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Gospel of John

A True Story



Christ Comes to the World

1Before the world began, the Word was there. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was there with God in the beginning. 3Everything was made through him, and nothing was made without him. 4In him there was life, and that life was light for the people of the world. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not defeated it. 6There was a man named John, who was sent by God. 7He came to tell people about the light. Through him all people could hear about the light and believe. 8John was not the light. But he came to tell people about the light. 9The true light was coming into the world. This is the true light that gives light to all people. 10The Word was already in the world. The world was made through him, but the world did not know him. 11He came to the world that was his own. And his own people did not accept him. 12But some people did accept him. They believed in him, and he gave them the right to become children of God. 13They became God’s children, but not in the way babies are usually born. It was not because of any human desire or plan. They were born from God himself. 14The Word became a man and lived among us. We saw his divine greatness—the greatness that belongs to the only Son of the Father. The Word was full of grace and truth. 15John told people about him. He said loudly, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘The one who is coming after me is greater than I am, because he was living before I was even born.’” 16Yes, the Word was full of grace and truth, and from him we all received one blessing after another. 17That is, the law was given to us through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. The only Son is the one who has shown us what God is like. He is himself God and is very close to the Father.




Jesus at the Temple

13It was almost time for the Jewish Passover, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14There in the Temple area he saw men selling cattle, sheep, and doves. He saw others sitting at tables, exchanging and trading people’s money. 15Jesus made a whip with some pieces of rope. Then he forced all these men and the sheep and cattle to leave the Temple area. He turned over the tables of the money traders and scattered their money. 16Then he said to those who were selling pigeons, “Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a place for buying and selling!” 17When this happened, his followers remembered what was written in the Scriptures: “My strong devotion to your Temple will destroy me.” Psalm 69:9 18Some Jews said to Jesus, “Show us a miracle as a sign from God. Prove that you have the right to do these things.” 19Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple and I will build it again in three days.” 20They answered, “People worked 46 years to build this Temple! Do you really believe you can build it again in three days?” 21But the temple Jesus meant was his own body. 22After he was raised from death, his followers remembered that he had said this. So they believed the Scriptures, and they believed the words Jesus said. 23Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover festival. Many people believed in him because they saw the miraculous signs he did. 24But Jesus did not trust them, because he knew how all people think. 25He did not need anyone to tell him what a person was like. He already knew.



Jesus and Nicodemus

1There was a man named Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees. He was an important Jewish leader. 2One night he came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a teacher sent from God. No one can do these miraculous signs that you do unless they have God’s help.” 3Jesus answered, “I assure you, everyone must be born again. Anyone who is not born again cannot be in God’s kingdom.” 4Nicodemus said, “How can a man who is already old be born again? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born a second time?” 5Jesus answered, “Believe me when I say that everyone must be born from water and the Spirit. Anyone who is not born from water and the Spirit cannot enter God’s kingdom. 6The only life people get from their human parents is physical. But the new life that the Spirit gives a person is spiritual. 7Don’t be surprised that I told you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8The wind blows wherever it wants to. You hear it, but you don’t know where it is coming from or where it is going. It is the same with everyone who is born from the Spirit.” 9Nicodemus asked, “How is all this possible?” 10Jesus said, “You are an important teacher of Israel, and you still don’t understand these things? 11The truth is, we talk about what we know. We tell about what we have seen. But you people don’t accept what we tell you. 12I have told you about things here on earth, but you do not believe me. So I’m sure you will not believe me if I tell you about heavenly things! 13The only one who has ever gone up to heaven is the one who came down from heaven—the Son of Man. 14“Moses lifted up the snake in the desert. It is the same with the Son of Man. He must be lifted up too. 15Then everyone who believes in him can have eternal life.” 16Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life. 17God sent his Son into the world. He did not send him to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him. 18People who believe in God’s Son are not judged guilty. But people who do not believe are already judged, because they have not believed in God’s only Son. 19They are judged by this fact: The light has come into the world. But they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they were doing evil things. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light. They will not come to the light, because the light will show all the bad things they have done. 21But anyone who follows the true way comes to the light. Then the light will show that whatever they have done was done through God.



Jesus Talks to a Woman in Samaria

1Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard the report that he was making and baptizing more followers than John. 2(But really, Jesus himself did not baptize anyone; his followers baptized people for him.) 3So he left Judea and went back to Galilee. 4On the way to Galilee, he had to go through the country of Samaria. 5In Samaria Jesus came to the town called Sychar, which is near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his long trip, so he sat down beside the well. It was about noon. 7A Samaritan woman came to the well to get some water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8This happened while his followers were in town buying some food. 9The woman answered, “I am surprised that you ask me for a drink! You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman!” (Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered, “You don’t know what God can give you. And you don’t know who I am, the one who asked you for a drink. If you knew, you would have asked me, and I would have given you living water.” 11The woman said, “Sir, where will you get that living water? The well is very deep, and you have nothing to get water with. 12Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob? He is the one who gave us this well. He drank from it himself, and his sons and all his animals drank from it too.” 13Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. 14But anyone who drinks the water I give will never be thirsty again. The water I give people will be like a spring flowing inside them. It will bring them eternal life.” 15The woman said to Jesus, “Sir, give me this water. Then I will never be thirsty again and won’t have to come back here to get more water.” 16Jesus told her, “Go get your husband and come back.” 17The woman answered, “But I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right to say you have no husband. 18That’s because, although you have had five husbands, the man you live with now is not your husband. That much was the truth.” 19The woman said, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where people must worship.” 21Jesus said, “Believe me, woman! The time is coming when you will not have to be in Jerusalem or on this mountain to worship the Father. 22You Samaritans worship something you don’t understand. We Jews understand what we worship, since salvation comes from the Jews. 23But the time is coming when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. In fact, that time is now here. And these are the kind of people the Father wants to be his worshipers. 24God is spirit. So the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said, “I know that the Messiah is coming.” (He is the one called Christ.) “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26Then Jesus said, “He is talking to you now—I am the Messiah.” 27Just then Jesus’ followers came back from town. They were surprised because they saw Jesus talking with a woman. But none of them asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28Then the woman left her water jar and went back to town. She told the people there, 29“A man told me everything I have ever done. Come see him. Maybe he is the Messiah.” 30So the people left the town and went to see Jesus.31While the woman was in town, Jesus’ followers were begging him, “Teacher, eat something!” 32But Jesus answered, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33So the followers asked themselves, “Did someone already bring him some food?” 34Jesus said, “My food is to do what the one who sent me wants me to do. My food is to finish the work that he gave me to do. 35When you plant, you always say, ‘Four more months to wait before we gather the grain.’ But I tell you, open your eyes, and look at the fields. They are ready for harvesting now. 36Even now, the people who harvest the crop are being paid. They are gathering crops for eternal life. So now the people who plant can be happy together with those who harvest. 37It is true when we say, ‘One person plants, but another person harvests the crop.’ 38I sent you to harvest a crop that you did not work for. Others did the work, and you get the profit from their work.” 39Many of the Samaritan people in that town believed in Jesus. They believed because of what the woman had told them about him. She had told them, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40The Samaritans went to Jesus. They begged him to stay with them. So he stayed there two days. 41Many more people became believers because of the things he said. 42The people said to the woman, “First we believed in Jesus because of what you told us. But now we believe because we heard him ourselves. We know now that he really is the one who will save the world.”



Jesus Has God’s Authority

19But Jesus answered, “I assure you that the Son can do nothing alone. He does only what he sees his Father doing. The Son does the same things that the Father does. 20The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does. This man was healed. But the Father will show the Son greater things than this to do. Then you will all be amazed. 21The Father raises the dead and gives them life. In the same way, the Son gives life to those he wants to. 22“Also, the Father judges no one. He has given the Son power to do all the judging. 23God did this so that all people will respect the Son the same as they respect the Father. Anyone who does not respect the Son does not respect the Father. He is the one who sent the Son. 24“I assure you, anyone who hears what I say and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life. They will not be judged guilty. They have already left death and have entered into life. 25Believe me, an important time is coming. That time is already here. People who are dead will hear the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live. 26Life comes from the Father himself. So the Father has also allowed the Son to give life. 27And the Father has given him the power to judge all people because he is the Son of Man. 28“Don’t be surprised at this. A time is coming when all people who are dead and in their graves will hear his voice. 29Then they will come out of their graves. Those who did good in this life will rise and have eternal life. But those who did evil will rise to be judged guilty. 30“I can do nothing alone. I judge only the way I am told. And my judgment is right, because I am not trying to please myself. I want only to please the one who sent me.



Jesus, the Bread of Life

25The people found Jesus on the other side of the lake. They asked him, “Teacher, when did you come here?” 26He answered, “Why are you looking for me? Is it because you saw miraculous signs? The truth is, you are looking for me because you ate the bread and were satisfied. 27But earthly food spoils and ruins. So don’t work to get that kind of food. But work to get the food that stays good and gives you eternal life. The Son of Man will give you that food. He is the only one qualified by God the Father to give it to you.” 28The people asked Jesus, “What does God want us to do?” 29Jesus answered, “The work God wants you to do is this: to believe in the one he sent.” 30So the people asked, “What miraculous sign will you do for us? If we can see you do a miracle, then we will believe you. What will you do? 31Our ancestors were given manna to eat in the desert. As the Scriptures say, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32Jesus said, “I can assure you that Moses was not the one who gave your people bread from heaven. But my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33God’s bread is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34The people said, “Sir, from now on give us bread like that.” 35Then Jesus said, “I am the bread that gives life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry. No one who believes in me will ever be thirsty. 36I told you before that you have seen me, and still you don’t believe. 37The Father gives me my people. Every one of them will come to me. I will always accept them. 38I came down from heaven to do what God wants, not what I want. 39I must not lose anyone God has given me. But I must raise them up on the last day. This is what the one who sent me wants me to do. 40Everyone who sees the Son and believes in him has eternal life. I will raise them up on the last day. This is what my Father wants.” 41Some Jews began to complain about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that comes down from heaven.” 42They said, “This is Jesus. We know his father and mother. He is only Joseph’s son. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” 43But Jesus said, “Stop complaining to each other. 44The Father is the one who sent me, and he is the one who brings people to me. I will raise them up on the last day. Anyone the Father does not bring to me cannot come to me. 45It is written in the prophets: ‘God will teach them all.’ People listen to the Father and learn from him. They are the ones who come to me. 46I don’t mean that there is anyone who has seen the Father. The only one who has ever seen the Father is the one who came from God. He has seen the Father. 47“I can assure you that anyone who believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread that gives life. 49Your ancestors ate the manna God gave them in the desert, but it didn’t keep them from dying. 50Here is the bread that comes down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will never die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my body. I will give my body so that the people in the world can have life.” 52Then the Jews began to argue among themselves. They said, “How can this man give us his body to eat?” 53Jesus said, “Believe me when I say that you must eat the body of the Son of Man, and you must drink his blood. If you don’t do this, you have no real life. 54Those who eat my body and drink my blood have eternal life. I will raise them up on the last day. 55My body is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56Those who eat my body and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. 57“The Father sent me. He lives, and I live because of him. So everyone who eats me will live because of me. 58I am not like the bread that your ancestors ate. They ate that bread, but they still died. I am the bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” 59Jesus said all this while he was teaching in the synagogue in the city of Capernaum.



Jesus Is the Light of the World

12Later, Jesus talked to the people again. He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never live in darkness. They will have the light that gives life.” 13But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “When you talk about yourself, you are the only one to say that these things are true. So we cannot accept what you say.” 14Jesus answered, “Yes, I am saying these things about myself. But people can believe what I say, because I know where I came from. And I know where I am going. But you don’t know where I came from or where I am going. 15You judge me the way people judge other people. I don’t judge anyone. 16But if I judge, my judging is true, because when I judge I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me. 17Your own law says that when two witnesses say the same thing, you must accept what they say. 18I am one of the witnesses who speaks about myself. And the Father who sent me is my other witness.” 19The people asked, “Where is your father?” Jesus answered, “You don’t know me or my Father. But if you knew me, you would know my Father too.” 20Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the Temple area, near the room where the Temple offerings were kept. But no one arrested him, because the right time for him had not yet come.



Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

1While Jesus was walking, he saw a man who had been blind since the time he was born. 2Jesus’ followers asked him, “Teacher, why was this man born blind? Whose sin made it happen? Was it his own sin or that of his parents?” 3Jesus answered, “It was not any sin of this man or his parents that caused him to be blind. He was born blind so that he could be used to show what great things God can do. 4While it is daytime, we must continue doing the work of the one who sent me. The night is coming, and no one can work at night. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6After Jesus said this, he spit on the dirt, made some mud and put it on the man’s eyes. 7Jesus told him, “Go and wash in Siloam pool.” (Siloam means “Sent.”) So the man went to the pool, washed and came back. He was now able to see. 8His neighbors and some others who had seen him begging said, “Look! Is this the same man who always sits and begs?” 9Some people said, “Yes! He is the one.” But others said, “No, he can’t be the same man. He only looks like him.” So the man himself said, “I am that same man.” 10They asked, “What happened? How did you get your sight?” 11He answered, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. Then he told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went there and washed. And then I could see.” 12They asked him, “Where is this man?” He answered, “I don’t know.”



Jesus Is the Good Shepherd

7So Jesus said again, “I assure you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All those who came before me were thieves and robbers. The sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will be able to come in and go out. They will find everything they need. 10A thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I came to give life—life that is full and good. 11“I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. 12The worker who is paid to keep the sheep is different from the shepherd. The paid worker does not own the sheep. So when he sees a wolf coming, he runs away and leaves the sheep alone. Then the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. 13The man runs away because he is only a paid worker. He does not really care for the sheep. 14-15“I am the shepherd who cares for the sheep. I know my sheep just as the Father knows me. And my sheep know me just as I know the Father. I give my life for these sheep. 16I have other sheep too. They are not in this flock here. I must lead them also. They will listen to my voice. In the future there will be one flock and one shepherd. 17The Father loves me because I give my life. I give my life so that I can get it back again. 18No one takes my life away from me. I give my own life freely. I have the right to give my life, and I have the right to get it back again. This is what the Father told me.” 19Again the Jews were divided over what Jesus was saying. 20Many of them said, “A demon has come into him and made him crazy. Why listen to him?” 21But others said, “These aren’t the words of someone controlled by a demon. A demon cannot heal the eyes of a blind man.”



Jesus Talks About Life and Death

20There were some Greeks there too. These were some of the people who went to Jerusalem to worship at the Passover festival. 21They went to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.” 22Philip went and told Andrew. Then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23Jesus said to them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to receive his glory. 24It is a fact that a grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die before it can grow and produce much more wheat. If it never dies, it will never be more than a single seed. 25Whoever loves the life they have now will lose it. But whoever is willing to give up their life in this world will keep it. They will have eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me. My servants must be with me everywhere I am. My Father will give honor to anyone who serves me.



Jesus Talks About His Death

31When Judas was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the time for the Son of Man to receive his glory. And God will receive glory through him. 32If God receives glory through him, he will give glory to the Son through himself. And that will happen very soon.” 33Jesus said, “My children, I will be with you only a short time more. You will look for me, but I tell you now what I told the Jewish leaders: Where I am going you cannot come. 34“I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love each other just as I loved you.31When Judas was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the time for the Son of Man to receive his glory. And God will receive glory through him. 32If God receives glory through him, he will give glory to the Son through himself. And that will happen very soon.” 33Jesus said, “My children, I will be with you only a short time more. You will look for me, but I tell you now what I told the Jewish leaders: Where I am going you cannot come. 34“I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love each other just as I loved you.35All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other.”



Jesus Comforts His Followers

1Jesus said, “Don’t be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me. 2There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back. Then I will take you with me, so that you can be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father too. But now you know the Father. You have seen him.” 8Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need.” 9Jesus answered, “Philip, I have been with you for a long time. So you should know me. Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father too. So why do you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The things I have told you don’t come from me. The Father lives in me, and he is doing his own work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or believe because of the miracles I have done. 12“I can assure you that whoever believes in me will do the same things I have done. And they will do even greater things than I have done, because I am going to the Father. 13And if you ask for anything in my name, I will do it for you. Then the Father’s glory will be shown through the Son. 14If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

15“If you love me, you will do what I command. 16I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever. 17The Helper is the Spirit of truth. The people of the world cannot accept him, because they don’t see him or know him. But you know him. He lives with you, and he will be in you. 18“I will not leave you all alone like orphans. I will come back to you. 19In a very short time the people in the world will not see me anymore. But you will see me. You will live because I live. 20On that day you will know that I am in the Father. You will know that you are in me and I am in you. 21Those who really love me are the ones who not only know my commands but also obey them. My Father will love such people, and I will love them. I will make myself known to them.” 22Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “Lord, how will you make yourself known to us, but not to the world?” 23Jesus answered, “All who love me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them. My Father and I will come to them and live with them. 24But anyone who does not love me does not obey my teaching. This teaching that you hear is not really mine. It is from my Father who sent me. 25“I have told you all these things while I am with you. 26But the Helper will teach you everything and cause you to remember all that I told you. This Helper is the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name. 27“I leave you peace. It is my own peace I give you. I give you peace in a different way than the world does. So don’t be troubled. Don’t be afraid. 28You heard me say to you, ‘I am leaving, but I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be happy that I am going back to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am. 29I have told you this now, before it happens. Then when it happens, you will believe. 30“I will not talk with you much longer. The ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me. 31But the world must know that I love the Father. So I do exactly what the Father told me to do. “Come now, let’s go.”



Jesus Is Like a Vine

1Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch of mine that does not produce fruit. He also trims every branch that produces fruit to prepare it to produce even more. 3You have already been prepared to produce more fruit by the teaching I have given you. 4Stay joined to me and I will stay joined to you. No branch can produce fruit alone. It must stay connected to the vine. It is the same with you. You cannot produce fruit alone. You must stay joined to me. 5“I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I to you, you will produce plenty of fruit. But separated from me you won’t be able to do anything. 6If you don’t stay joined to me, you will be like a branch that has been thrown out and has dried up. All the dead branches like that are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7Stay joined together with me, and follow my teachings. If you do this, you can ask for anything you want, and it will be given to you. 8Show that you are my followers by producing much fruit. This will bring honor to my Father. 9“I have loved you as the Father has loved me. Now continue in my love. 10I have obeyed my Father’s commands, and he continues to love me. In the same way, if you obey my commands, I will continue to love you. 11I have told you these things so that you can have the true happiness that I have. I want you to be completely happy. 12This is what I command you: Love each other as I have loved you. 13The greatest love people can show is to die for their friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I tell you to do. 15I no longer call you servants, because servants don’t know what their master is doing. But now I call you friends, because I have told you everything that my Father told me. 16“You did not choose me. I chose you. And I gave you this work: to go and produce fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you anything you ask for in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.



Jesus Prays for Himself and His Followers

1After Jesus said these things, he looked toward heaven and prayed, “Father, the time has come. Give glory to your Son so that the Son can give glory to you. 2You gave the Son power over all people so that he could give eternal life to all those you have given to him. 3And this is eternal life: that people can know you, the only true God, and that they can know Jesus Christ, the one you sent. 4I finished the work you gave me to do. I brought you glory on earth. 5And now, Father, give me glory with you. Give me the glory I had with you before the world was made. 6“You gave me some people from the world. I have shown them what you are like. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me. They have obeyed your teaching. 7Now they know that everything I have came from you. 8I told them the words you gave me, and they accepted them. They realized the fact that I came from you and believed that you sent me. 9I pray for them now. I am not praying for the people in the world. But I am praying for these people you gave me, because they are yours. 10All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And my glory is seen in them. 11“Now I am coming to you. I will not stay in the world, but these followers of mine are still in the world. Holy Father, keep them safe by the power of your name—the name you gave me. Then they will be one, just as you and I are one. 12While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power of your name—the name you gave me. I protected them. And only one of them was lost—the one who was sure to be lost. This was to show the truth of what the Scriptures said would happen. 13“I am coming to you now. But I pray these things while I am still in the world. I say all this so that these followers can have the true happiness that I have. I want them to be completely happy. 14I have given them your teaching. And the world has hated them, because they don’t belong to the world, just as I don’t belong to the world. 15“I am not asking you to take them out of the world. But I am asking that you keep them safe from the Evil One. 16They don’t belong to the world, just as I don’t belong to the world. 17Make them ready for your service through your truth. Your teaching is truth. 18I have sent them into the world, just as you sent me into the world. 19I am making myself completely ready to serve you. I do this for them, so that they also might be fully qualified for your service. 20“I pray not only for these followers but also for those who will believe in me because of their teaching. 21Father, I pray that all who believe in me can be one. You are in me and I am in you. I pray that they can also be one in us. Then the world will believe that you sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me. I gave them this glory so that they can be one, just as you and I are one. 23I will be in them, and you will be in me. So they will be completely one. Then the world will know that you sent me and that you loved them just as you loved me. 24“Father, I want these people you have given me to be with me in every place I am. I want them to see my glory—the glory you gave me because you loved me before the world was made. 25Father, you are the one who always does what is right. The world does not know you, but I know you, and these followers of mine know that you sent me. 26I showed them what you are like, and I will show them again. Then they will have the same love that you have for me, and I will live in them.”



Jesus Dies

28Later, Jesus knew that everything had been done. To make the Scriptures come true he said, “I am thirsty.” 29There was a jar full of sour wine there, so the soldiers soaked a sponge in it. They put the sponge on a branch of a hyssop plant and lifted it to Jesus’ mouth. 30When he tasted the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and died. 31This day was Preparation day. The next day was a special Sabbath day. The Jewish leaders did not want the bodies to stay on the cross on the Sabbath day. So they asked Pilate to order that the legs of the men be broken. And they asked that the bodies be taken down from the crosses. 32So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men on the crosses beside Jesus. 33But when the soldiers came close to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead. So they did not break his legs. 34But one of the soldiers stuck his spear into Jesus’ side. Immediately blood and water came out. 35(The one who saw this happen has told about it. He told about it so that you also can believe. The things he says are true. He knows that he tells the truth.) 36These things happened to give full meaning to the Scriptures that said, “None of his bones will be broken” 37and “People will look at the one they stabbed.”



Jesus Appears to His Followers

19The day was Sunday, and that same evening the followers were together. They had the doors locked because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them. He said, “Peace be with you!” 20As soon as he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the followers saw the Lord, they were very happy. 21Then Jesus said again, “Peace be with you. It was the Father who sent me, and I am now sending you in the same way.” 22Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven. If there is anyone whose sins you don’t forgive, their sins are not forgiven.”