Gospel of Saint John - The New Testament

¹ Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom he had raised from the dead.

² They gave a dinner for him there; Martha waited on them and Lazarus was among those at table.

³ Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was filled with the scent of the ointment.

⁴ Then Judas Iscariot -- one of his disciples, the man who was to betray him-said,

⁵ 'Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?'

⁶ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he was in charge of the common fund and used to help himself to the contents.

⁷ So Jesus said, 'Leave her alone; let her keep it for the day of my burial.

⁸ You have the poor with you always, you will not always have me.'

⁹ Meanwhile a large number of Jews heard that he was there and came not only on account of Jesus but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead.

¹⁰ Then the chief priests decided to kill Lazarus as well,

¹¹ since it was on his account that many of the Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus.

¹² The next day the great crowd of people who had come up for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.

¹³ They took branches of palm and went out to receive him, shouting: 'Hosanna! Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel.'

¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and mounted it -- as scripture says:

¹⁵ Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion; look, your king is approaching, riding on the foal of a donkey.

¹⁶ At first his disciples did not understand this, but later, after Jesus had been glorified, they remembered that this had been written about him and that this was what had happened to him.

¹⁷ The crowd who had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead kept bearing witness to it;

¹⁸ this was another reason why the crowd came out to receive him: they had heard that he had given this sign.

¹⁹ Then the Pharisees said to one another, 'You see, you are making no progress; look, the whole world has gone after him!'

²⁰ Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.

²¹ These approached Philip, who came from Bethsaida in Galilee, and put this request to him, 'Sir, we should like to see Jesus.'

²² Philip went to tell Andrew, and Andrew and Philip together went to tell Jesus.

²³ Jesus replied to them: Now the hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified.

²⁴ In all truth I tell you, unless a wheat grain falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies it yields a rich harvest.

²⁵ Anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

²⁶ Whoever serves me, must follow me, and my servant will be with me wherever I am. If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.

²⁷ Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say: Father, save me from this hour? But it is for this very reason that I have come to this hour.

²⁸ Father, glorify your name! A voice came from heaven, 'I have glorified it, and I will again glorify it.'

²⁹ The crowd standing by, who heard this, said it was a clap of thunder; others said, 'It was an angel speaking to him.'

³⁰ Jesus answered, 'It was not for my sake that this voice came, but for yours.

³¹ 'Now sentence is being passed on this world; now the prince of this world is to be driven out.

³² And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all people to myself.'

³³ By these words he indicated the kind of death he would die.

³⁴ The crowd answered, 'The Law has taught us that the Christ will remain for ever. So how can you say, "The Son of man must be lifted up"? Who is this Son of man?'

³⁵ Jesus then said: The light will be with you only a little longer now. Go on your way while you have the light, or darkness will overtake you, and nobody who walks in the dark knows where he is going.

³⁶ While you still have the light, believe in the light so that you may become children of light. Having said this, Jesus left them and was hidden from their sight.

³⁷ Though they had been present when he gave so many signs, they did not believe in him;

³⁸ this was to fulfil the words of the prophet Isaiah: Lord, who has given credence to what they have heard from us, and who has seen in it a revelation of the Lord's arm?

³⁹ Indeed, they were unable to believe because, as Isaiah says again:

⁴⁰ He has blinded their eyes, he has hardened their heart, to prevent them from using their eyes to see, using their heart to understand, changing their ways and being healed by me.

⁴¹ Isaiah said this because he saw his glory, and his words referred to Jesus.

⁴² And yet there were many who did believe in him, even among the leading men, but they did not admit it, because of the Pharisees and for fear of being banned from the synagogue:

⁴³ they put human glory before God's glory.

⁴⁴ Jesus declared publicly: Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in the one who sent me,

⁴⁵ and whoever sees me, sees the one who sent me.

⁴⁶ I have come into the world as light, to prevent anyone who believes in me from staying in the dark any more.

⁴⁷ If anyone hears my words and does not keep them faithfully, it is not I who shall judge such a person, since I have come not to judge the world, but to save the world:

⁴⁸ anyone who rejects me and refuses my words has his judge already: the word itself that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day.

⁴⁹ For I have not spoken of my own accord; but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and what to speak,

⁵⁰ and I know that his commands mean eternal life. And therefore what the Father has told me is what I speak.