Study Desk

^(C1)Dissension occurred again among the Jews because of these words.

Many of them were saying, "He ^(C1)has a demon and ^(C2)is insane. Why do you listen to Him?"

Others were saying, "These are not the words of one who is ^(C1)demon-possessed. ^(C2)A demon cannot open the eyes of those who are blind, can it?"

At that time the ^(F1)Feast of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem;

it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple area, in the portico of ^(C1)Solomon.

^(C1)The Jews then surrounded Him and began saying to Him, "How long ^(F1)will You keep us in suspense? If You are the ^(F2)Christ, tell us ^(C2)plainly."

Jesus answered them, "^(C1)I told you, and you do not believe; ^(C2)the works that I do in My Father's name, these testify of Me.

"But you do not believe, because ^(C1)you are not of My sheep.

"My sheep ^(C1)listen to My voice, and ^(C2)I know them, and they follow Me;

and I give them ^(C1)eternal life, and they will never perish; and ^(C2)no one will snatch them out of My hand.

"^(F1)My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

"^(C1)I and the Father are ^(F1)one."

The Jews ^(C1)picked up stones again to stone Him.

Jesus replied to them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?"

The Jews answered Him, "We are not stoning You for a good work, but for ^(C1)blasphemy; and because You, being a man, ^(C2)make Yourself out to be God."

Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in ^(C1)your ^(C2)Law: '^(C3)I SAID, YOU ARE GODS'?

"If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be nullified),

are you saying of Him whom the Father ^(C1)sanctified and ^(C2)sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, '^(C3)I am the Son of God'?

"^(C1)If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;

but if I do them, even though you do not believe Me, believe ^(C1)the works, so that you may ^(F1)know and understand that ^(C2)the Father is in Me, and I in the Father."

Therefore ^(C1)they were seeking again to arrest Him, and ^(C2)He eluded their grasp.

And He went away ^(C1)again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He stayed there.

Many came to Him and were saying, "While John performed no ^(C1)sign, yet ^(C2)everything John said about this Man was true."

And ^(C1)many believed in Him there.

Now a certain man was sick: Lazarus of ^(C1)Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister ^(C2)Martha.

And it was the Mary who ^(C1)anointed ^(C2)the Lord with ^(F1)ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, "^(C1)Lord, behold, ^(C2)he whom You love is sick."

But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not ^(F1)meant for death, but is for ^(C1)the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it."

(Now Jesus loved ^(C1)Martha and her sister, and Lazarus.)

So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.

Then after this He ^(*)said to the disciples, "^(C1)Let's go to Judea again."

The disciples ^(*)said to Him, "^(C1)Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking ^(C2)to stone You, and yet You are going there again?"

Jesus replied, "^(C1)Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

"But if anyone walks during the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in ^(F1)him."

This He said, and after this He ^(*)said to them, "Our ^(C1)friend Lazarus ^(C2)has fallen asleep; but I am going so that I may awaken him from sleep."

The disciples then said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will ^(F1)come out of it."

Now ^(C1)Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about ^(F1)actual sleep.

So Jesus then said to them plainly, "Lazarus died,

and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let's go to him."

^(C1)Therefore Thomas, who was called ^(F1)(C2)Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let's also go, so that we may die with Him!"

So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb ^(C1)four days.

Now ^(C1)Bethany was near Jerusalem, about ^(F1)fifteen stadia away;

and many of ^(C1)the Jews had come to ^(C2)Martha and Mary, ^(C3)to console them about their brother.

So then ^(C1)Martha, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but ^(C1)Mary ^(F1)stayed in the house.

Martha then said to Jesus, "^(C1)Lord, ^(C2)if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

"Even now I know that ^(C1)whatever You ask of God, God will give You."

Jesus ^(*)said to her, "Your brother will rise from the dead."

Martha ^(*)said to Him, "^(C1)I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day."

Jesus said to her, "^(C1)I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies,

and everyone who lives and believes in Me ^(C1)will never die. Do you believe this?"

She ^(*)said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have come to believe that You are ^(C1)the ^(F1)Christ, the Son of God, and ^(F2)(C2)He who comes into the world."

When she had said this, she ^(C1)left and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, "^(C2)The Teacher is here and is calling for you."

And when she heard this, she ^(*)got up quickly and came to Him.

Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but ^(C1)was still at the place where Martha met Him.

^(C1)Then the Jews who were with her in the house and were ^(C2)consoling her, when they saw that Mary had gotten up quickly and left, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

So when Mary came to the place where Jesus was, she saw Him and fell at His feet, saying to Him, "^(C1)Lord, ^(C2)if You had been here, my brother would not have died."

Therefore when Jesus saw her weeping, and ^(C1)the Jews who came with her also weeping, He ^(C2)was deeply moved in spirit and ^(F1)(C3)was troubled,

and He said, "Where have you laid him?" They ^(*)said to Him, "Lord, come and see."

Jesus ^(C1)wept.

So ^(C1)the Jews were saying, "See how He ^(C2)loved him!"

But some of them said, "Could this Man, who ^(C1)opened the eyes of the man who was blind, not have also ^(F1)kept this man from dying?"

So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, ^(*)came to the tomb. Now it was a ^(C1)cave, and a stone was lying against it.

Jesus ^(*)said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, ^(*)said to Him, "Lord, by this time ^(F1)there will be a stench, for he has been dead ^(C1)four days."

Jesus ^(*)said to her, "^(C1)Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"

So they removed the ^(C1)stone. And Jesus ^(C2)raised His eyes, and said, "^(C3)Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

"But I knew that You always hear Me; nevertheless, ^(C1)because of the ^(F1)people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that ^(C2)You sent Me."

And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"

Out came the man who had died, ^(C1)bound hand and foot with wrappings, and ^(C2)his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus ^(*)said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

^(C1)Therefore many of the Jews ^(C2)who came to Mary, and ^(C3)saw what He had done, believed in Him.

But some of them went to the ^(C1)Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.

Therefore ^(C1)the chief priests and the Pharisees ^(C2)convened a ^(C3)council meeting, and they were saying, "What are we ^(F1)doing in regard to the fact that this Man is performing many ^(F2)(C4)signs?

"If we let Him go on like this, all the people will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take over both our ^(F1)(C1)place and our nation."

But one of them, ^(C1)Caiaphas, ^(C2)who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all,

nor are you taking into account that ^(C1)it is in your best interest that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish instead."

Now he did not say this ^(F1)on his own, but ^(C1)as he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation;

and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also ^(C1)gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

So from that day on they ^(C1)planned together to kill Him.

Therefore Jesus ^(C1)no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, into a city called ^(C2)Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples.

Now ^(C1)the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country prior to the Passover, ^(C2)in order to ^(F1)purify themselves.

So they ^(C1)were looking for Jesus, and saying to one another as they stood in the temple area, "What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?"

Now ^(C1)the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might arrest Him.

^(C1)Therefore, six days before ^(C2)the Passover, Jesus came to ^(C3)Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

So they made Him a dinner there, and ^(C1)Martha was serving; and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him.

^(C1)Mary then took a ^(F1)pound of very expensive ^(C2)perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But ^(C1)Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, the one who intended to ^(F1)betray Him, ^(*)said,

"Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred ^(F1)denarii and the proceeds given to poor people?"

Now he said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he ^(C1)kept the money box, he used to ^(F1)steal from ^(C2)what was put into it.

Therefore Jesus said, "Leave her alone, so that she may keep it ^(F1)for ^(C1)the day of My burial.

"^(C1)For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me."

The ^(C1)large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not on account of Jesus only, but so that they might also see Lazarus, ^(C2)whom He raised from the dead.

But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also,

because ^(C1)on account of him ^(C2)many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.