The Gospels

by Sarah Ruden

  Chapter 12

  1 Then, six days before the pascha, Iēsous came to Bēthania, where Lazaros lived, the man Iēsous had awakened from among the dead. 2 So they prepared a dinner for him there, and Martha waited on them, and Lazaros was one of those reclining with him.*140

  3 Then Mariam took a pound of perfume—which was genuine, extremely costly nard—and spread it on Iēsous’ feet and wiped them dry with her hair. And the house was filled with the scent of the perfume. 4 But Ioudas the Iskariōtēs,*141 one [of] his students, who was going to hand him over, said, 5 “Why wasn’t the perfume sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the destitute?” 6 But he said this not because he cared about the destitute, but because he was a thief: he kept the money-box and used to pilfer what was put into it. 7 But in answer Iēsous said, “Let her alone. She bought it to keep for the day I would be prepared for burial. 8 Surely you people are going to have the destitute among you forever, but you’re not going to have me forever.”

  9 A large crowd of the Ioudaioi learned he was there, and they came not because of Iēsous only, but also to see Lazaros, whom he’d awakened from among the dead. 10 But the high priests plotted to kill Lazaros too, 11 because, due to him, many of the Ioudaioi were defecting and trusting in Iēsous.

  12 On the next day, the large crowd that had come for the festival heard that Iēsous was coming into Hierosoluma, 13 and they took the branches of palm trees*142 and came out to meet him, yelling,

  “Hōsanna!

  Blessed is the one coming in the name of the lord,*143

  [And] the king of Israel.”

  14 Having found a little donkey, Iēsous mounted on it—as it has been written:

  15 “Don’t be afraid, daughter Siōn:

  Look, your king is coming,

  Mounted on a donkey’s colt.”*144

  16 His students didn’t recognize all this at first, but when Iēsous was glorified, then it occurred to them that this had been written about him, and that people had done these things for him. 17 Thus the same crowd was testifying that had been with him when he summoned Lazaros out of the tomb and awakened him from among the dead. 18 Hearing that he had performed this sign was [another] reason for the crowd coming to meet him. 19 So the Farisaioi said to each other, “You all can see it: you’re achieving nothing. Look, the whole world has gone away, following after him.”

  20 Now there were some Greeks among those who had come up to worship at the festival. 21 So these people approached Filippos from Bēthsaïda in Galilaia and made inquiries with him, saying, “Sir, we want to see Iēsous.” 22 Filippos went and told Andreas; Andreas and Filippos went and told Iēsous. 23 But Iēsous responded to them by saying, “The time has come for the son of mankind to be glorified. 24 Amēn amēn I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls onto the ground and dies, it remains nothing but a single grain. But if it dies, it brings a large harvest. 25 Whoever clings to his living self*145 like a dear friend will lose it, but whoever hates his living self in this present world will keep it safe, and it will be life for all time. 26 Whoever tends to me had better follow me, and where I am, my attendant will be there too. And if someone tends to me, my father will honor him.*146

  27 “As things are, my living self has been thrown into confusion, but what should I say? ‘Father, rescue me, now that the time has come’? But this is the reason I came to this time. 28 Father, bring glory to your name.” Then there came a voice from the sky: “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” 29 So the crowd standing there and listening to him said thunder had sounded; others said, “A messenger’s spoken to him.” 30 Iēsous responded by saying, “It wasn’t because of me that the voice came, but because of you. 31 Now the judgment of this world is here; now the ruler of this world will be thrown clear out of it.*147 32 And I myself, if I’m raised up above the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to signal the kind of death he was about to undergo.*148

  34 So the crowd responded to him: “We’ve heard from the writings of the law that the anointed one will remain for all time, so what do you mean by saying that the son of mankind must be raised up? Who’s this ‘son of mankind’?”*149 35 Iēsous then said to them, “For a short time longer the light is among you. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness doesn’t overtake you. Someone walking in darkness doesn’t know where he’s headed. 36 While you have light, trust in the light, so that you become sons of the light.” Iēsous said these things, then went away and hid from them.

  37 But though he’d performed so many signs before their eyes, they didn’t trust in him, 38 so that what was spoken by Ēsaïas the prophet would be fulfilled, when he said:

  “Lord, who believed what they heard from us?

  And to whom was the arm of the lord uncovered?”*150

  39 For this reason they weren’t able to believe: Ēsaïas also said,

  40 “He blinded their eyes,

  And made their hearts calloused and unfeeling,

  So that they couldn’t see with their eyes

  Or perceive with their hearts

  And turn around and let me heal them.”*151

  41 Ēsaïas said these things because he saw his glory, and he spoke about him. 42 Nevertheless, even many of the leaders trusted in him, but because of the Farisaioi they didn’t admit it, fearing they would be banned from their synagogues. 43 They loved the glory of human beings more than god’s glory.

  44 Iēsous shouted out, saying, “Whoever trusts in me doesn’t trust in me, but instead in the one who sent me. 45 And whoever gazes on me gazes on the one who sent me. 46 I came into the world as light, so that everyone who trusts in me won’t stay in darkness. 47 And if anyone hears the things I say and doesn’t guard them and carry them out, I’m not going to judge him, since I didn’t come to judge the world, but instead to rescue the world. 48 Whoever rejects me and doesn’t accept the things I say has someone else to judge him: the true account I’ve given—that will judge him on the last day. 49 That’s because I haven’t said anything on my own behalf; instead, the father himself who sent me gave me a command as to what to talk about and how to say it. 50 And I know that his command is life for all time. So what I talk about, I talk about it in just the way the father said it to me.”

  Chapter 13

  1 Before the festival of the pascha, Iēsous knew that his time had come to cross over out of this world to the father. But because he had loved his own people who were in the world, he kept loving them until the end. 2 And when the banquet was taking place, and the slanderer had already put it into the heart of Ioudas the son of Simōn Iskariōtēs to hand him over, 3 Iēsous, knowing that the father had given everything into his hands and that he had come from god and was heading back to god, 4 got up from the banquet, put aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into the washbasin and proceeded to wash his students’ feet and to wipe them dry with the towel he had around his waist. 6 Then he came to Simōn Petros, who said to him, “Master, are you washing my feet?” 7 Iēsous answered by saying to him, “What I’m doing you don’t realize right now, but you’ll understand afterward.” 8 Petros said to him, “You must never wash my feet, as long as time lasts.” Iēsous answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you’ll have no share along with me.”*152 9 Simōn Petros said to him, “Master, don’t just wash my feet, but also my hands and my head.” 10 Iēsous said to him, “Someone who’s had a bath has no need to wash, except for his feet; no, he’s clean all over. And you people are clean—but not every one of you.” 11 He knew, in fact, who was handing him over, and that is why he said, “Not every one of you is clean.”*153

  12 Then when he had washed their feet [and] put on his outer clothing and reclined again, he said to them, “Do you understand what I’ve done for you? 13 You call me ‘the teacher’ and ‘the master,’ and those a
re proper things to say, since that’s what I am. 14 So if I’ve washed your feet, and I’m the master and the teacher, you also ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I’ve set you an example, so that what I did for you, you in turn should do. 16 Amēn amēn I tell you, there’s no slave who’s greater than his master, and no envoy who’s greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you’ll be happy if you practice them.

  18 “I’m not talking about all of you. I know the ones I singled out. Instead, it’s so that what’s written can be fulfilled: ‘The one who ate my loaf has lifted his heel against me.’*154 19 But right now I tell you this, before it happens, so that when it happens you believe that it’s me.*155 20 Amēn amēn I tell you, the one who takes in whoever I’m going to send takes me in, and the one who takes me in takes in the one who sent me.”

  21 After saying these things, Iēsous was agitated clear to his life-breath, and he testified by saying, “Amēn amēn I tell you, one of you is going to hand me over.” 22 The students looked at each other, at a dead end in guessing which one he meant. 23 There was one of his students, reclining in Iēsous’ arms, whom Iēsous loved. 24 Therefore Simōn Petros gestured to him to ask who it was Iēsous meant. 25 So the man reclining against Iēsous’ chest said to him, “Master, who is it?”*156 26 Iēsous answered, “It’s the man for whom I dip this piece of bread, and give it to him.”*157 He then dipped the bread [took it] and gave it to Ioudas the son of Simōn Iskariōtēs. 27 And then, after that piece of bread, satanas entered into him. Iēsous then said to him, “What you’re about to do, do it quickly.” 28 [But] no one among those reclining at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some of them in fact thought, since Ioudas kept the money-box, that Iēsous had said to him, “Buy the things we need for the festival,” or that he wanted him to give something to the destitute. 30 At any rate, he took the piece of bread and went out right away. But it was nighttime.*158

  31 Then when he’d gone out, Iēsous said, “Now the son of mankind has been glorified, and god has been glorified in him. 32 [If god has been glorified in him,] god will also glorify him in himself, and will glorify him right away. 33 Little children, I’m with you for a little while longer. You’ll look for me, and what I said to the Ioudaioi, I say to you as well now: where I’m headed, you can’t go. 34 I give you a new command, to love each other; just as I have loved you, you must love one another as well. 35 By this, everyone will know that you’re my students, if you show love for one another.”*159

  36 Simōn Petros said to him, “Master, where are you headed?” Iēsous answered [him], “Where I’m headed, you can’t follow me now, but you’ll follow afterward.” 37 Petros said to him, “Master, why is it that I can’t follow you right now? I’ll lay down my life for you.” 38 Iēsous responded, “You’ll lay down your life for me? Amēn amēn I tell you, the rooster definitely won’t crow before you deny three times that you know me.”

  Chapter 14

  1 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in god, and trust in me. 2 In my father’s house, there are many places to stay; if there weren’t, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a place ready for you? 3 And if I’m on my way and get a place ready for you, I’m coming back, and I’ll take you along to join me, so that where I am, you all will be too.*160 4 And where I’m headed [myself], you know the way.”

  5 Thōmas said to him, “Master, we don’t know where you’re headed. How can we know the way?” 6 Iēsous said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and life; no one comes to the father except through me. 7 If you’ve come to know me, you’ll also know my father. And from now on, you know him and you’ve seen him.”

  8 Filippos said to him, “Master, show us the father, and it will be enough for us.” 9 Iēsous said to him, “I’ve been with all of you for such a long time—and you didn’t recognize me, Filippos? Anyone who’s seen me has seen the father. What do you mean by ‘Show us the father?’ 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the father and the father is in me? In the things I say to you, I’m not talking on my own account; no, the father, who lives in me, carries out his work. 11 Believe me because I am in the father and the father is in me. Or if not, have trust because of the work itself.

  12 “Amēn amēn I tell you, whoever trusts in me will carry out himself the work I do, and will do even greater work than this, because I’m on my way to the father. 13 And whatever you ask for in my name, I’ll do it, so that the father is glorified in the son. 14 If you ask me for anything in my name, I’ll do it.

  15 “If you love me, you will guard and carry out my commands. 16 And I’ll ask the father, and he will give you another advocate, so that he’ll be with you for all time, 17 as the life-breath of truth, which the world isn’t able to take in, because it doesn’t see it or recognize it. You recognize it, because it lives with you and will be in you.*161 18 I won’t leave you orphaned; I’m coming to you. 19 A little longer, and the world won’t see me anymore, but you’ll see me, because I live, and you will live. 20 On that day you’ll know that I am in my father, and you in me, and I in you.*162 21 Whoever possesses my commands and guards them, that’s the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my father, and I’ll love him and reveal myself clearly to him.”

  22 Ioudas (not the one called Iskariōtēs) said to him, “Master, [and] how has it come about that you’re going to reveal yourself to us but not to the world?” 23 Iēsous answered him by saying, “If someone loves me, he’ll keep safe what I speak of, and my father too will love him, and we’ll come to him and make our home with him. 24 But whoever doesn’t love me won’t keep safe the things I speak of. But what I speak of, which you hear, isn’t mine; instead, it belongs to the father who sent me.

  25 “I’ve told you these things while I remained with you. 26 But the advocate, the holy life-breath, which my father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of everything I [myself] said to you.

  27 “Peace I leave to you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, I give to you. Don’t let your hearts be troubled, and don’t let them be cowardly. 28 You’ve heard me say to you: ‘I’m heading off—and coming to you.’ If you loved me, you’d be full of joy that I’m making my way to the father, because the father is greater than I am. 29 And now I’ve said this to you before it happens, so that when it happens, you’ll believe. 30 I’ll no longer talk much with you, since the ruler of the world is coming; but he has no power over me. 31 Nevertheless, so that the world can know that I love the father, I’m doing as the father commanded me. Get up—let’s get out of here.”*163

  Chapter 15

  1 “I’m the true grapevine, and my father is the farmer. 2 Every branch on me that doesn’t bear fruit, he prunes, and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes clean so that the vine bears more fruit. 3 You yourselves are already made clean*164 by the discourse I’ve shared with you. 4 Live in me, and I’ll live in you. Just as the branch can’t bear fruit by itself if it doesn’t live on the vine, so you also can’t bear fruit if you don’t live in me. 5 I’m the vine, and you’re the branches; whoever lives in me, while I live in him, will bear a lot of fruit, because apart from me all of you can’t do anything. 6 If someone doesn’t live in me, he’s thrown out like a branch and withers, and they gather him and the others together and throw them into the fire, and they burn. 7 If you all live in me, and if the things I say live in you, whatever you want, ask for it, and it will be done for you. 8 My father is glorified in this: that you bear a large harvest and become my students.*165

  9 “Just as the father has loved me, I have also loved you: live in my love. 10 If you guard and observe my commands, you’ll stay in my love, as I’ve observed the father’s commands and stay in his love. 11 I’ve said these things to you so that my joy can be in you and your joy can be made complete. 12 This is my command, that you love each other as I’ve loved you.*166 13 No one has greater love than this, the love
that makes him lay down his life for his close friends’ sake. 14 You’re my close friends if you do what I command you to. 15 I don’t call you slaves any longer, because a slave doesn’t know what his master’s doing. I’ve called you friends instead, because everything I’ve heard from the father I’ve made known to you. 16 You didn’t choose me—I chose you, and I assigned you to go and bear a harvest, and your harvest needs to last, so that whatever you ask the father for in my name, he’ll give you. 17 I give you these commands so that you love each other.*167

  18 “If the world hates you, you should know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were part of the world, the world would love you the way it loves its own. But because you’re not part of the world, because instead I picked you out and set you apart from the world—for this reason, the world hates you.*168 20 Remember what I said to you: ‘There’s no slave greater than his master.’*169 If they hounded me, they’ll hound you too. If they’ve safeguarded what I said, they’ll safeguard what you say. 21 But they’ll do all these things to you on account of my name, because they don’t know the one who sent me. 22 If I hadn’t come and spoken to them, they wouldn’t be in the wrong. But as it is, they have no excuse for what they’ve done wrong. 23 Whoever hates me hates my father too. 24 If I hadn’t, right in the midst of them, carried out works that no one else ever carried out, they wouldn’t be in the wrong; but as it is, they’ve seen and hated both me and the father. 25 It was necessary, however, so that what was said, and written down in their law, be fulfilled: ‘They hated me for no reason.’*170

  26 “When the advocate I’ll send comes to you from the father—the life-breath of truth that makes its way from the father—he will testify about me.*171 27 But you also must testify, because you were with me from the beginning.”