John

Annoiting at Bethany

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

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

Mary took a pound of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair. The house was filled with the perfume’s fragrance.

Judas Iscariot—the disciple who was to betray Jesus—remarked:

“This perfume could have been sold for three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor.”

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.

But Jesus spoke up:

“Leave her alone. Was she not keeping it for the day of my burial?

The poor you always have with you, but you will not always have me.”

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.

So the chief priests thought about killing Lazarus as well,

for many of the Jews were deserting because of him and believing in Jesus.

Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

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

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!

The king of Israel!”

Jesus found a donkey and sat upon it, as it is written:

“Do not fear, city of Zion!

See, your king is coming,

sitting on a donkey’s colt!”

The disciples initially didn’t realize this, but after Jesus was glorified, they understood that it had been written about him and that this was what had happened to him.

The people who had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify.

It was also because they had heard that he had done this sign.

Meanwhile, the Pharisees said to each other:

“We are getting nowhere; the whole world has gone after him

The Greeks and Jesus

Some Greeks had come to Jerusalem to worship during the feast.

They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him:

“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

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

Jesus said:

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

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.

Those who love their life destroy it, and those who despise their life in this world save it even to eternal life.

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

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

Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven:

“I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

People standing there heard something and said it was thunder, but others said:

“An angel has spoken to him.”

Jesus answered:

“This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.

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

And when I am lifted from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”

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

The crowd answered him:

“We have been told in the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”

Jesus said to them:

“The light will be with you a little longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where he is going.

While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of the light.”

After Jesus had said this, he withdrew and kept himself hidden.

End of Jesus’ Public Ministry

Amazement and Surprise of the Evangelist

Even though Jesus had performed many signs among them, they did not believe in him.

Indeed, the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah had to be fulfilled:

“Lord, who has believed what we proclaimed?

To whom has the Lord’s power been revealed?”

For this reason they could not believe, because again Isaiah said:

“He blinded their eyes

and hardened their hearts,

so that they could not see with their eyes

and understand with their heart and be convertedand

I would heal them.”

Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke about him.

Many of them, however, believed in Jesus, even among the authorities. Still, they did not acknowledge him because of the Pharisees, so as not to be expelled from the synagogue.

They preferred the approval of people over the glory that comes from God.

Then Jesus cried out:

“Whoever believes in me, believes not only in me, but in him who sent me.

And whoever sees me, sees him who sent me.

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

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.

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

for I have not spoken on my own; the Father, who sent me, has instructed me what to say and how to speak.

I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father instructed me.”