John, 12

1. Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where he had raised Lazarus, the dead man, to life.

2. Now they gave a dinner for him, and while Martha waited on them, Lazarus sat at the table with Jesus.

3. Then Mary took a pound of costly perfume made from genuine nard and anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair. And the whole house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

4. Judas, son of Simon Iscariot - the disciple who was to betray Jesus - remarked,

5. "This perfume could have been sold for three hundred silver coins and turned over to the poor."

6. Judas, indeed, had no concern for the poor; he was a thief and as he held the common purse, he used to help himself to the funds.

7. But Jesus spoke up, "Leave her alone. Was she not keeping it for the day of my burial?

8. (The poor you always have with you, but you will not always have me.)"

9. Many Jews heard that Jesus was there and they came, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead.

10. So the chief priests thought about killing Lazarus as well,

11. for many of the Jews were drifting away because of him and believing in Jesus.

12. The next day many people who had come for the festival heard that Jesus was to enter Jerusalem.

13. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him. And they cried out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!"

14. Jesus found a donkey and sat upon it, as Scripture says:

15. Do not fear, city of Zion, see your king is coming sitting on the colt of a donkey.

16. The disciples were not aware of this at first, but after Jesus was glorified, they remembered and realized that this had been written of him and that they themselves had taken part in it.

17. The people who came with him bore witness and told how he had called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead.

18. It was because of this miraculous sign which Jesus had given that so many people welcomed him.

19. In the meantime the Pharisees said to one another, "We are getting nowhere; the whole world has gone after him."

20. There were some Greeks who had come up to Jerusalem to worship during the feast.

21. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."

22. Philip went to Andrew and the two of them told Jesus.

23. Then Jesus said, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

24. Truly, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

25. Those who love their life destroy it, and those who despise their life in this world keep it for everlasting life.

26. Whoever wants to serve me, let him follow me and wherever I am, there shall my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

27. Now my soul is in distress. Shall I say: 'Father, save me from this hour'? But, I have come to this hour to face all this.

28. Father, glorify your Name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it and I will glorify it again."

29. People standing there heard something and said it was thunder; but others said, "An angel was speaking to him."

30. Then Jesus declared, "This voice did not come for my sake but for yours;

31. now sentence is being passed on this world; now the ruler of this world is to be cast down.

32. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all to myself."

33. With these words Jesus referred to the kind of death he was to die.

34. The crowd answered him, "We have been told by the Law that the Messiah stands forever. How can you say that the Son of Man shall be lifted up? What kind of Son of Man is this?"

35. Jesus said to them, "The light will be with you a little longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you. If you walk in the darkness you do not know where you are going.

36. While you have the light, believe in the light and become children of light." After Jesus had said this, he withdrew and kept himself hidden.

37. Even though Jesus had done so many miraculous signs among them, they didn't believe in him.

38. Indeed the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah had to be fulfilled: Lord, who has believed what we proclaimed? To whom have the ways of God the Savior been made known?

39. They could not believe. Isaiah had said elsewhere:

40. He let their eyes become blind and their hearts hard, so that they could neither see nor understand, nor be converted - otherwise I would have healed them.

41. Isaiah said this when he saw His Glory, and his words refer to Him.

42. Many of them, however, believed in Jesus, even among the rulers, but they did not acknowledge him because of the Pharisees, lest they be put out of the Jewish community.

43. They preferred to be approved by people rather than by God.

44. Yet Jesus had said, and even cried out, "Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.

45. And whoever sees me, sees him who sent me.

46. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

47. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I am not the one to condemn him; for I have come, not to condemn the world, but to save the world.

48. The one who rejects me, and does not receive my word, already has a judge: the very word I have spoken will condemn him on the last day.

49. For I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father who sent me has instructed me in what to say and how to speak.

50. I know that his commandment is eternal life, and that is why the message I give, I give as the Father instructed me."