Part 36

I know you are Abraham's seed; but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak about what I have seen with my Father; and you do what you have seen from your father. They said to Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus answered, If you were Abraham's children you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I have heard from God. You do the wicked deeds of your ancestors.

Then they said to Him, We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, God. Jesus said, If God were your Father you would love me because I proceeded forth and came from God. I did not come on my own, but from the one who sent me. Why do you not understand me? Is it because you cannot hear my words?

You are of your father the devil and you will do the wicked deeds of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning. He never dealt in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own because he is a liar, and the father of all lies. Yet, I tell you the truth and you do not believe me. Who of you can convict me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears God's words. You do not hear them because you are not of God.

The Jews said, Are we wrong in saying you are a Samaritan and have a devil? Jesus answered, I do not have a devil. I honor my Father and you dishonor me. I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges. I tell you, if anyone keeps my word he will never see death.

Then the Jews said, Now we know you are possessed by a devil. Abraham is dead and so are the prophets. Yet you say, If anyone keeps my word he will never taste of death. Are you greater than our father Abraham and the prophets who are dead? Who do you make yourself out to be?

Jesus answered, If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my Father, who you claim is your God, who honors me. Yet you have not known Him. But I know Him and, if I say I do not know Him, I am a liar like you. But I know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He looked forward to it and was glad.

Then the Jews questioned, You are not yet fifty years old and say you have seen Abraham? Jesus said, Verily, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then they took up stones to cast at Him. But Jesus hid Himself and left the temple by passing through the midst of them.

9. Jesus passed by a man who was blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, Master, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither has this man sinned nor his parents; but he is blind so the works of God may be made manifest in him. I must work the works of the one who sent me while it is day. The night comes when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When He had thus spoken, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.

He went and washed and came out of the pool seeing. The neighbors and those who knew him when he was blind, said, Is this not he who sat and begged? Some said, This is he. Others said, He is like him. But he said, I am that man. They asked him, How were your eyes opened? He answered, A man called Jesus made clay, put it on my eyes, and said, Go to the pool of Siloam and wash. I went and washed and I got my sight back. Then they said, Where is He? The man answered, I do not know.

Then they took the man to the Pharisees. It was also the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Once again, the Pharisees asked him how he had received his sight. He said to them, He put clay on my eyes, and I washed and now see.

Therefore, some of the Pharisees said, This man is not of God because He does not keep the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man who is a sinner do such miracles? A division arose among them. Then they said to the blind man again, what do you think about the one who opened your eyes? The man answered, He is a prophet.

But the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and received his sight until they called his parents. They asked them, Is this your son who you say was born blind? How then does he see? His parents answered, We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, but by what means he now sees, we do not know. Or who has opened his eyes, we do not know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself. His parents spoke this way for fear of the Jews who had made it known that if anyone said that Jesus was the Christ, he would be cast out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, Our son is of age; ask him.

They called the man once again and said to him, Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner. He answered, Whether He is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know; I was blind and now I see. Then they said to him again, What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes? He answered them, I have told you already and you did not hear. Why do you want to hear it again? Will you become His disciples? Then they reviled him and said, You are His disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses. As for this one, we do not know where He comes from.

The man answered and said to them, Why, here is an amazing thing! You do not know where He comes from and yet He has opened my eyes. Now we know that God does not hear sinners. But if any man is a worshipper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began was it ever heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind? If this man were not of God He could do nothing. They answered and said to him, You were born in the darkness of sin. How dare you teach us? And they cast him out.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out. When He found the man He said to him, Do you believe in the Son of God? The man asked, Who is He, Lord, that I might believe in Him? Jesus said to him, You have seen Him and it is He who talks with you now. The man said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him. Then Jesus said, I came into this world for judgment; so those who do not see may see, and those who see become blind. Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words and said to Him, Are we blind also? Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no sin; but you say, We see; so your sin remains.

10. I tell you, the one who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but gets in through some other way is a thief and a robber. But the one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter opens the gate. The sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them. And when he calls together his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger because they do not know the voice of strangers. From a stranger they will flee. Jesus used this example and yet they did not understand what He spoke about.

Jesus then said, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If any man enters by me he will be saved. He will go in and out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they might have life and have it more abundantly.

I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But he that is a hireling and not the shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming, leaves the sheep and runs away. The wolf catches and scatters them. The hired man flees because he works for wages and does not care about the sheep.

I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep and I am known by my sheep. The Father knows me, even as I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. I also have other sheep who are not of this fold. I must also call them and they will hear my voice. There will be One Fold and One Shepherd.

My Father loves me because I lay down my life so I may take it up again. No man will take it from me because I lay it down myself. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This was given to me by my Father. There was another division among the Jews over these words. Many of them said, He has a devil and is mad; why listen to Him? Others said, These are not the words of one who has a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

In Jerusalem it was winter and the feast of the dedication. Jesus walked in the temple upon Solomon's porch. Then the Jews surrounded Him and said, How long will you make us doubt? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.

Jesus answered, I told you and you did not believe me. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness of me. But you do not believe because you are not my sheep. As I said to you, My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And I give them eternal life. They will never perish, nor will any man pluck them out of my hand.

My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all. No man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up rocks to stone Him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me?

The Jews answered Him, saying, We do not stone you for a good work; but for blasphemy and because you, being a man, make yourself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law: I said ye are gods? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God was given, and the scripture cannot be questioned; do you say of the one the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, You blaspheme, because I said I am the Son of God? If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I do, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so you may understand and believe that the Father is in me, and I in Him.

They sought again to take Him but He escaped out of their hand and went away again beyond Jordan to the place where John first baptized. There He stayed. Many people came to Him and said, John did no miracles but all the things John said were true. And many believed in Him there.

11. A man named Lazarus of Bethany was sick. His sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, Lord, your friend is sick. When Jesus heard this, He said, This sickness is not for his death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God might be glorified through it.

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. However, He stayed where He was for two more days. Then He said to His disciples, Let us now go into Judaea. His disciples said, Master, the Jews tried to stone you and you are going there again? Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walks in the daylight, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if a man walks at night, he stumbles because there is no light in him.

Then He said to them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps but I am going to wake him. His disciples replied, Lord, if he sleeps, he will be fine. Jesus spoke about death but they thought He had spoken about taking rest in sleep. Jesus, then, said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad, for your sakes, that I was not there, so you may believe moreso. Let us go to him. Then Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go so we may die with Him.