John 12 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Six days before the festival, Jesus arrived in — the town where Lazarus lived, the man Jesus had from the
They hosted a dinner for him there. Martha was serving, and Lazarus was one of the people at the with Jesus.
Then Mary took about a of pure — an incredibly expensive perfume — and it on wiping them with her hair. The whole house filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
But Judas Iscariot, one of his — the one who would later him — said,
"Why wasn't this perfume sold for and the money given to the poor?"
He didn't say this because he actually cared about the poor — he said it because he was a thief. He was in charge of the and would to what was put into it.
Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She did this to prepare for the day of my
"You'll always have the among you, but you won't always have me."
Meanwhile, a large crowd of Jewish people found out Jesus was there. They came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, the man he had raised from the dead.
So the made plans to kill Lazarus too,
because on account of Lazarus, many of the Jewish people were leaving them and their in Jesus.
The next day, the huge crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.
They grabbed and went out to meet him, shouting: The one who comes by the of is worthy of all honor — the King of Israel!"
Jesus found a and sat on it, just as the Scripture says:
"Don't be afraid, of — look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!"
followers didn't understand any of this at the time. But after Jesus was to they remembered that these things had been written about him and that the crowd had done exactly what was predicted.
The crowd that had been with Jesus when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead kept telling everyone about it.
That's actually why the crowd went out to meet him — because they heard he had performed this
So the said to each other, "See? We're getting nowhere. Look — the has gone after him!"
Now, there were some among those who had come up to at the festival.
They went to who was from in Galilee, and made a request: "Sir, we'd like to meet Jesus."
Philip went and told and then and Philip together went to tell Jesus.
Jesus responded by saying, "The has for the of to be to
"I'm you the unless a of falls into the ground and dies, it stays just a single seed. But if it dies, it produces an
"Anyone who clings to their own will lose it, but anyone who lets go of their in this world will keep it for
"If anyone wants to me, they need to follow me. And wherever I am, that's where my servant will be too. If anyone serves me, my Father will them."
"Right now my is What should I say — 'Father, rescue me from this hour'? No — this is the very reason I came to this hour."
"Father, through what's about to happen!" Then a from the "I have already displayed it, and I will it again."
The crowd standing nearby heard it. Some said it was thunder. Others said, "An spoke to him."
Jesus said, "That voice wasn't for my benefit — it was for yours."
"Now is the time of for this Now the of this is going to be thrown out."
"And when I am up from the earth, I will to myself."
He said this to indicate what kind of death he was going to die.
The crowd responded, "We've heard from the that The remains forever. So how can you say 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?"
Jesus told them, "The is with you for just a little while longer. Walk while you have the so that the doesn't overtake you. Whoever walks in the dark doesn't know where they're going."
"While you have the put your trust in the so that you become by After saying this, Jesus left and stayed out of sight.
Even though Jesus had performed so many right in front of them, they still wouldn't put their trust in him.
This fulfilled what the prophet had spoken: "Yahweh, who has trusted our message? And to whom has been revealed?"
The reason they couldn't trust was that, as Isaiah also said:
"He has their and their so that they can't see with their or understand with their and turn to me so I could them."
Isaiah said this because he and spoke about him.
Still, even among the many actually did put their trust in him. But because of the Pharisees, they wouldn't openly admit it — they were afraid of being banned from the
They loved the of people more than the of God.
Then Jesus out "Anyone who puts their trust in me isn't really trusting in me alone — they're trusting in the who me."
"And anyone who me is seeing the one who sent me."
"I have come as into the world, so that everyone who puts their trust in me won't have to stay in the darkness."
"If anyone hears my words and doesn't keep them, I'm not the one who them. I didn't come to judge the world but to it."
"Anyone who me and doesn't accept my words already has a judge: the very words I've spoken will judge them on the
"Because I haven't spoken on my own authority. The Father who sent me — he himself gave me a about what to say and how to say it."
"And I know that his command leads to So whatever I say, I say exactly what the Father has told me to say."