John 12–21

Jesus with Friends in Bethany

12Six days before the Passover Feast, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus lived. (Lazarus is the man Jesus raised from the dead.) ²There they had a dinner for Jesus. Martha served the food, and Lazarus was one of the people eating with Jesus. ³Mary brought in a pint of very expensive perfume made from pure nard. She poured the perfume on Jesus’ feet, and then she wiped his feet with her hair. And the sweet smell from the perfume filled the whole house.

⁴Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’ followers who would later turn against him, was there. Judas said, ⁵“This perfume was worth an entire year’s wages. Why wasn’t it sold and the money given to the poor?” ⁶But Judas did not really care about the poor; he said this because he was a thief. He was the one who kept the money box, and he often stole from it.

⁷Jesus answered, “Leave her alone. It was right for her to save this perfume for today, the day for me to be prepared for burial. ⁸You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.”

The Plot Against Lazarus

⁹A large crowd of people heard that Jesus was in Bethany. So they went there to see not only Jesus but Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead. ¹⁰So the leading priests made plans to kill Lazarus, too. ¹¹Because of Lazarus many of the Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus.

Jesus Enters Jerusalem

¹²The next day a great crowd who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast heard that Jesus was coming there. ¹³So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Jesus, shouting,

“Praise ⁿ God!

God bless the One who comes in the name of the Lord!

God bless the King of Israel!”

¹⁴Jesus found a colt and sat on it. This was as the Scripture says,

¹⁵“Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem!

Your king is coming,

sitting on the colt of a donkey.”

¹⁶The followers of Jesus did not understand this at first. But after Jesus was raised to glory, they remembered that this had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

People Tell About Jesus

¹⁷There had been many people with Jesus when he raised Lazarus from the dead and told him to come out of the tomb. Now they were telling others about what Jesus did. ¹⁸Many people went out to meet Jesus, because they had heard about this miracle. ¹⁹So the Pharisees said to each other, “You can see that nothing is going right for us. Look! The whole world is following him.”

Jesus Talks About His Death

²⁰There were some Greek people, too, who came to Jerusalem to worship at the Passover Feast. ²¹They went to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” ²²Philip told Andrew, and then Andrew and Philip told Jesus.

²³Jesus said to them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to receive his glory. ²⁴I tell you the truth, a grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die to make many seeds. But if it never dies, it remains only a single seed. ²⁵Those who love their lives will lose them, but those who hate their lives in this world will keep true life forever. ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me. Then my servant will be with me everywhere I am. My Father will honor anyone who serves me.

²⁷“Now I am very troubled. Should I say, ‘Father, save me from this time’? No, I came to this time so I could suffer. ²⁸Father, bring glory to your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have brought glory to it, and I will do it again.”

²⁹The crowd standing there, who heard the voice, said it was thunder.

But others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

³⁰Jesus said, “That voice was for your sake, not mine. ³¹Now is the time for the world to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be thrown down. ³²If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people toward me.” ³³Jesus said this to show how he would die.

³⁴The crowd said, “We have heard from the law that the Christ will live forever. So why do you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

³⁵Then Jesus said, “The light will be with you for a little longer, so walk while you have the light. Then the darkness will not catch you. If you walk in the darkness, you will not know where you are going. ³⁶Believe in the light while you still have it so that you will become children of light.” When Jesus had said this, he left and hid himself from them.

Some People Won’t Believe in Jesus

³⁷Though Jesus had done many miracles in front of the people, they still did not believe in him. ³⁸This was to bring about what Isaiah the prophet had said:

“Lord, who believed what we told them?

Who saw the Lord’s power in this?”

³⁹This is why the people could not believe: Isaiah also had said,

⁴⁰“He has blinded their eyes,

and he has closed their minds.

Otherwise they would see with their eyes

and understand in their minds

and come back to me and be healed.”

⁴¹Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

⁴²But many believed in Jesus, even many of the leaders. But because of the Pharisees, they did not say they believed in him for fear they would be put out of the synagogue. ⁴³They loved praise from people more than praise from God.

⁴⁴Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me is really believing in the One who sent me. ⁴⁵Whoever sees me sees the One who sent me. ⁴⁶I have come as light into the world so that whoever believes in me would not stay in darkness.

⁴⁷“Anyone who hears my words and does not obey them, I do not judge, because I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸There is a judge for those who refuse to believe in me and do not accept my words. The word I have taught will be their judge on the last day. ⁴⁹The things I taught were not from myself. The Father who sent me told me what to say and what to teach. ⁵⁰And I know that eternal life comes from what the Father commands. So whatever I say is what the Father told me to say.”

Jesus Washes His Followers’ Feet

13It was almost time for the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that it was time for him to leave this world and go back to the Father. He had always loved those who were his own in the world, and he loved them all the way to the end.

²Jesus and his followers were at the evening meal. The devil had already persuaded Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to turn against Jesus. ³Jesus knew that the Father had given him power over everything and that he had come from God and was going back to God. ⁴So during the meal Jesus stood up and took off his outer clothing. Taking a towel, he wrapped it around his waist. ⁵Then he poured water into a bowl and began to wash the followers’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

⁶Jesus came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but you will understand later.”

⁸Peter said, “No, you will never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “If I don’t wash your feet, you are not one of my people.”

⁹Simon Peter answered, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but wash my hands and my head, too!”

¹⁰Jesus said, “After a person has had a bath, his whole body is clean. He needs only to wash his feet. And you men are clean, but not all of you.” ¹¹Jesus knew who would turn against him, and that is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹²When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and sat down again. He asked, “Do you understand what I have just done for you? ¹³You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that is what I am. ¹⁴If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash each other’s feet. ¹⁵I did this as an example so that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶I tell you the truth, a servant is not greater than his master. A messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

¹⁸“I am not talking about all of you. I know those I have chosen. But this is to bring about what the Scripture said: ‘The man who ate at my table has turned against me.’ ^{n 19}I am telling you this now before it happens so that when it happens, you will believe that I am he. ²⁰I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send also accepts me. And whoever accepts me also accepts the One who sent me.”

Jesus Talks About His Death

²¹After Jesus said this, he was very troubled. He said openly, “I tell you the truth, one of you will turn against me.”

²²The followers all looked at each other, because they did not know whom Jesus was talking about. ²³One of the followers sitting ⁿ next to Jesus was the follower Jesus loved. ²⁴Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus whom he was talking about.

²⁵That follower leaned closer to Jesus and asked, “Lord, who is it?”

²⁶Jesus answered, “I will dip this bread into the dish. The man I give it to is the man who will turn against me.” So Jesus took a piece of bread, dipped it, and gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. ²⁷As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered him. Jesus said to him, “The thing that you will do—do it quickly.” ²⁸No one at the table understood why Jesus said this to Judas. ²⁹Since he was the one who kept the money box, some of the followers thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the feast or to give something to the poor.

³⁰Judas took the bread Jesus gave him and immediately went out. It was night.

³¹When Judas was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man receives his glory, and God receives glory through him. ³²If God receives glory through him, ⁿ then God will give glory to the Son through himself. And God will give him glory quickly.”

³³Jesus said, “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and what I told the Jews, I tell you now: Where I am going you cannot come.

³⁴“I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love each other as I have loved you. ³⁵All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other.”

Peter…