesh ceremony, handed down to him from the ancestors. Sometimes this ceremony is performed for a baby boy on the Day of Resting. ²³If this is permitted on the Day of Resting, then why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on that day? ²⁴Do not decide things by their outward appearance. Instead, make your decisions in a good way, looking beyond what you see with your eyes.”

HOW COULD HE BE THE CHOSEN ONE?

²⁵Some of the people who lived in Village of Peace (Jerusalem) began to say, “Is this not the one they are seeking to put to death? ²⁶Look, he speaks boldly to all, and they have nothing to say to him. Does our tribal council think he truly is the Chosen One? ²⁷But how could this be? When the Chosen One comes, no one will know where he comes from, but we know where this man is from.”

^28-29Creator Sets Free (Jesus) then lifted up his voice in the sacred lodge and cried out, “You may think you know me and where I am from, but I know where I am truly from—the Father. He is the one who sent me. You do not know who I am or where I am from, because you do not know him.”

SOLDIERS SENT TO ARREST HIM

³⁰The tribal leaders were looking for a way to arrest him, but no one could even lay a hand on him, for it was not yet his time. ³¹Many of the people chose to trust in him.

They said, “When the Chosen One comes, will he do more powerful signs than this man has done?”

³²When the Separated Ones (Pharisees) and the head holy men heard what the crowds were saying about him, they sent the lodge soldiers to arrest him.

³³“I will be gone soon,” he said to them. “I am returning to the one who sent me. ³⁴You will look for me, but you will not find me. Where I am going you cannot follow.”

³⁵The Tribal Members began to grumble, “Where will he go that we cannot find him? Will he go to where the Tribal Members live among the Wisdom Seekers (Greeks)? ³⁶Will he teach them there? What does he mean by saying, ‘You will look for me, but will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am going you cannot follow’?”

SOURCE OF LIVING WATER

³⁷It was now the last and greatest day of the Festival of Shelters.

After the ceremony Creator Sets Free (Jesus) stood before the people and cried out with a loud voice, “The ones who thirst must come to me and drink! ³⁸Put your hope and trust in me. I am the one the Sacred Teachings spoke of when they said, ‘Rivers of living water will flow out from inside him.’19”

³⁹He was saying this about the Spirit, who would soon be given to the ones who believed in him. The Spirit had not yet been poured out, for Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had not yet risen to his place of honor, power, and beauty.

CONFLICT ABOUT WHO HE IS

⁴⁰When they heard these words, some of the people gathered there were saying, “This must be the Prophet, the one of whom it was foretold would come.”

⁴¹Others were saying, “No! He is the Chosen One.”

Still others did not agree and said, “How can this be? Will the Chosen One come from Circle of Nations (Galilee)? ⁴²Do not the Sacred Teachings tell us that the Chosen One will be a descendant of Chief Much Loved One (David) and come from House of Bread (Bethlehem), the village where he was born?”

⁴³So the people could not agree about him. ⁴⁴The lodge soldiers were amazed by his words and could not bring themselves to arrest him. ⁴⁵They returned to the head holy men and the Separated Ones (Pharisees), who asked them, “Where is he? Why did you not arrest him?”

⁴⁶The soldiers answered, “No one has ever spoken like this man!”

⁴⁷“Has he turned you from the path also?” they said. ⁴⁸“Does even one tribal leader or Separated One (Pharisee) believe in him? ⁴⁹These people are ignorant of the Sacred Teachings given by Drawn from the Water (Moses). They are under a curse!”

⁵⁰Conquers the People (Nicodemus), the same one who came to Creator Sets Free (Jesus) in secret at night, was one of the Separated Ones (Pharisees). ⁵¹He boldly said to the other tribal leaders, “Our tribal law does not permit us to decide against a man without giving him a chance to stand before the council and give an answer for what he does.”

⁵²The other tribal leaders scorned him and said, “Are you also from Circle of Nations (Galilee)? Look into the Sacred Teachings for yourself. You will see that no prophet comes from Circle of Nations (Galilee).”

⁵³The Festival of Shelters was over, and the people all returned to the peace and safety of their own homes.

CONFLICT BETWEEN LAW AND KINDNESS

¹But Creator Sets Free (Jesus) went to Olive Mountain to find lodging there. ²Early in the morning at the sunrise, he returned again to the sacred lodge. All the people began to gather around him, so he sat down and once again began to teach and tell his stories.

³It was the scroll keepers and the Separated Ones (Pharisees). They brought the woman to Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and forced her down on the ground in front of him and all the people.

⁴“Wisdomkeeper,” they said, “we found this woman in the very act of being unfaithful to her husband. ⁵Drawn from the Water (Moses) instructed us in the law to throw stones at her until she dies. What do you have to say about this?”

⁶They were putting him to a test, so they could have a way to accuse him.

He bent over and with his finger wrote something in the dirt.

When he did not answer right away, the Separated Ones (Pharisees) became angry and kept questioning him.

⁷Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked up at them and said, “The one who has done no wrong should be the first to throw a stone at her.”

⁸He then bent over and again began to write in the dirt with his finger.

⁹When they heard his words, they all stood there silently. Then, beginning with the elders, one at a time they dropped their stones and walked away. Soon all were gone except for Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and the woman. ¹⁰He stood up and looked at her.

“Honored woman,” he said. “Where are the ones who were accusing you? Is there no one who finds fault with you?”

¹¹The woman looked up timidly into his eyes and said, “No one, Wisdomkeeper.”

“Then I also find no fault with you,” he said to her. “You may go your way, but take care not to return to this broken path you have been walking.”

CONFLICT BETWEEN LIGHT AND DARKNESS

¹²Creator Sets Free (Jesus) lifted up his voice and said to them, “I am the light shining on this dark world. The ones who walk with me will not stumble in the darkness but will have the light that gives them life.”

¹³When they heard this, the Separated Ones (Pharisees) said to him, “When you say these things about yourself, you are the only one who says they are true. If no one else speaks for you, then we cannot receive your words.”

¹⁴Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered them, “If I am the only one who speaks for myself, my words are still true. I know where I came from and where I am going. You are the ones who do not know where I came from or where I am going. ¹⁵You are deciding about me with weak human minds. I am not deciding about anyone, ¹⁶but even if I did, my decisions would be true, for I do not stand alone. My Father who sent me is the one who stands with me. ¹⁷Your tribal law tells you it takes the word of two people to know the truth. ¹⁸So then, I speak for myself, and the Father speaks for me also.”

WHO IS YOUR FATHER?

¹⁹“Where is your Father?” they said back to him.

“You do not know me or my Father,” he told them. “If you knew me, you would know who my Father is.”

²⁰Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said these things at the sacred lodge, where he was teaching, near the storehouse where they keep the ceremonial gifts. No one laid a hand on him, for his time had not yet come.

²¹So he lifted up his voice again and said, “You are not able to go where I am going. When I am gone, you will wander in the darkness looking for the Chosen One,20 and your bad hearts will lead you down the path of death to a bad end.”

²²The people said to each other, “Is he going to kill himself, since he says he is going where we cannot follow?”

²³So he said to them, “You are from below and belong to the ways of this world. I am from above, and this world and its ways have no place in me. ²⁴This is why I said that your bad hearts and broken ways will lead you down a path of death. Unless you put your trust in who I am and follow my ways, your end will be death.”

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

²⁵When they heard this, they said to him in anger, “Who do you think you are?”

He answered, “From the beginning I have been telling you who I am. ²⁶I have many more things I could say and decide about you. The words I speak to the people of this world come from the one who sent me, and he is the Truth.”

²⁷But no one could see that he was talking about the Father, who is the Great Spirit.

²⁸So Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to them, “When you lift up the True Human Being on the cross, then you will know that I am who I say I am. For I only do and say the things taught to me by my Father. ²⁹The one who sent me is with me now. He has never left me alone, for I always walk in the ways that make his heart glad.”

CONFLICT ABOUT FREEDOM

³⁰Many began to trust in him as they listened to his words, ³¹so Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to the Tribal Members who believed in him, “If you walk in my footsteps and follow my teachings, you will truly be my followers. ³²Then you will see and understand the truth that sets all people free.”

³³But they questioned him, “We are the descendants of Father of Many Nations (Abraham) and have never been anyone’s slave. How can you say, ‘You will be set free’?”

³⁴“I speak truth from my heart,” he answered them. “All who walk in the broken ways of this world become slaves to their bad hearts. ³⁵A slave is not a member of the family and will not always live with the family. But a son of the family always has a home. ³⁶The freedom the Son gives you is the way of true freedom.

CONFLICT OVER FATHERHOOD

³⁷“I know you are the descendants of Father of Many Nations (Abraham), but you still want to kill me ³⁸because my message has no home in you. I am telling you the things my Father has shown me, but you are doing the things you have heard from your father.”

³⁹“Father of Many Nations (Abraham) is our father,” they said back to him in anger.

Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to them, “If you were truly the children of Father of Many Nations (Abraham), you would do the same things he did. ⁴⁰Instead, you want to put to death the one who has told you truth from the Great Spirit. This is not what Father of Many Nations (Abraham) did. ⁴¹You are doing the same things your father does.”

“We were not born from an unmarried woman,” they said. “We have but one Father—the Great Spirit.”

THE BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN

⁴²Creator Sets Free (Jesus) told them, “If the Great Spirit were truly your Father, you would love me and show respect, for I came from him. I did not send myself. He is the one who sent me.

⁴³“Why can you not hear what I am saying to you? Are my words not clear? Then I will speak more clearly. ⁴⁴Your father is Accuser (Satan), the evil trickster. You are doing what he wants, for he was the first to take the life of another. He stands outside of the truth, because truth has no home in him. He speaks with a forked tongue and twists his words. His lies show who he truly is. He is a liar and the father of all that is false.

^45-46“Even though I am telling you the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you can show that I have done anything wrong? ⁴⁷The ones who come from the Great Spirit can hear his words. The reason you do not hear me is that you are not from him.”

ACCUSED OF HAVING AN EVIL SPIRIT

⁴⁸“Now we have the right to call you a mixed blood from High Place (Samaria) and one who has an evil spirit,” they said to him in anger.

⁴⁹He answered them back, “I have no evil spirit. I honor my Father, but you dishonor me. ⁵⁰I am not trying to honor myself, but there is one who honors me, and he has the final decision. ⁵¹I speak from my heart, death will not have the final word for the ones who walk in my message.”

⁵²“Now we are sure you have an evil spirit,” they said. “Father of Many Nations (Abraham) and all the prophets crossed over to death. How can you say that the ones who walk in your word will not taste of death? ⁵³Do you think you are greater than Father of Many Nations (Abraham) and the prophets? Who are you making yourself out to be?”

MY FATHER HONORS ME

⁵⁴Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered them, “If I honor myself, then I have no honor. The one who honors me is my Father, the one of whom you say, ‘He is our Great Spirit.’ ⁵⁵You do not truly know him, but I do. If I were to say, ‘I do not know him,’ I would be a liar, like you! But I know him deeply and walk in all his ways. ⁵⁶Father of Many Nations (Abraham) looked ahead to my day. He saw it, and it made his heart glad!”

⁵⁷“How could you have seen Father of Many Nations (Abraham)?” they asked, shaking their heads. “You have not even seen fifty winters.”

⁵⁸“I speak from my heart,” he answered. “I was there before Father of Many Nations (Abraham) was born—for I AM.”21

The tribal leaders had heard enough! ⁵⁹They picked up stones to throw at him, but he hid himself in the crowd, passed them by, and walked out of the sacred lodge.

WHO IS BLIND AND WHY?

¹After walking safely away from the lodge, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) saw a man blind from birth sitting by the pathway. They stopped near the man and ²the ones who walked the road with him asked, “Wisdomkeeper, why was this man born blind? Was it his wrongdoings or his parents’ that caused this?”

³“The wrongdoings of neither he nor his parents caused this,” he told them, “but that the healing power of the Great Spirit would be seen in him, ⁴for while the sun still shines, we must be doing what he wants. A time of darkness is coming when no one will do what he wants. ⁵But as long as I am in the world, I will be its light.”

HE HEALS A MAN BORN BLIND

^6-7After saying this, he spit on the ground. Then he made mud from his spit and rubbed it on the man’s eyes and instructed him to go and wash in the Waters of Sending Village (Pool of Siloam). With the help of others, the man went and washed the mud out of his eyes and returned with his sight restored.

⁸The people who lived near him, and others who knew he was a blind beggar, saw him and said in amazement, “Could this be the blind man who sat and asked for handouts?”

⁹Some were saying it was he, others said he only looked like him, but he kept saying, “I am the one!”

¹⁰So they asked him, “How did your sight return to you?”

¹¹He said, “A man named Creator Sets Free (Jesus) made some mud and rubbed it on my eyes. He told me to go to the Waters of Sending Village (Pool of Siloam) and wash. So I did what he said, and now I can see.”

¹²“Where is he?” they asked.

“I do not know where he is,” the man answered.

HOW WERE YOU HEALED?

^13-14Since it was on the Day of Resting that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had healed the man, they decided to take him to the Separated Ones (Pharisees) to see what they would say. ¹⁵The Separated Ones (Pharisees) asked the man how he was healed.

He said to them, “He rubbed mud on my eyes. I washed off the mud, and now I can see.”

¹⁶Then some of the Separated Ones (Pharisees) said, “This man, who does not honor the Day of Resting, cannot be from the Great Spirit.”

But others were saying, “How can someone with a bad heart perform powerful signs such as these?”

¹⁷The tribal leaders could not agree, so they said to the blind man, “You are the one he healed. What do you have to say about him?”

The man answered them, “He must be a prophet from the Great Spirit.”

¹⁸The tribal leaders could not believe the man had been blind. So they found his parents ¹⁹and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How does he now see?”

^20-22His parents were afraid of the tribal leaders who had said that anyone who says Creator Sets Free (Jesus) is the Chosen One would be put out of the gathering house.

²³“Yes, this is our son, and he was born blind,” they answered, “but we do not know how he sees, or who opened his eyes. He is a full-grown man. Ask him. He will tell you for himself.”

I WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE

²⁴They went back to the man who was blind and said to him, “Give honor to the Great Spirit for healing you, not to Creator Sets Free (Jesus), for we know he is an outcast with a bad heart.”

²⁵“I do not know whether this man has a bad heart,” he answered them. “But this I do know—I was blind but now I see.”

²⁶They asked the man again, “What did he do to open your eyes?”

²⁷He said to them, “You did not listen the first time I told you. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become one of his followers?”

²⁸“You are his follower!” they said with disrespect in their voices. “We follow Drawn from the Water (Moses), ²⁹for we know the Great Spirit has spoken to him, but we do not know where this man is from.”

³⁰The man answered them, “This is a strange thing! You, who are tribal leaders, do not know where this man comes from, yet he is the one who opened my eyes. ³¹The Great Spirit does not listen to people with bad hearts. He listens to the ones who humbly serve him and do what is right. ³²From the creation of the world no one has ever seen a man healed who was born blind. ³³If he were not from the Great Spirit, he could not have done this.”

BANNED FROM THE GATHERING HOUSE

³⁴They puffed up their chests and said, “You were born an outcast, and you think you can teach us?”

Then they threw him out and banned him from his gathering house.

³⁵When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) heard that they had put the man out of the gathering house, he went to him and said, “Will you put your trust in the True Human Being?”

³⁶“Honored One, tell me who he is,” the man answered, “and I will put my trust in him.”

³⁷“Look at me and see the True Human Being,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said. “He is talking with you now.”

³⁸The man bowed down to him and said, “Honored One, I believe!”

³⁹Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said, “I came to show what is right and wrong about the ways of this world, so that the blind will see—and that the ones who see may become blind.”

BLIND GUIDES

⁴⁰Some of the Separated Ones (Pharisees) overheard what he said to the man. “Are you saying that we are blind?” they asked.

⁴¹“If you were truly blind, you would have no guilt,” he answered them. “But since you claim to see, your guilt remains.”

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

¹“I speak from my heart,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to the blind tribal leaders. “Thieves and outlaws do not use the gate to the sheep pen but sneak in some other way. ²But the shepherd uses the gate to enter, ^3-4and the gatekeeper opens the way. The sheep know their shepherd’s voice, for he calls each one of them by name, and they follow him as he leads them in and out of the sheep pen.

⁵“The sheep will not follow the voice of a stranger. They will run away, for they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

⁶Because he was using a story to teach them, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) could see that they did not understand, ⁷so he told them the meaning of the story.

THE GATE FOR THE SHEEP

“I speak again from my heart,” he said. “I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸All who put themselves before me are thieves and outlaws—false shepherds. My sheep do not listen to them.

⁹“I am the gate for the sheep. The ones who enter by me will be safe and well cared for. Following the Shepherd, they will go in and out and find good food to eat.

¹⁰“Thieves enter only to take away life, to steal what is not theirs, and to bring to ruin all they cannot have. I have come to give the good life, a life that overflows with beauty and harmony.

GOOD SHEPHERD

¹¹“I am the Good Shepherd, the one who watches over the sheep. I will lay down my life for them. ¹²The ones who watch the sheep only for pay will run away when a wolf comes, because the sheep are not theirs. Then the wolf preys upon the sheep and scatters the flock. ¹³The ones who do it only for pay are not true shepherds, for they do not care for the sheep but only for themselves.

^14-15“I am the Good Shepherd, the one who lays down his life for the sheep. The Father knows me, and I know him. In the same way, I also know each one of my sheep, and they know me. ¹⁶I have other sheep who are not from this flock. I will go and find them, and they will also hear my voice. Then there will be only one flock, with one Shepherd.

¹⁷“My Father has a great love for me, for I lay my life down to take it back again. ¹⁸No one takes my life from me, for I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay my life down and the right to take it back. It is my Father who gives me this right.”

DISAGREEMENT

¹⁹This story brought much disagreement among the Tribal Members, and they began to argue about him.

²⁰Many were saying, “He has lost his mind and has an evil spirit. Why do we even listen to him?”

²¹At the same time others were saying, “These are not the words of someone with an evil spirit. Can an evil spirit open blind eyes?”

FEAST OF DEDICATION

Two moons had passed since the Festival of Shelters, and ²²it was now time for the people to celebrate the Feast of Dedication22 in Village of Peace (Jerusalem).

²³It was winter, and Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was walking near the sacred lodge under the entryway named after the great chief Stands in Peace (Solomon).

²⁴The tribal leaders came to him and said, “How long will you make us wait? If you are the Chosen One, then tell us!”

²⁵“I already told you who I am,” he said to them, “but you did not believe me. The things I do, representing my Father, speak the truth about me. ²⁶As I told you before, you do not trust me because you are not my sheep. ²⁷I know who my sheep are, for they know my voice and go where I lead them. ²⁸My gift to them is the life of the world to come, full of beauty and harmony, and they will never fade away or come to a bad end. ²⁹My Father gave them to me, and no one can take them from me, because no one is greater than my Father. My sheep are safe in his hands, ³⁰for I and my Father are one.”

TRIBAL LEADERS REJECT HIM

³¹The tribal leaders became furious and picked up stones to kill him.

³²Creator Sets Free (Jesus) stood his ground and said to them, “I have done many good things, representing my Father. For which of these do you mean to stone me?”

³³They answered, “Not for any good thing you have done, but for speaking lies against the Great Spirit. How can you, a weak human being, represent yourself as the Great Spirit?”

³⁴Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered them, “In your tribal law it says, ‘You are powerful spiritual beings.’23 ³⁵If Creator’s word, which came to you, says you are ‘powerful spiritual beings,’ and the Sacred Teachings are clear and cannot be changed, ³⁶then how can you say that the one the Father has set apart and sent into the world is speaking against the Great Spirit when he says, ‘I am the Son of the Great Spirit’?

³⁷“If I am not doing what my Father does, then do not believe me. ³⁸But even if you do not believe me, then at least believe in the powerful things I do. Then you will see clearly that I am in the Father and he is in me.”

³⁹The tribal leaders moved toward him to take him by force, but he slipped through their hands and walked away.

CREATOR SETS FREE RETREATS

⁴⁰He went to the place on the east side of the river Flowing Down (Jordan) where Gift of Goodwill (John) first performed the purification ceremony.24 He and his followers remained there for a time.

⁴¹Many people from the area came to hear him and, after seeing Creator Sets Free (Jesus) teach, tell his stories, heal the sick, and force out evil spirits, the people were saying, “Gift of Goodwill (John) never performed a miracle or did any powerful signs, but what he told us about this man is true.”

⁴²And so many of the people there believed in him that he was the Chosen One.

A FRIEND CROSSES OVER

^1-2In House of Figs (Bethany), near Village of Peace (Jerusalem), a man named Creator Helps Him (Lazarus) was very sick. He was the brother of Healing Tears (Mary) and Head Woman (Martha). Healing Tears (Mary) is the one who poured ointment over the head and feet of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and wiped his feet with her hair.25

³The sisters sent a messenger to Creator Sets Free (Jesus), who said to him, “Our brother, Creator Helps Him (Lazarus), the one you care deeply about, is sick.”

⁴When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) heard the message, he said, “This sickness will not end in death. Instead, this will bring honor to the Great Spirit and shine a light on his Son.”

HIS LIGHT SHINES BRIGHTER

⁵Even though Creator Sets Free (Jesus) loved this family dearly, ⁶he stayed where he was for two more days. ⁷Then he said to his followers, “Let us go back to the Land of Promise (Judea).”

⁸But his followers said to him, “Wisdomkeeper, the Tribal Members there tried to throw stones at you to kill you! Why would you want to go back there?”

⁹He answered them, “Does not the sun give us a full day of light? The ones who walk during the day never stumble, because they see the light that shines on this world. ¹⁰But the ones who walk at night stumble in the darkness, because there is no light for them to see.”

¹¹Creator Sets Free (Jesus) explained to them, “Our good friend, Creator Helps Him (Lazarus), has fallen asleep and I am going to wake him.”

¹²They said to him, “Wisdomkeeper, if he is only sleeping, he will get well.”

¹³They did not understand that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) meant that Creator Helps Him (Lazarus) had died. ¹⁴They thought he was sleeping naturally.

He then told them plainly, “Creator Helps Him (Lazarus) has crossed over to death. ¹⁵It is a good thing that I was not there, so you will believe. But we must go to him now.”

¹⁶Looks Like His Brother (Thomas) said to the others, “Yes, we should go and die with him.”

FOUR DAYS DEAD

¹⁷When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) came to House of Figs (Bethany), he found out that Creator Helps Him (Lazarus) had died four days earlier and was laid in a burial cave. ¹⁸House of Figs (Bethany) was a close walk26 from Village of Peace (Jerusalem). ¹⁹Many of the local Tribal Members had gathered, along with the women, to give comfort to Head Woman (Martha) and Healing Tears (Mary) for the loss of their brother.

I AM THE RISING FROM THE DEAD

²⁰When Head Woman (Martha) heard that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was coming, she went out to greet him, but Healing Tears (Mary) stayed home.

²¹When she found Creator Sets Free (Jesus), she said to him, “Wisdomkeeper, if you had been here, my brother would still be with us. ²²Even so, I know if you ask anything of the Great Spirit, he will give it to you.”

²³“Your brother will live again,” he answered.

²⁴“I know he will live again,” she said, “when the dead rise up at the end of all days.”

^25-26“I am the rising from the dead and the life that follows,” he told her. “The ones who trust me will live again, even after death. Death will never be the end of the ones who are alive and trust in me. Do you believe what I am saying to you?”

²⁷“Yes, Wisdomkeeper!” she smiled and said. “I believe you are the Chosen One, the Son of the Great Spirit—the one who came down into this world from above.”

HE WEEPS WITH THOSE WHO WEEP

²⁸After she said this, she left him and went in private to her sister Healing Tears (Mary) and said to her, “The Wisdomkeeper is nearby and wants you to come to him.”

^29-30Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was still waiting outside the village where Head Woman (Martha) had met him. When Healing Tears (Mary) heard this, she got up right away and went to see him. ³¹The Tribal Members who were comforting Healing Tears (Mary) saw her get up and leave quickly, so they went with her, thinking she was going to the burial cave to weep.

³²When Healing Tears (Mary) found Creator Sets Free (Jesus), she crumpled at his feet and wept.

“Wisdomkeeper!” she said as tears ran down her face. “If only you had been here, my brother would still be alive.”

³³Creator Sets Free (Jesus) stood there watching Healing Tears (Mary) weeping at his feet. He looked around and saw all the Tribal Members who came with her also weeping. A deep anguish began to well up inside him, and he was troubled in his spirit.

He cried out, ³⁴“Where did they bury him?”

“Wisdomkeeper, come with us,” they said to him. “We will show you.”

³⁵Creator Sets Free (Jesus) wept.

³⁶When the Tribal Members saw his tears, some said, “See how deeply he cared for him!”

³⁷But others said, “If this man could open the eyes of a blind man, why could he not have kept this man from dying?”

POWER OVER DEATH

³⁸Creator Sets Free (Jesus), still deep in anguish, found his way to the family burial place. It was a cave, and a large stone blocked the entrance.

³⁹Creator Sets Free (Jesus) cried out, “Take away the stone!”

Head Woman (Martha) whispered to him, “Wisdomkeeper, he has been dead four days. There will be a terrible smell.”

⁴⁰He looked at her and said, “Do you not remember what I told you? If you believed, you would see the shining-greatness of the Great Spirit.”

Head Woman (Martha) could say nothing. She watched as ⁴¹they rolled the stone away from the burial cave.

Creator Sets Free (Jesus) turned his eyes upward toward the sky and said, “I thank you, Father, that you have already heard my prayers and always listen to me. ⁴²The reason I say this out loud is so that all who are standing around me can hear and believe that you sent me.”

⁴³Then the voice of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) pierced the silence as he cried out with a loud voice, “Creator Helps Him (Lazarus), come out of there!”

⁴⁴Creator Helps Him (Lazarus) came stumbling out of the burial cave with his ceremonial wrappings still clinging to his head, hands, and feet.

Creator Sets Free (Jesus) told the people, “Take off his wrappings and set him free.”

⁴⁵When many of the local Tribal Members saw what Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had done, they put their trust in him. ⁴⁶But some of them went to find the Separated Ones (Pharisees) to tell them what had happened.

A WAR COUNCIL IS CALLED

⁴⁷When the Separated Ones (Pharisees) and the head holy men heard about this great miracle, they called the Grand Council together.

“What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man has powerful medicine and performs many signs and wonders. ⁴⁸If we do not stop him, all the people will believe in him. Then the People of Iron (Romans) will come and take away our sacred lodge and, with it, our power to rule this nation.”

⁴⁹Hollow in the Rock (Caiaphas), the chief holy man for that year, said to the council, “Is it too hard for you to see? ⁵⁰It would be better for us if one man were to die for the people than for our whole nation to be destroyed.”

⁵¹Hollow in the Rock (Caiaphas) was not aware that, as the chief holy man for that year, he prophesied that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) would die for their nation. Little did he know that ⁵²he would not only die for their nation but also to gather together all of Creator’s scattered children from every nation and make them into one people.

⁵³From that day forward the Grand Council set in motion a plan to have him killed.

⁵⁴Knowing this, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) no longer walked openly among the people. He went into the countryside near the desert wilderness to the Village of Fruitful Place (Ephraim). There he stayed for a time with his close followers.

ON THE LOOKOUT FOR CREATOR SETS FREE

⁵⁵It was time again for the traditional Festival of Bread Without Yeast, called Passover. Tribal Members would travel from their homelands to Village of Peace (Jerusalem). Many would arrive early to perform a purification ceremony to prepare for the festival.

⁵⁶The tribal leaders were all looking for Creator Sets Free (Jesus). As they stood in the courtyard of the sacred lodge, they asked each other, “What do you think? Surely he will not come here to the festival?”

⁵⁷For the head holy men and the Separated Ones (Pharisees) had given instruction that anyone who saw Creator Sets Free (Jesus) should report back to them so they could arrest him.

PREPARATION FOR HIS BURIAL

¹It was now six days before the Passover festival. Creator Sets Free (Jesus) returned to House of Figs (Bethany) to lodge at the home of Creator Helps Him (Lazarus), whom he had brought back to life from the dead. ²That night, they had a meal to honor Creator Sets Free (Jesus). Head Woman (Martha) was preparing the meal, and her brother, Creator Helps Him (Lazarus), was sitting with Wisdomkeeper and the other guests.

³Healing Tears (Mary), the sister of Head Woman (Martha), took a small pottery jar that held some costly ointment, broke it, and poured the sweet-smelling ointment on the feet of Creator Sets Free (Jesus). She then wiped his feet with her hair, and the scent of the sweet-smelling ointment filled the whole house.

⁴When Speaks Well Of (Judas), also known as Village Man (Iscariot), the one who would soon betray Creator Sets Free (Jesus), saw this, he said, ⁵“This could have been traded for a year’s wages and given to the poor.”

⁶He said this not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and, as the keeper of the money pouch, he would take what he wanted.

⁷“Let her be!” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to all. “She has done a good thing, saving this for the day of my burial. ⁸You can help the poor anytime, for they will always be with you, but I will not.”

⁹Word got out that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was there. Many people came from all around to see him, and not only him but also Creator Helps Him (Lazarus), the one he had brought back from the dead. ¹⁰The head holy men were also making a plan to kill Creator Helps Him (Lazarus), ¹¹for because of him many of the Tribal Members believed in Creator Sets Free (Jesus), that he was the Chosen One.

HIS GRAND ENTRY

¹²The following day, the people who had come to the Passover festival heard that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was entering Village of Peace (Jerusalem). ¹³A great crowd of them took branches from palm trees and went out to greet him.

Waving palm branches in their hands, they began to shout, “Hosanna!” meaning “Help us!” They cried out with glad hearts. “We honor you as the one who is to come representing the Great Spirit. You are the Great Chief of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel)!”

¹⁴Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was riding on the colt of a donkey to give full meaning to the ancient prophecy, ¹⁵“Do not fear, O daughter of Strong Mountain (Zion). Your Great Chief is coming to you, in a humble way, riding on a young donkey.”27

¹⁶At the time his followers did not understand these things. It was not until some time later, when he had entered his place of honor and bright shining-greatness, that they remembered how the things done to him had first been written down by the ancient prophets long ago.

^17-18Among this crowd were the ones who had seen Creator Sets Free (Jesus) bring Creator Helps Him (Lazarus) back from the dead. They were telling every-one about this great miracle. That is why the crowd was so large that day.

¹⁹The Separated Ones (Pharisees) huddled together near the crowd.

“Nothing we have done to stop him has worked,” they complained. “Look! The whole world is now following him.”

WISDOM SEEKERS SEEK HIM

²⁰There were people from these nations who came to celebrate the festival from Land of Wisdom Seekers (Greece).

²¹They went up to Friend of Horses (Philip), who was from House of Fishing (Bethsaida) in Circle of Nations (Galilee). Knowing him to be one who walked with Creator Sets Free (Jesus), they said to him, “Honored friend, we would like to see Creator Sets Free (Jesus), your Wisdomkeeper.”

²²Friend of Horses (Philip) did not know what to do, so he found Stands with Courage (Andrew) and asked him what he thought. Then together they both went to see Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and told him that the Wisdom Seekers (Greeks) wished to see him.

²³He answered them, “It is time for the True Human Being to be lifted up to his place of honor. ²⁴I speak from my heart. If a seed is unplanted, it remains only one seed, but if it dies, falls to the earth, and enters the ground, it will then grow and become many seeds.

²⁵“The ones who love the kind of life this world gives will lose the life they seek, but the ones who let go of their life in this world and follow my ways will find the life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony.

“Tell these Wisdom Seekers (Greeks) to walk the road with me. ²⁶Anyone who wants to serve me will walk in my footsteps, and I will take them to the same place I am going. If they give up their lives to serve me in this way, my Father will honor them.”

THE TIME OF HONOR HAS COME

²⁷“But now I am deeply troubled and in anguish!” he said. “Should I ask my Father to rescue me from this hour that has now come? No! I came into the world for this time and for this purpose.”

²⁸“Father,” he prayed, “honor your name and show the world the beauty of it.”

Suddenly, a voice from above spoke out of the sky, “I have honored my name, for it represents who I am, and I will once again honor and show the beauty of it.”

²⁹Some of the people standing nearby heard the voice and said, “Was that thunder?”

Others said, “No, a spirit-messenger has spoken to him.”

³⁰Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to them, “This voice you heard was not for my sake, but for yours. ³¹It is a sign to you that it is now time for the Great Spirit to make his final decision about this world. The evil one who now rules this world will be defeated and thrown down. ³²But I, the True Human Being, will be lifted up from the ground and nailed to a cross. This is the way I will bring all things, in the spirit-world above and the earth below,28 to myself.”

³³Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said this to show the kind of death he would die and what his death would accomplish.

³⁴The people who heard him said, “How can this be? We have been told from our Sacred Teachings that the Chosen One, when he comes, will remain beyond the end of all days. How can you say the True Human Being will be lifted up like this? Who are you talking about?”

³⁵Creator Sets Free (Jesus) spoke to them with sadness in his voice. “My light will shine on you for only a little while longer, so walk in my light before the darkness comes, for the ones who walk in darkness cannot see the path. ³⁶Put your trust in the one who gives you light, and then you will become children of light.”

He then went away to hide himself from the crowds.

BLIND EYES AND HARD HEARTS

³⁷Even though Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had healed the sick, brought the dead back to life, and shown the people powerful medicine from the Great Spirit, his own tribal nation still did not believe in him or trust him.

^38-39This showed the full meaning of the ancient prophecy, “Who will believe such a thing? Who will see that Creator’s great power would be shown in weakness?”29 ⁴⁰and, “His great light has blinded their eyes and his great love has hardened their hearts. If only they would open their hearts to him, then they would see clearly and he would make them whole.”30

⁴¹The prophet Creator Will Help Us (Isaiah) saw the true beauty of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) long ago and prophesied the reasons the people could not believe. ⁴²But even so, many tribal leaders did believe in him but would not tell anyone because they feared the Separated Ones (Pharisees). They knew if they openly confessed their faith in him they would be put out of the gathering houses. ⁴³In the end, their reputation with the people was more important to them than bringing honor to the Maker of Life.

MY MESSAGE WILL DECIDE

As he was leaving, ⁴⁴Creator Sets Free (Jesus) turned around, lifted his voice, and cried out to the people one last time, “If you trust me, you are not only trusting me, but the one who sent me. ⁴⁵When you see me, you see the one who sent me. ⁴⁶I came into this dark world as a shining light, so the ones who trust me will no longer have to stumble in the darkness.

⁴⁷“I have not come to decide against the ones who have heard my words but fail to walk in them. Instead, I have come to rescue them from the worthless ways of this world and set them free. ⁴⁸But a day is coming when the ones who have turned away from me and my words will be decided against. In the end, it will be the message I have spoken that will decide for or against them.

⁴⁹“The message I have spoken is not from myself. It is from the one who sent me. I have spoken only what my Father gave me to speak, nothing more. ⁵⁰The instructions my Father gave me lead to the life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony.”

THE CEREMONIAL MEAL BEGINS

¹The Passover festival was drawing near. Creator Sets Free (Jesus) knew it was time to leave this world and go back to his Father. His love for the ones who walked the road with him had always been great, and now, at the end, his love for them remained strong.

²The evil trickster snake had already twisted the heart of Speaks Well Of (Judas), also known as Village Man (Iscariot), son of Man Who Hears (Simon), to betray Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

³Creator Sets Free (Jesus) knew that his Father had put all things in his hands and that he had come from the Great Spirit and was returning to him.

FOOT-WASHING CEREMONY

⁴Knowing all of this, during the meal Creator Sets Free (Jesus) got up from the table, took off his outer garments, and wrapped a cloth around himself like a sash. ⁵He poured water into a vessel and, one by one, he began to wash the feet of his followers and dry them with the cloth.

⁶He came to Stands on the Rock (Peter), who said to him, “Wisdomkeeper, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷“You do not understand now what I am doing, but later you will,” he answered.

⁸“No!” Stands on the Rock (Peter) lifted his voice, “This can never be!”

Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked deep into his eyes and said, “If you refuse this, then you have no part in who I am.”

⁹“Wisdomkeeper,” he answered back, “if this is so, then wash my hands and head also!”

¹⁰Creator Sets Free (Jesus) replied, “If you have already had a bath, only your feet need washing, and then you will be clean all over. Now, you are all clean. Except for one.”

¹¹He said this because he knew who would betray him.

After he had finished washing all their feet, ¹²he put his outer garment back on and sat down again at the table.

“Do you see what I have done?” he said to them. ¹³“You are right to call me Wisdomkeeper and Chief—because I am. ¹⁴If I, your Wisdomkeeper and Chief, have washed your feet, then you should wash each other’s feet. ¹⁵So follow my footsteps and do for each other what I have done for you.

¹⁶“I speak from my heart. The one who serves is not greater than the one who is served. A message bearer is not greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷If you walk in this way of blessing, you will do well, and it will return to you—full circle.

ONE OF YOU WILL BETRAY ME

¹⁸“I am not talking about all of you, for I know the hearts of the ones I have chosen. Now you will see the full meaning of the Sacred Teachings that said, ‘The one who ate with me has turned against me.’31 ¹⁹I am telling you this ahead of time, so when it happens you will believe that I am the Chosen One.

²⁰“I speak from my heart. The one who welcomes the one I send welcomes me. The one who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”

²¹When he finished saying this, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) became deeply troubled in his spirit. As sorrow moved over his face, he said to all, “From my heart I tell you, one of you will turn against me.”

²²His followers’ hearts fell to the ground. They looked around at each other, wondering who would do such a thing. ²³He Shows Goodwill (John), the much-loved follower of Creator Sets Free (Jesus), was sitting next to him. ²⁴Stands on the Rock (Peter) motioned him to ask Creator Sets Free (Jesus) who it was. So he leaned back on his chest and whispered into his ear, “Wisdomkeeper, who is it?”

²⁵“When I dip my frybread into the dish,” he whispered back, “I will give it to the one who will turn against me.”

He did as he said and handed the frybread to Speaks Well Of (Judas), also known as Village Man (Iscariot), the son of Man Who Hears (Simon). ²⁶When Speaks Well Of (Judas) took the frybread, the evil snake took hold of his heart.

²⁷“Go now,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to him, “and do what you have planned.”

²⁸None of the others understood what Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was saying to him. ²⁹Since he was the keeper of the money pouch, they thought he was going to pay for the ceremonial meal or give something to the poor. ³⁰As soon as he had taken the frybread, Speaks Well Of (Judas) got up from the table and went out into the night.

A NEW ROAD

³¹After he left, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to them all, “The time has now come for the True Human Being to honor the Great Spirit and to be honored by him. ³²As soon as the Son gives him honor, it will come back again—full circle.”

³³“My little children,” he said to them, “my time with you is almost gone. You will look for me, but where I am going you cannot follow. This is the same thing I said to the other Tribal Members and I now say to you.”

³⁴“I am giving you a new road to walk,” he said. “In the same way I have loved you, you are to love each other. ³⁵This kind of love will be the sign for all people that you are walking the road with me.”

WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

³⁶Stands on the Rock (Peter) spoke up and asked, “Wisdomkeeper, where are you going?”

“The path I walk tonight you cannot walk with me,” he answered, “but you will walk it later.”

³⁷“Wisdomkeeper!” he replied. “Why can I not walk with you now? I am ready to give my life for you!”

³⁸“Will you truly lay down your life for me?” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) asked. Then he said, “Before the rooster crows in the morning, you will deny three times that you know who I am!”

NO OTHER GUIDE

¹“Do not let your hearts fall to the ground,” he encouraged them. “Trust in the Great Spirit, and trust in me. ²My Father’s lodge has room for everyone. If this were not so, then why would I tell you that I am going to prepare a place for you? ³When I am finished, I will come back to you, so that you will always be with me. ⁴You already know the path to where I am going.”

⁵Looks Like His Brother (Thomas) interrupted and said, “Wisdomkeeper, if we do not know where you are going, how can we know the path?”

⁶“I am the Great Spirit’s pathway, the truth about who he really is, and the life of beauty and harmony he offers to all. There is no other guide who can take you to the Father. ⁷To know me is to know my Father, so from now on you know him and have seen him.”

SHOW US THE FATHER

⁸Friend of Horses (Philip) said to him, “Wisdomkeeper, show us the Father, and that will be enough.”

⁹“Friend of Horses (Philip),” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said, “how long have you walked with me, and still you do not know me? How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? The ones who have seen me have seen the Father. ¹⁰Do you not believe that the Father is in me and I am in the Father?

“The words I speak to you are not my own. It is the Father speaking in me. ¹¹Trust in me, for I am in the Father and he is in me. Or at least trust in the works my Father does through me.

¹²“I speak from my heart. The ones who trust in me will do the same things I do, and even greater things, for I am going away to my Father. ^13-14When you ask the Father for anything, ask it in my name, representing who I am. When you ask for anything in this way, I will do it to bring honor to my Father.

PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

¹⁵“If you love me, you will walk in my ways. ¹⁶I will ask the Father to send one who will always walk beside you and guide you on the good road. ¹⁷He is the Spirit of Truth, the one this world is not able to accept because it does not see or know him. But you know him, for he is with you now and will soon be in you.

¹⁸“I will not leave you like a child with no parents. I will come back to you. ¹⁹Soon this world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I will live again, you will also live. ²⁰When that day comes, you will know that I am in the Father, that you are in me, and that I am in you. ²¹The ones who walk in my ways and stay true to my message love me. They will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and show them my true self.”

²²Speaks Well Of (Judas), not the one who betrayed him, asked, “Wisdomkeeper, how will you show yourself to us and not to the rest of the world?”

²³“I will show myself to the ones who love me and are staying true to my teachings. They will be loved by my Father, and we will come and make our home in and among them. ²⁴The ones who do not return my love will not walk in my message. This message is not only mine. It is from my Father, the one who sent me.

²⁵“I have told you these things while I am still with you, ²⁶but there is one whom the Father is sending to represent me. He will walk beside you and be your spirit guide. He is the Holy Spirit, who will be your Wisdomkeeper and will help you to remember all that I have told you.

GREAT PEACE

²⁷“I leave you now with my great peace. It is my gift to you. It is not the kind of peace the world gives. Do not let the troubles of this world fill you with fear and make your hearts fall to the ground, and do not let fear hold you back. ²⁸I told you I am going away and that I will come back. This should make your hearts glad if you truly love me, for I am going to the one who is greater than I am—to my Father, the One Above Us All.

²⁹“I have told you all these things beforehand, so when you see them happen you will believe. ³⁰There is only a little time left for me to talk with you. The dark ruler of this world is coming. His power over me is nothing, ³¹but I must walk the path the Father has for me, so the world will know the great love I have for him.

“Get up!” he said to them. “It is time for us to go from here.”

THE TRUE VINE

¹“I am the true grapevine. My Father is the Vine Keeper. ²He cuts off the branches in me that have no fruit. He carefully trims back the branches with fruit, so they will grow more fruit.

³“My teachings have purified you, ⁴but you must stay joined to me in the same way a branch is joined to the vine. A branch cannot grow fruit unless it is joined to the vine. It is the same with you and me.

⁵“I am the vine and you are the branches. The ones who stay joined to me will grow much fruit, for without me nothing grows. ⁶The ones who do not stay joined to me are broken off and dry up, and then they are gathered up and used to make a fire.

⁷“If you are joined to me and my words remain in you, you can ask me for anything and it will be done. ⁸When you grow a harvest of fruit, this will show that you are walking my road. You will then bring great honor to my Father.

THE ROAD OF LOVE

⁹“In the same way the Father loves me, I have loved you. Never stop walking this road of love. ¹⁰By doing what the Father has told me, I have remained in his love. ¹¹As you walk in my ways, my love will remain in you. I am saying this so your hearts will be filled with the same joy I have.

¹²“To walk the road with me, you must love each other in the same way I have loved you. ¹³There is no greater way to show love to friends than to die in their place. ¹⁴You are my friends if you walk in my ways and do what I say. ¹⁵I no longer see you as my servants but as friends. Masters do not share their hearts and plans with their servants, but I have shown you everything I have heard from my Father.

¹⁶“You may think you chose me, but I am the one who chose you. You are my new garden where I will grow a great harvest of my love—the fruit that remains. When you bear this fruit, you represent who I am—my name. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask for. ¹⁷I am telling you this so you will walk the road of love with each other.

THE WORLD WILL HATE YOU

¹⁸“If you are hated by the world, remember, it hated me first. ¹⁹The ones who walk in the ways of this world love the ones who do the same but look down on and hate the ones who do not. I have chosen you to walk away from the ways of this world, on a different path, and that is why the world will hate you. ²⁰Remember, I told you a servant is not greater than the one he serves. If I was hunted down, it will be the same for you. If they walk in my message, they will walk in yours.

²¹“The people who walk in the ways of this world will do this to you because you walk in my ways, representing me. This shows they do not know the one who sent me.

²²“If I had not come to them and represented the truth, they would not be guilty of this, but now their guilt remains. ^23-24If I had not done the things no one else has done, they would have no guilt. But now they have seen with their own eyes and hated me and my Father. ²⁵The full meaning of their own Sacred Teachings have become clear, ‘They hated me for no reason.’32

SPIRIT OF TRUTH

²⁶“I am sending you the Spirit of Truth, the one who is coming from the Father. He will walk close by your side, representing me, and telling the truth about me. ²⁷You will also represent me as truth tellers, for you have walked with me from the first and have seen these things with your own eyes.

IT IS BETTER IF I GO AWAY

¹“I am telling you these things to keep you from stumbling away from the path. ²The tribal leaders will force you out of their gathering houses. The time will come when they will put you to death, thinking they are doing what the Great Spirit wants, ³all because they do not know me or my Father. ⁴I am telling you this so when the time comes you will remember I told you ahead of time. I did not tell these things from the first because I was with you— ⁵but now I am going away.

“I am returning to the one who sent me, but none of you are asking, ‘Where are you going?’ You are thinking only of yourselves ⁶because my words have made your hearts fall to the ground. ⁷I speak from my heart, it is better for you that I go away. If I remain, the one who will guide you will not come. If I go, I will send him to you.

THE HOLY SPIRIT’S WORK

⁸“When the Holy Spirit comes, he will clearly show the wrong ways of this world, the right ways of the spirit-world above, and the answer that will be required of them in the end. ⁹He will show them that the answer to their broken ways is to trust in me. ¹⁰The right ways of the spirit-world above will come when I return to the Father and they no longer see me. ¹¹The final decision about this world will come because Accuser (Satan)—the ruler of this world—has been found guilty.

¹²“There are many more things I want to say to you, but your hearts are not strong enough to hear them now. ¹³When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will be the one to tell you. He will be your one true spirit guide and will lead you down the path of truth. He will fully represent me and will tell you only what I have told him. The Spirit will show you what is coming on the road ahead. ¹⁴He will honor me by making known to you everything I have shown him. ¹⁵All that I am and all that I have comes from the Father. He has not held back one thing from me, and the Spirit will not hold back anything from you.

A LITTLE WHILE

¹⁶“Soon I will be gone and you will not be able to see me, and then after a little while you will see me again.”

^17-18His followers began to whisper to each other, “What is he saying? We do not know what he means by ‘a little while’ and not seeing him and then seeing him again. What does he mean by ‘I go to the Father’?”

¹⁹Creator Sets Free (Jesus) knew what they wanted to ask him, so he said, “You want to know what I meant when I said ‘soon you will not see me, but then you will see me again.’

²⁰“I speak from my heart. Your tears will be many, and your hearts will fall to the ground, because of what will happen to me, but the world around you will have glad hearts. ²¹All of you will be filled with sorrow, but your sorrow will turn into dancing!

“When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow, for her time of pain has come. But when she gives birth to her child, she forgets her pain, for a new human being has been born into the world. ²²It will be the same for you. You will have sorrow for now, but when I see you again, you will dance for joy. And no one will be able to take your joy from you.

A NEW WAY OF ASKING

^23-24“When that time comes, your questions will be answered, not by asking me but by asking the Father himself. You will then ask the Father in my name, fully representing me. I know you have never asked in this way before, but it is now time. I speak from my heart. When you ask in this new way, the Father will answer, and your hearts will know the full meaning of joy.

THE END OF STORIES

²⁵“I have told you truths from the spirit-world above, using earthly stories. The time is coming when I will not have to use stories but will tell you plainly about the Father. When that time comes, you will not need me to ask the Father for you, because you will ask him yourself. ²⁶When you ask in my name, you are representing me. ²⁷Your love and trust in me will bring the Father’s love to you—full circle. ²⁸You now believe that I came from the Great Spirit. Yes, I came into this world from the Father, and now I am leaving this world and returning to the Father.”

²⁹His followers said to him, “Now you are speaking plainly to us instead of using stories! ³⁰We now see that you know all things and can answer a question before it is asked. This helps us to believe that you came from the Great Spirit.”

I HAVE DEFEATED THE WORLD

³¹“You say you believe now,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to them, ³²“but soon you will all be scattered and return to your families. You will leave me alone, but I will not be alone, for my Father is with me.

³³“I have told you all these things so you will have my peace. This world is full of sorrow, pain and trouble, but have strong hearts, for I have defeated the world.”

HE PRAYS FOR HIS FOLLOWERS

¹When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was finished speaking to his followers, he lifted his eyes to the spirit-world above and sent his voice to the Great Spirit.

“O Great Father,” he prayed, “it is time for you to bring honor to your Son, so he may bring honor to you. ²You have put all human beings under the care of your Son, so he can give them the life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony. ³This life comes from knowing you, the only true and Great Spirit, and from knowing the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the one you have sent into this world.

⁴“I have brought you honor on earth by finishing the work you sent me to do. ⁵It is now time, my Father, for you to honor me with the beauty I shared at your side before you created all things.

⁶“I have shown who you truly are to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours and you trusted me with them, and they have walked in your ways. ⁷They now know that everything I have comes from you. ⁸The message you gave to me I have given to them. They have welcomed the truth about who I am and trust that you sent me. ⁹These are the ones I now pray for. I am not praying for the ones who walk in the ways of the world, but for the ones you gave to me, for they belong to you. ¹⁰My followers bring honor to me. They are a gift from you, a gift we share together.

¹¹“Since I am returning to you, I will no longer be in the world, but my followers will still be here. O Father of all that is holy, watch over them with the loving care that we share with one another. In this way, they will also share the love that makes us one.

¹²“During my time on earth representing you, I kept them safe in your loving care. Not one of them has been lost, except for the one foretold in the Sacred Teachings, the one doomed to a bad end.

¹³“I am returning to you now. But while I am still here, I pray for my followers, so they may share in my joy. ¹⁴Your message, which I gave them, has taken root in their hearts. Like me, they have chosen not to walk in the ways of this world, and so the world hates them. ¹⁵I am not asking you to remove them from the world but that you keep them safe from the evil one and his ways. ¹⁶They no longer belong to the ways of this world, any more than I do. ¹⁷Make them holy through the beautiful message of your truth.

¹⁸“You sent me into the world, and now, in the same way, I send them into the world. ¹⁹I set my life apart for them in a sacred manner, so they may also set their lives apart to walk in the beauty of your truth.

²⁰“My prayers are not only for them, but for all who will trust in me through their message. ²¹I pray that all who walk with me will be joined together as one, in the same way that you, Father, are in me and I am in you—that they may be one in us. This is how the world will believe that you have sent me.

²²“The beauty you gave to me I have given to them. This will join them together with us. ²³In the same way you are in me, I will be in them, beautifully joined together as one. This is the reason you sent me into this world, to show that you love them just as you love me.

²⁴“O Great Father, I want the ones you have given to me to share this place of beauty that I have with you, so they can see the power of your love for me, a love that we shared before you created all things.

²⁵“O Father of all that is good and right, the world does not know you, but I know you, and my followers know you sent me. ²⁶I have represented and will always represent who you truly are so that the love you have for me will be in them and I will live in them also.”

BETRAYAL

¹When he finished sending up his prayers, he and the ones who walked the road with him walked across the Valley of Darkness (Kidron) and entered a garden with many olive trees.

²Speaks Well Of (Judas), the betrayer, knew about this place because Creator Sets Free (Jesus) would often go there with his followers. ³The betrayer came into the garden, and with him came a band of lodge soldiers sent from the scroll keepers, head holy men, and Separated Ones (Pharisees), representing the elders of the Grand Council. The air was filled with the smell of burning torches as they entered the garden carrying clubs and long knives.

⁴Creator Sets Free (Jesus) knew all this would happen, yet he turned to the soldiers and asked, “Who have you come for?”

⁵With one voice they answered back, “Creator Sets Free (Jesus) from Seed Planter Village (Nazareth)!”

The betrayer, Speaks Well Of (Judas), was standing there with the lodge soldiers when Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered, “I am he!”

⁶At the sound of his voice they all moved back and fell to the ground.

⁷He asked them again, “Who have you come for?”

They answered, “Creator Sets Free (Jesus) from Seed Planter Village (Nazareth).”

⁸“I told you already, I am the one you are looking for,” he said. “Let these other men go.”

⁹He said this to fulfill his promise, “None of the ones you gave to me have been lost.”33

¹⁰Right then, Stands on the Rock (Peter) drew his long knife from its sheath and cut off the right ear of the servant of the chief holy man. The servant’s name was Chieftain (Malchus).

¹¹Creator Sets Free (Jesus) turned to Stands on the Rock (Peter) and cried out, “Enough of this! Put your long knife back into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup of suffering my Father has asked of me?”

CREATOR SETS FREE IS ARRESTED

¹²The lodge soldiers, along with their head soldier and the Grand Council representatives, took hold of Creator Sets Free (Jesus), tied him securely with cowhide strips, ¹³and took him first to Walks Humbly (Annas), one of the high holy men. He was the father of the wife of Hollow in the Rock (Caiaphas), the chief holy man ¹⁴who had advised the Grand Council by saying, “It will be better if one man dies for all the people.”34

FIRST DENIAL

¹⁵Stands on the Rock (Peter) and one other follower35 had been watching from a distance. Since this follower was known by the chief holy man, he entered the courtyard of the house. ¹⁶But Stands on the Rock (Peter) stood outside the gate. This follower spoke to the gatekeeper, a young woman, who then let Stands on the Rock (Peter) in.

¹⁷She said to him, “Are you not one of his followers?”

“No!” he told her, “I am not.”

¹⁸The night was growing cold, so some of the men, along with the soldier guards from the lodge, built a fire in the courtyard to keep warm. Stands on the Rock (Peter) stood there with them, trying to stay warm.

CREATOR SETS FREE QUESTIONED

¹⁹Back inside, the chief holy man began to question Creator Sets Free (Jesus) about his followers and his teachings. ²⁰Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to him, “I have spoken openly to all, in the gathering houses and the sacred lodge. I said nothing in secret. ²¹Why ask me? Ask the ones who heard me. They will know.”

²²One of the head soldiers struck him in the face and said, “Is that how you answer a chief holy man?”

²³Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered him back, “If I have spoken wrongly, tell me what I said wrong. If I spoke what is true, then by what right do you strike me?”

²⁴Walks Humbly (Annas) decided to send Creator Sets Free (Jesus) to Hollow in the Rock (Caiaphas), the chief holy man. So they took him, still bound by ropes, to Hollow in the Rock (Caiaphas).

THE ROOSTER CROWS

²⁵Outside in the courtyard Stands on the Rock (Peter) was still warming himself by the fire. The others asked him, “You are not one of his followers, are you?”

“No!” Stands on the Rock (Peter) denied. “I am not!”

²⁶One of the servants of the chief holy man, a relative of the man whose ear had been cut off, looked at him, and said, “Yes, you are! I saw you in the garden with him!”

²⁷Stands on the Rock (Peter) shook his head in denial—and right then a rooster began to crow.

TO THE PEOPLE OF IRON

²⁸Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was taken from the house of Hollow in the Rock (Caiaphas) to the lodge of the governor of the People of Iron (Romans). The tribal leaders stayed outside, for they did not want to become ceremonially unclean by going inside. It was early in the morning, and many of them had not yet eaten the ceremonial meal of Passover.

²⁹Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) came outside to meet them.

“What has this man done wrong?” he asked them.

³⁰“If he were not a criminal, would we have brought him to you?” they answered.

“Take him away!” ³¹Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) said to them. “Use your own law to decide what to do.”

“Our tribal law will not permit us to put him to death,” they answered.

³²This proved that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was right when he told them how he would die—by being nailed to a tree-pole—the cross.

ARE YOU THEIR CHIEF?

³³Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) went back into his lodge and had Creator Sets Free (Jesus) brought to him, so he could question him in private.

Once inside, he said to him, “Are you the chief of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel)?”

³⁴“Is this your question,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) asked, “or are you listening to others?”

³⁵“I am not from your tribes,” Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) answered. “It is your own people and their head holy men who have turned you over to me. What have you done?”

³⁶“My way of ruling is a good road. It is not in the ways of this world. If it were, my followers would have fought to keep me from being captured.”

³⁷“So then, you are a chief,” he said back to him.

“It is you who have said it,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered. “I was born for this and have come into the world for this purpose—to tell about the truth. The ones who belong to the truth will listen to my voice.”

³⁸Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) shook his head and said, “What is truth?”

I FIND NO GUILT IN HIM

³⁹Then Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) went outside to the tribal leaders and said to them, “I find no guilt in this man. By your own tradition we set free one criminal during your Passover Festival. Do you want me to release Creator Sets Free (Jesus), your chief?”

⁴⁰“No! Not him,” the crowd roared back. “Release Son of His Father (Barabbas)!”

Son of His Father (Barabbas) was a troublemaker who had caused an uprising.

CROWN OF THORNS

¹Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) turned Creator Sets Free (Jesus) over to his soldiers to have him beaten. ²The soldiers twisted together a headdress from a thorn bush, pressed the thorns into his head, and wrapped a purple chief blanket around him. ³They bowed down before him, making a big show of it, and kept mocking him, saying, “Honor! Honor to the Great Chief of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel).”

They took turns hitting him on his face until he was bruised and bloodied.

⁴Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) stood before the crowd again and said, “I bring to you the one in whom I have found no guilt.”

Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was brought forward, blood flowing down his bruised face. ⁵He was wearing the headdress of thorns and the purple chief blanket that was wrapped around him.

“Behold the man!” Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) said to them. ⁶“Take a good long look at him!”

But then the head holy men and the lodge guards began to shout, “Death! Death on the cross!”

“Then take him and kill him yourselves,” Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) said to them. “I find no guilt in him!”

⁷They answered him back, “Our law tells us he must die, for he has represented himself as the Son of the Great Spirit.”

POWER OF LIFE AND DEATH

⁸When Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) heard this, his fear grew stronger, ⁹so he took Creator Sets Free (Jesus) back inside his lodge.

“Who are you, and where are you from?” he questioned him.

Creator Sets Free (Jesus) stood there and remained silent.

¹⁰“Speak to me! Do you not know I have the power of life and death over you? I can have you killed or set you free,” he warned him. “Have you nothing to say?”

¹¹“The only power you have is what has been given you from above,” he answered. “The ones who turned me over to you carry the greater guilt.”

¹²Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) tried harder to have Creator Sets Free (Jesus) released, but the people would not have it.

They stood their ground, saying, “If you release a man who says he is a chief, you are not honoring the ruler of your people, for anyone who claims to be a chief challenges his power.”

STONE OF DECIDING

¹³When Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) heard this, he took Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and went to the Stone of Deciding, called Gabbatha in the tribal language, and sat down. ¹⁴It was now midday on the Day of Preparation for the Passover Festival.

He brought Creator Sets Free (Jesus) before the people and said, “Here is your chief.”

¹⁵“Take him away! Take him away!” the crowd shouted with one voice. “Nail him to the cross!”

“Would you have me nail your chief to the cross?” he asked them.

This time the head holy men answered back, “We have no other chief than the Ruler of the People of Iron (Caesar).”

¹⁶Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) then turned Creator Sets Free (Jesus) over to the soldiers to have him put to death on a tree-pole—the cross—so they took him away.

ULTIMATE SACRIFICE

¹⁷Creator Sets Free (Jesus) carried the crossbeam to the Place of the Skull, which is called Golgotha in the tribal language. ¹⁸There they nailed his hands and feet to the cross, along with the two others, and placed his cross between the two of them.

¹⁹Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) fastened a sign to the top of the cross where they attached the crossbeam with these words written on it:

²⁰This was near Village of Peace (Jerusalem). So that many of the Tribal Members could read it, the sign was written in Aramaic, their tribal language, but also in Latin and Greek, the languages of the People of Iron (Romans).

²¹The chief head holy men and the tribal leaders said to Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate), “Do not write ‘chief of the tribes.’ Instead write, ‘He said he is chief.’”

²²But he answered, “What I have written will stand.”

²³The soldiers stripped his clothes from him when they nailed his hands and feet to the cross. They tore one of his garments into four pieces, one for each guard. His long outer garment was woven together into one piece, ²⁴so they said, “Let us not tear this, we can draw straws for it.”

This gave full meaning to the Sacred Teachings that said, “They divided my clothes between them and gambled for my garment.”36 This is what the soldiers did as they kept watch over Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

^25-26Standing near the cross was Bitter Tears (Mary), the mother of Creator Sets Free (Jesus), who had come to see him, along with her sister. Two other women also came with her, Brooding Tears (Mary) the wife of Trader (Clopas), and Strong Tears (Mary) from Creator’s High Lodge (Magdala). He Shows Goodwill (John), the much-loved follower of Creator Sets Free (Jesus), was also there with them.

When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked down and saw them, he said to his mother, “Honored woman, look to your son.” ²⁷Then he said to his follower, “Look to your mother.”

From that time the follower took Bitter Tears (Mary) into his family and cared for her.

²⁸Creator Sets Free (Jesus), knowing he had done all the ancient Sacred Teachings had foretold, said, “I thirst.”

²⁹There was a vessel of sour and bitter wine standing nearby. One of the soldiers dipped a cloth in it to soak up some wine. He wrapped the cloth around the tip of a hyssop branch and held it up to the mouth of Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

³⁰He then tasted the bitter wine, turned his head to the sky and cried out loud, “It is done!”

He then lowered his head to his chest and, with his last breath, gave up his spirit.

NOT ONE BONE BROKEN

³¹Soon the sun would set and a special Day of Resting would begin, when no work could be done. It was time to prepare for this day, so the Tribal Members asked Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) to have the legs of the men on the crosses broken, which would make them die sooner. Then they could take the bodies down and prepare them for burial.

³²The soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men on each side of Creator Sets Free (Jesus). ³³When they came to him, they saw he was already dead. Instead of breaking his legs, ³⁴one of the soldiers took a spear and pierced his side. Blood and water flowed out from the wound.

³⁵The one who saw these things with his own eyes is telling the truth about this—so that all will believe. ³⁶This was foretold in the ancient Sacred Teachings that say, “Not one of his bones was broken,”37 ³⁷and, “They will look upon the one they have pierced.”38

TRADITIONAL BURIAL

³⁸He Gets More (Joseph) from High Mountain (Arimathea), a man with many possessions, was a follower of Creator Sets Free (Jesus), but in secret, because he feared the tribal leaders. Since it would soon be sunset, when the Day of Resting would begin, he went to Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) and asked permission to remove the body of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) from the cross.

Spear of the Great Waters (Pilate) released the body to him. So he and another man, ³⁹Conquers the People (Nicodemus), who had come to Creator Sets Free (Jesus) in secret at night, took his body away to prepare it ceremonially for burial. Conquers the People (Nicodemus) had brought a mixture of myrrh and oils weighing about seventy-five pounds. ⁴⁰Together they ceremonially wrapped his body for burial in the traditional way, using strips of cloth and herbal spices and oils.

^41-42So because it was the Day of Preparation for the Passover Festival, and the day of resting was about to begin, they laid the body of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) in a nearby burial cave that had never been used and then returned to their homes.

HIS BODY IS GONE

¹Early on the first day of the week, Strong Tears (Mary) from Tower of Creator’s High Lodge (Magdala) came to the burial cave early in the morning while it was still dark. When she saw the stone had been removed from the burial cave, ²she ran to find Stands on the Rock (Peter) and He Shows Goodwill (John), the much-loved follower of Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

She found them and, catching her breath, she said to them, “They have taken the body of our Wisdomkeeper away, and we do not know where he is!”

^3-4Stands on the Rock (Peter) raced to the burial cave, but the other follower outran him and came there first. ^5-7He stooped low to look inside but did not go in all the way. He saw strips of cloth lying there, but the cloth that had been wrapped around the head of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was rolled into a bundle, lying by itself. Stands on the Rock (Peter) arrived behind him and came to the cave. When he went inside, he saw the same things.

⁸The other follower, who arrived first, now found the courage to go inside all the way. He saw the burial cave was empty—and believed. ⁹But they still did not understand from the Sacred Teachings that he would return from death. ¹⁰Then they went back to the place where they were staying.

A WOMAN SEES HIM FIRST

¹¹Her heart was on the ground as she stood outside the cave, weeping. As the tears ran down her face, she looked inside. ¹²There she saw two spirit-messengers dressed in white. They were sitting, one at the head, the other at the feet, of where the body of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had once lain.

¹³They looked at her and said, “Honored woman, why do you weep?”

“My Wisdomkeeper is gone,” she answered, “and I do not know where they have taken him.”

¹⁴She turned around to see a man standing behind her. It was Creator Sets Free (Jesus), but she did not recognize him.

¹⁵“Honored woman, why the tears?” he said to her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the keeper of the garden, so she said, “If you have carried him away, tell me where, and I will find him.”

¹⁶“Strong Tears (Mary),” he said to her in a soft and kind voice.

“Rabboni!” she said, meaning Wisdomkeeper.

¹⁷“You must let me go,” he said back to her. “I have not yet gone up to the Father. Go to my brothers who walked the road with me and say to them, ‘I am going up to my Father and your Father, to the one who is the Great Spirit and Father of us all.’”

¹⁸Strong Tears (Mary) then went and found the followers of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and said, “I have seen our Wisdomkeeper!”

She then told them everything she had heard from him.

HIS FOLLOWERS SEE HIM

¹⁹It was now late in the same day, the first day of the week. His followers were all hiding behind locked doors in fear of being captured by the tribal leaders.

Suddenly, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) himself was standing in front of them and said, “Peace be with you!”

²⁰He then showed them where the iron nails had pierced his hands and where the spear had cut into his side.

When they saw their Wisdomkeeper, the hearts of his followers were filled with joy, ²¹so he said to them again, “Peace be with you! In the same way the Father above has sent me, I am now sending you.”

²²He blew his breath on them and said, “You will breathe in and receive the Holy Spirit. With his wisdom and guidance, ²³if you release others from their bad hearts and broken ways, they are released. If you do not release them, they are not released.”

PUT AWAY YOUR DOUBTS

²⁴Looks Like His Brother (Thomas), one of the original twelve followers, was not there when Creator Sets Free (Jesus) showed himself to the others. ²⁵They told him, “We have seen the Wisdomkeeper with our own eyes.”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my finger into them, and put my hand into the hole in his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶Eight days later his followers were gathered together again, and Looks Like His Brother (Thomas) was with them. The doors were all locked, but Creator Sets Free (Jesus) came in and stood before them all.

“Peace be with you,” he said. ²⁷Then he turned to Looks Like His Brother (Thomas) and said, “Look closely at my hands and touch my scars with your finger. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Then put away your doubts and trust in me.”

²⁸“You are my Honored Chief and my Creator,” he said.

²⁹“Now you believe, because you have seen me?” he said to him. “A greater blessing will rest on the ones who have not seen but still believe.”

³⁰Creator Sets Free (Jesus) did many more powerful signs before the eyes of his followers that have not been written down in this book. ³¹But I have told this much so you will believe that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) is the Chosen One, the Son of the Great Spirit. When you put your trust in all that his name represents, the life of beauty and harmony he has promised to all will be yours.

BACK TO FISHING

¹A while later, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) showed himself again to his followers by Lake of Circle of Nations (Sea of Galilee), also called Sea of Rolling Water (Sea of Tiberias).

²Stands on the Rock (Peter) along with other followers of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had gathered there. With him were Looks Like His Brother (Thomas), Creator Gives (Nathanael) from Village of Reeds (Cana) in Circle of Nations (Galilee), the two sons of Gift of Creator (Zebedee), and two other followers.

³Stands on the Rock (Peter) said to them, “I am going fishing.”

They all agreed and said, “Take us with you.”

So they took a canoe out onto the lake. Under the light of the moon and stars they worked hard all night. Again and again they threw out their nets and drew them back in—empty.

⁴Just as the first light of day was dawning, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) came and stood on the shore. But they did not know it was he.

⁵“Friends,” he called out to them, “have you netted any fish?”

“No!” they answered.

⁶“Throw out your nets to the right of your canoe,” he shouted to them. “You will find some fish there.”

They did as he said, and the net was filled with so many fish they could not pull it into the canoe. ⁷He Shows Goodwill (John), the much-loved follower of Creator Sets Free (Jesus), said to Stands on the Rock (Peter), “It is our Wisdomkeeper!”

Stands on the Rock (Peter) had taken off his outer garment to fish. He put it back on and jumped into the water. ⁸The shore was not far, so the others made their way in, dragging the net full of fish behind the canoe.

They came to the shore and stepped out of the canoe. ⁹They saw a warm fire with fish cooking over the coals and some frybread to eat.

HE FEEDS HIS FOLLOWERS

¹⁰Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked up from cooking and said, “Bring me some of the fish you caught.”

¹¹Stands on the Rock (Peter) climbed into the canoe and pulled the net to shore. The fish were large, and they counted them—one hundred and fifty-three in all! But even with so many fish the net did not tear.

¹²Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said, “Let us eat.”

They all sat down to eat, but no one dared ask, “Who are you?” They knew it must be their Wisdomkeeper.

¹³He took the frybread and gave some to each of them, along with a piece of fish. ¹⁴This was the third time he had shown himself to them after coming back to life from the dead.

STANDS ON THE ROCK RESTORED

¹⁵When they had finished eating, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) took Stands on the Rock (Peter) and sat down with him by the lake.

He spoke to him, using the name his family gave him, “One Who Hears (Simon), son of Gift of Kindness (John), do you love me more than the others love me?”

“Yes, Wisdomkeeper,” he answered, “you know I am your friend.”

“Then feed my lambs,” he said.

¹⁶Then a second time Creator Sets Free (Jesus) asked, “One Who Hears (Simon), son of Gift of Kindness (John), do you love me?”

“Yes, Wisdomkeeper,” he answered him again, “you know how deeply I care for you.”

“Then watch over my sheep,” he said.

¹⁷Creator Sets Free (Jesus) asked him a third time, “One Who Hears (Simon), Son of Gift of Kindness (John), do you love me as a friend?”

Stands on the Rock (Peter) felt his heart sink because he asked the third time, “Do you love me as a friend?”

“Wisdomkeeper!” he said, “you know all things, you must know how deeply I care for you. I am your friend!”

Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to him again, “Feed my sheep.”

¹⁸Creator Sets Free (Jesus) then said to him, “I tell you from my heart, when you were a young man, you dressed yourself and walked wherever you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and take you to a place you do not want to go.”

¹⁹He was telling him the kind of death he would die, to bring honor to Creator.

Then he said to Stands on the Rock (Peter), “Come, walk the road with me.”

WALK THE ROAD I HAVE CHOSEN

²⁰Stands on the Rock (Peter) looked over at He Shows Goodwill (John), the much-loved follower of Creator Sets Free (Jesus). He was the same one who, during the ceremonial meal, had leaned back and asked, “Wisdomkeeper, who will betray you?”

²¹When Stands on the Rock (Peter) saw him, he said to Creator Sets Free (Jesus), “Wisdomkeeper, what about this man, how will he die?”

²²Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered him, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, why would it matter? You must walk the road I have chosen for you.”

²³When the others heard what Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had said about He Shows Goodwill (John), talk began to go around that he would never die. But Creator Sets Free (Jesus) did not say he would not die. He said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, why would it matter to you?”

THE PURPOSE OF THIS STORY

²⁴The one telling you this story has seen and heard these things with his own eyes, and all can agree he is telling the truth. ²⁵Many more things could be told about Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the message of his good road, and the people his life touched. This story has been written down in a book, but not everything. For he did so many things, if they were all written down in books, the whole world would not have room for them.