Study Desk

Jesus told them, "But now, if you have a moneybag, take it with you. Also take a traveling bag, and if you don't have a sword, sell some of your clothes and buy one. Do this because the Scriptures say, ‘He was considered a criminal.' This was written about me, and it will soon come true." The disciples said, "Lord, here are two swords!" "Enough of that!" Jesus replied. Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives, as he often did, and his disciples went with him. When they got there, he told them, "Pray that you won't be tested." Jesus walked on a little way before he knelt down and prayed, "Father, if you will, please don't make me suffer by having me drink from this cup. But do what you want, and not what I want." Then an angel from heaven came to help him. Jesus was in great pain and prayed so sincerely that his sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood. Jesus got up from praying and went over to his disciples. They were asleep and worn out from being so sad. He said to them, "Why are you asleep? Wake up and pray that you won't be tested." While Jesus was still speaking, a crowd came up. It was led by Judas, one of the twelve apostles. He went over to Jesus and greeted him with a kiss. Jesus asked Judas, "Are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?" When Jesus' disciples saw what was about to happen, they asked, "Lord, should we attack them with a sword?"

For a long time Herod had wanted to see Jesus and was very happy because he finally had this chance. He had heard many things about Jesus and hoped to see him work a miracle.

Now Barabbas was in jail because he had started a riot in the city and had murdered someone.

He freed the man who was in jail for rioting and murder, because he was the one the crowd wanted to be set free. Then Pilate handed Jesus over for them to do what they wanted with him.

They were frightened and terrified because they thought they were seeing a ghost.

They were not God's children by nature or because of any human desires. God himself was the one who made them his children.

John spoke about him and shouted, "This is the one I told you would come! He is greater than I am, because he was alive before I was born."

Because of all that the Son is, we have been given one blessing after another.

He is the one I told you about when I said, "Someone else will come. He is greater than I am, because he was alive before I was born."

Jesus answered, "Did you believe me just because I said that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see something even greater.

Jesus replied, "Mother, my time hasn't yet come: You must not tell me what to do." Mary then said to the servants, "Do whatever Jesus tells you to do." At the feast there were six stone water jars that were used by the people for washing themselves in the way that their religion said they must. Each jar held about twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants to fill them to the top with water. Then after the jars had been filled, he said, "Now take some water and give it to the man in charge of the feast." The servants did as Jesus told them, and the man in charge drank some of the water that had now turned into wine. He did not know where the wine had come from, but the servants did. He called the bridegroom over and said, "The best wine is always served first. Then after the guests have had plenty, the other wine is served. But you have kept the best until last!" This was Jesus' first miracle, and he did it in the village of Cana in Galilee. There Jesus showed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him. After this, he went with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples to the town of Capernaum, where they stayed for a few days. Not long before the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus went to Jerusalem. There he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple. He also saw moneychangers sitting at their tables. So he took some rope and made a whip. Then he chased everyone out of the temple, together with their sheep and cattle. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins. Jesus said to the people who had been selling doves, "Get those doves out of here! Don't make my Father's house a marketplace." The disciples then remembered that the Scriptures say, "My love for your house burns in me like a fire." The Jewish leaders asked Jesus, "What miracle will you work to show us why you have done this?" "Destroy this temple," Jesus answered, "and in three days I will build it again!" The leaders replied, "It took forty-six years to build this temple. What makes you think you can rebuild it in three days?" But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple. And when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered what he had told them. Then they believed the Scriptures and the words of Jesus. In Jerusalem during Passover many people put their faith in Jesus, because they saw him work miracles.

I tell you for certain that we know what we are talking about because we have seen it ourselves. But none of you will accept what we say.

The light has come into the world, and people who do evil things are judged guilty because they love the dark more than the light.

People who do evil hate the light and won't come to the light, because it clearly shows what they have done.

But everyone who lives by the truth will come to the light, because they want others to know that God is really the one doing what they do.

The well that Jacob had dug was still there, and Jesus sat down beside it because he was tired from traveling. It was noon, and after Jesus' disciples had gone into town to buy some food, a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well. Jesus asked her, "Would you please give me a drink of water?"

A lot of Samaritans in that town put their faith in Jesus because the woman had said, "This man told me everything I have ever done."

Many more Samaritans put their faith in Jesus because of what they heard him say.

They told the woman, "We no longer have faith in Jesus just because of what you told us. We have heard him ourselves, and we are certain that he is the Savior of the world!"

and went to Galilee. The people there welcomed him, because they had gone to the festival in Jerusalem and had seen everything he had done.