At the Feast of Tabernacles

Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles

(Jn 7:10-52-[[53]])

¹⁰Then Jesus went up secretly. ¹¹The Jews were looking for him at the festival, “Where is he?” ¹²A lot of murmuring was going on about him in the crowds. Some were saying, “He’s a good man.” Others said, “No, he’s misleading the crowd.” ¹³But, nobody would talk openly about him for fear of the Jews.

¹⁴In the middle of the festival, Jesus did go up to the temple and start teaching. ¹⁵The Jews marveled, “How does he know letters without going to school?”

¹⁶Jesus answered,

“My teaching’s not mine; it’s the teaching of the One that sent me. ¹⁷If anybody wants to do his will, he’ll know if my teaching is from God or if I’m speaking on my own. ¹⁸Anybody that speaks on his own is looking for his own glory. The one that’s looking for the glory of the One that sent him is genuine; there’s nothing dishonest about him. ¹⁹Didn’t Moses give you the law? But none of you keep it. Why are you trying to kill me?”

²⁰The crowd answered, “You’ve got a demon. Who’s trying to kill you?”

²¹Jesus responded,

“I did one thing, and you were all amazed. ²²Moses gave you circumcision—not that it originated with him but with the ancestors—and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ²³If a man gets circumcised on the Sabbath to avoid breaking the law, are you angry with me because I made a whole man healthy on the Sabbath? ²⁴Don’t make surface judgments; base your judgments on what’s real.”

²⁵Some that lived in Jerusalem were saying, “Isn’t this the One they’re trying to put to death? ²⁶And look, he’s speaking openly, and they aren’t saying anything to him. Do the rulers know maybe that he really is the Messiah?”

²⁷“But we know where this man’s from. Nobody knows where the Messiah’s from.”

²⁸Then, as he was teaching, he shouted, “You know me, and you know where I’m from. I haven’t come on my own; the One that’s true sent me. You don’t know him; ²⁹but I know him, because I came from him and he sent me.”

³⁰They were trying to arrest him, but nobody laid a hand on him, because it wasn’t his time yet. ³¹Many in the crowd believed in him, “When the Messiah comes, he won’t do more signs that this man has done, will he?”

³²The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. ³³Jesus said, “I’ll be with you for a little while yet, and I’ll go back to the One that sent me. ³⁴You’ll look for me, but you won’t find me. You can’t go where I’m going.”

³⁵The Jews said to each other, “Where’s he going that we won’t find him. He’s not going, is he, to the Diaspora of the Greeks and teach the Greeks? ³⁶What does he mean, ‘You’ll look for me and won’t find me,’ and, ‘You can’t go where I’ll be’?”

³⁷On the last day of the festival, the main day, Jesus stood and shouted, “If anybody’s thirsty, come to me and drink. ³⁸Everybody that believes in me, as the scripture has said, will have streams of living water flowing from within him.” (39He said this about the Spirit that the ones that believed in him would receive. The Spirit hadn’t come yet, because Jesus hadn’t been glorified.)

⁴⁰Some in the crowd said, “This really is the prophet.” Others said, “This is the Messiah.” ⁴¹Others said, “The Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? ⁴²Doesn’t the scripture say the Messiah descends from David and comes from Bethlehem, where David lived?” ⁴³So a difference of opinion about him arose in the crowd. ⁴⁴Some wanted to arrest him, but nobody laid a hand on him.

⁴⁵The officers came back to the chief priests and Pharisees, “Why didn’t you bring him?”

⁴⁶The officers answered, “No man ever spoke this way.”

⁴⁷The Pharisees answered them, “You haven’t been deceived too, have you? ⁴⁸None of the rulers or the Pharisees have believed in him, have they? ⁴⁹This crowd that doesn’t know the law is accursed.”

⁵⁰Nicodemus said to them—the one who came to him at first, 51“Our law doesn’t condemn a man, does it, unless it has a hearing first to find out what he’s doing?”

⁵²They answered him, “You aren’t from Galilee too, are you? Search and see that no prophet is supposed to arise from Galilee.” [[53And each one went home.]]ms

Woman Taken in Adultery

([[Jn 8:1-11]])

[[^8:1Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ²Early in the morning he went back to the temple, the people came to him, and he sat down and started teaching them. ³The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and stood her in front of everybody, 4“Rabbi, we caught this woman in adultery—in the very act. ⁵In the law Moses commanded us to stone a woman like this. What do you say?” (6They said this, testing him, so they could accuse him.)

Jesus squatted down and scribbled on the ground with his finger. ⁷When they kept badgering him, he stood up, “The one of you that doesn’t have any sin, throw the first stone at her.” ⁸He squatted down again and scribbled on the ground. ⁹They began to go away one by one, starting with the oldest; and left him alone with the woman standing there.

¹⁰Jesus stood up, “Where are they? Hasn’t anybody condemned you?”

11“No, sir.”

“I’m not going to condemn you either. Go and don’t sin anymore.”]]

Sermon on the Light of the World

(Jn 8:12-59)

¹²Jesus started talking to the audience again. “I’m the light of the world. Nobody that follows me will be walking in the dark; he’ll have the light of life.”

¹³The Pharisees said, “You’re testifying for yourself; your testimony’s not valid.”

¹⁴Jesus answered,

“Although I’m testifying for myself, my testimony is valid because I know where I’m from and where I’m going. You don’t. ¹⁵You condemn people by legal standards; I don’t condemn anybody that way. ¹⁶Even if I do render judgment, my judgment’s valid because I’m not the only witness. There’s me and the Father that sent me. ¹⁷Yourpl law says the witness of two people is valid. ¹⁸I witness for myself, and the Father witnesses for me.”

19“Where is your Father?”

Jesus answered, “You don’t know me or my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father too.” ²⁰He said this in the temple Treasury, and nobody arrested him, because it wasn’t his time yet.

²¹He told them again, “I’m going away. You’ll look for me, and you’ll die in your sinsg. You can’t go where I’m going.”

²²The Jews said, “He’s not going to kill himself, is he?” (because he said, “You can’t go where I’m going.”)

²³He said, “You’re from below; I’m from above. You’re from this world; I’m not. ²⁴I said you’d die in yourpl sins because if you don’t believe who I am, you will die in you sins.”

25“Who are you?”

“Exactly what I’ve been telling you all along. ²⁶I have a lot to say about you and judgments to make, but the One that sent me is the real basis for it. What I’ve heard from him is what I’m telling the world.” (27They didn’t know he was talking about the Father; ²⁸so he said,)

“When you lift up the Son of Man, you’ll know who I am and that I’m not saying anything but what the Father has taught me. ²⁹The One that sent me is with me. He hasn’t left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.” ³⁰While he was saying that, many believed in him.

³¹Then he said to the Jews that believed him, “If you keep following what I say, you really are my disciples. ³²You’ll know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33“We’re Abraham’s descendants. We’ve never been slaves to anybody. What do you mean, ‘You’ll be free’?”

³⁴“Everybody that sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵A slave is not a part of the family. A son is. ³⁶So, if a son sets you free, you really are free. ³⁷I know you’re Abraham’s descendants, but you’re trying to kill me because you don’t want to hear what I’m saying. ³⁸I’m telling you what I’ve seen my Father do, and you’re doing what you’ve seen your father do.”

³⁹“Abraham’s our father.”

“If you were Abraham’s children, you’d be acting like Abraham. ⁴⁰But you’re trying to kill me now, a man that’s told you the truth I heard from God. Abraham didn’t act like that. ⁴¹You’re doing what your father does.”

“We’re not illegitimate children; we have one Father—God.”

⁴²“If God were your Father, you’d love me, because I’ve come from him. I haven’t come on my own; he sent me. ⁴³Why don’t you understand what I’m saying? Can’t you hear? ⁴⁴You belong to your father the devil, and you want to do what he wants you to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and doesn’t stand for the truth. There’s no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he’s doing his own thing, because he’s a liar and the one that invented lying. ⁴⁵Because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me. ⁴⁶Which of you can convict me of sinning? If I’m telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷Whoever belongs to God listens to God. Here’s the reason you don’t listen: you don’t belong to him.”

⁴⁸“Wouldn’t we be right to say you’re a Samaritan with a demon?”

⁴⁹Jesus answered, “I don’t have a demon, but I do honor my Father and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰I’m not trying to honor myself. There is One who seeks and condemns. ⁵¹The truth is, if anybody keeps what I say, he’ll never die.”

⁵²The Jews said, “Now we know you’ve got a demon. Abraham died and the prophets died, but you’re saying, ‘If anybody keeps what I say, he’ll never die.’ ⁵³You aren’t greater, are you, than our ancestor Abraham who died and the prophets who died? Who do you think you are anyway?”

⁵⁴“If I honor myself, it’s not important. My Father’s the One that honors me—who you say is your God. ⁵⁵You don’t know him, but I do. If I said I didn’t, I’d be lying like youpl. But I know him and keep his word. ⁵⁶Your ancestor Abraham was overjoyed to see my day, and he saw it and was happy.”

⁵⁷“You’re not even fifty years old, and you’ve seen Abraham?”

⁵⁸“The truth is, I existed before Abraham did.”

⁵⁹They picked up stones to throw at him, but he hid and left the temple.

Healing the Man Born Blind

(Jn 9:1-41)

^9:1As he was going along, he saw a man that had been blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that caused him to be born blind?”

3“Neither he or his parents sinned. This happened so I could demonstrate God’s work in him. ⁴We need to work for the One that sent me while it’s daylight. The night’s coming when nobody can work. ⁵While I’m in the world, I’m the light of the world.”

⁶When he’d said this, he spit on the ground and made some mud and smeared it on the blind man’s eyelids, 7“Go wash it off in the Pool of Siloam [Sent].”

So he went and washed it off and came back able to see. ⁸Neighbors and people that had seen him begging said, “Isn’t this the fellow that sits and begs?”

9“It’s him.”

“No, he just looks like him.”

“It is me.”

10 “How did you get your sight?”

¹¹“The man called Jesus made mud and smeared it on my eyelids and said, ‘Go to Siloam and wash it off.’ I did, and I could see.”

12“Where is he?”

“I don’t know.”

¹³They brought him to the Pharisees. ¹⁴It was on a Sabbath day when Jesus made mud and gave him sight. ¹⁵The Pharisees, too, asked him how he received his sight. He told them, “He put mud on my eyelids. I washed it off, and I can see.”

¹⁶Some Pharisees said, “This man is not from God; he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.”

Others said, “How can a sinful man do such a thing?” They were divided over it.

¹⁷They said to the blind man again, “What do you think about him? You’re the one he made see.”

“He’s a prophet.”

¹⁸The Jews questioned whether he’d been blind and received his sight till they called his parents, 19“Is this your son that you say was blind? How can he see now?”

20“He’s our son, and he was blind. ²¹We don’t know how he is able to see now or who gave him his sight. He’s legal age; he can speak for himself.” (22They said that because they were afraid. The Jews had already agreed to excommunicate from synagogue membership anybody that confessed that Jesus was the Messiah. [23]repeat)

²⁴They called the man a second time, “Give God the credit; we know this man’s a sinner.”

25“I don’t know if he’s a sinner. One thing I do know: I was blind; now I can see.”

26“What did he do to you? How did he make you able to see?”

27“I already told you, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?”

28“You’re his disciple; we’re Moses’ disciples. ²⁹We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t know where this man’s from.”

30“The amazing thing here is that you don’t know where he’s from, and he gave me my sight. ³¹We know God doesn’t hear sinners; but if people are devout and do his will, he hears them. ³²Since eternity past nobody ever heard of somebody giving sight to a man born blind. ³³If this man weren’t from God, he couldn’t do anything.”

34“You were totally born in sins, and you’re trying to teach us?” They excommunicated him.

³⁵Jesus heard they’d excommunicated him. When he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man.?”

36“Who is he so I can believe in him?”

37“You’ve seen him, and he’s the one that’s talking to you.”

³⁸“I believe, Lord,” and bowed down to him.

³⁹Jesus said, “I came to the world for judgment so the ones that can’t see can see, and the ones that can see can go blind.”

⁴⁰The Pharisees that were with him heard it, “We aren’t blind too, are we?”

41“If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty. But you say, ‘We can see.’ You’re still guilty.’”

Sermon on the Good Shepherd

(Jn 10:1-21)

10:1“Whoever doesn’t go through the gate into the sheep pen, but climbs up somewhere else, is a robber. ²A shepherd comes through the gate. ³The gatekeeper opens for him, and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he gets them out, he goes in front of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. ⁵They won’t follow a stranger. They’ll run away from him, because they don’t recognize his voice.” ⁶They didn’t understand what Jesus meant by the illustration.

⁷Again, Jesus said,

“I’m the gate for the sheep. ⁸The ones that came before were thieves and robbers. The sheep didn’t listen to them. ⁹If anybody goes in through me, he’ll be safe. He can go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰A thief comes to steal, slaughter, and destroy. I’ve come so they can live and live more abundantly. ¹¹I’m a good shepherd; a good shepherd risks his life for his sheep. ¹²A hired hand sees a wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and runs away, because the sheep don’t belong to him. A wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³A hired hand doesn’t care about the sheep. ¹⁴I’m a good shepherd; I know my sheep, and they know me. ¹⁵As the Father knows me, I know the Father, and I lay down my life for my sheep.

¹⁶“And, I have other sheep that aren’t part of this fold. I need to lead them too. They’ll hear my voice and become one flock with one shepherd. ¹⁷The Father loves me because I lay down my life to take it back again. ¹⁸Nobody’s taking it away from me. I’m laying it down voluntarily. I have the right to lay it down and the right to take it back. That’s what my Father commanded me to do.”

¹⁹Again a division arose among the Jews over what he said. ²⁰A number of them said, “He’s got a demon; he’s crazy. Why are you listening to him?”

²¹Others said, “A demon-possessed man doesn’t talk like that. A demon can’t make blind people see, can it?”