Study Desk

So then they tried to seize Jesus, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.

(Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)

So there was a division in the crowd because of Jesus.

Jesus answered, "Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you people do not know where I came from or where I am going.

But if I judge, my evaluation is accurate, because I am not alone when I judge, but I and the Father who sent me do so together.

(Jesus spoke these words near the offering box while he was teaching in the temple courts. No one seized him because his time had not yet come.)

So the Jewish leaders began to say, "Perhaps he is going to kill himself, because he says, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.'"

And the one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do those things that please him."

I know that you are Abraham's descendants. But you want to kill me, because my teaching makes no progress among you.

Why don't you understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot accept my teaching.

You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

But because I am telling you the truth, you do not believe me.

The one who belongs to God listens and responds to God's words. You don't listen and respond, because you don't belong to God."

Then some of the Pharisees began to say, "This man is not from God, because he does not observe the Sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such miraculous signs?" Thus there was a division among them.

(His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders. For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

Jesus replied, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but now because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains.

When he has brought all his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice.

They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him, because they do not recognize the stranger's voice."

Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away.

This is why the Father loves me—because I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again.