Study Desk

They will not follow someone they do not know because they do not know his voice. They will run away from him."

"I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in the town of Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha.

This was the Mary who put perfume on the Lord and dried His feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick.

Then He said to His followers, "Let us go into the country of Judea again."

Jesus said to her, "I am the One Who raises the dead and gives them life. Anyone who puts his trust in Me will live again, even if he dies.

Anyone who lives and has put his trust in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"

Mary went to the place where Jesus was. When she saw Him, she got down at His feet. She said to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."

Jesus saw her crying. The Jews who came with her were crying also. His heart was very sad and He was troubled.

Jesus said, "Take the stone away." The dead man's sister, Martha, said to Him, "Lord, by now his body has a bad smell. He has been dead four days."

The man who had been dead came out. His hands and feet were tied in grave clothes. A white cloth was tied around his face. Jesus said to the people, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go!"

For this reason Jesus did not walk out in the open among the Jews. He went to a town called Ephraim. It was near a desert. He stayed there with His followers.

Mary took a jar of special perfume that cost much money and poured it on the feet of Jesus. She dried His feet with her hair. The house was filled with the smell of the special perfume.

His followers did not understand what this meant at first. When Jesus had gone back to heaven to receive great honor, they remembered these things were written about Him. They remembered they had done this to Him.

Anyone who loves his life will lose it. Anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it forever.

This happened as the words of the early preacher Isaiah said it would happen. He had said, "Lord, has anyone believed our preaching? Has the Lord shown His power to anyone?"

Then Jesus spoke with a loud voice, "Anyone who puts his trust in Me, puts his trust not only in Me, but in Him Who sent Me.

I came to the world to be a Light. Anyone who puts his trust in Me will not be in darkness.

I know that His Word is life that lasts forever. I speak the things the Father has told Me to speak."

It was before the special religious gathering to remember how the Jews left Egypt. Jesus knew the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. He had loved His own who were in the world. He loved them to the end.