First Nations Version

by Terry M. Wildman

  “We were not born from an unmarried woman,” they said. “We have but one Father—the Great Spirit.”

  THE BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN

  42Creator Sets Free (Jesus) told them, “If the Great Spirit were truly your Father, you would love me and show respect, for I came from him. I did not send myself. He is the one who sent me.

  43“Why can you not hear what I am saying to you? Are my words not clear? Then I will speak more clearly. 44Your father is Accuser (Satan), the evil trickster. You are doing what he wants, for he was the first to take the life of another. He stands outside of the truth, because truth has no home in him. He speaks with a forked tongue and twists his words. His lies show who he truly is. He is a liar and the father of all that is false.

  45-46“Even though I am telling you the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you can show that I have done anything wrong? 47The ones who come from the Great Spirit can hear his words. The reason you do not hear me is that you are not from him.”

  ACCUSED OF HAVING AN EVIL SPIRIT

  48“Now we have the right to call you a mixed blood from High Place (Samaria) and one who has an evil spirit,” they said to him in anger.

  49He answered them back, “I have no evil spirit. I honor my Father, but you dishonor me. 50I am not trying to honor myself, but there is one who honors me, and he has the final decision. 51I speak from my heart, death will not have the final word for the ones who walk in my message.”

  52“Now we are sure you have an evil spirit,” they said. “Father of Many Nations (Abraham) and all the prophets crossed over to death. How can you say that the ones who walk in your word will not taste of death? 53Do you think you are greater than Father of Many Nations (Abraham) and the prophets? Who are you making yourself out to be?”

  MY FATHER HONORS ME

  54Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered them, “If I honor myself, then I have no honor. The one who honors me is my Father, the one of whom you say, ‘He is our Great Spirit.’ 55You do not truly know him, but I do. If I were to say, ‘I do not know him,’ I would be a liar, like you! But I know him deeply and walk in all his ways. 56Father of Many Nations (Abraham) looked ahead to my day. He saw it, and it made his heart glad!”

  57“How could you have seen Father of Many Nations (Abraham)?” they asked, shaking their heads. “You have not even seen fifty winters.”

  58“I speak from my heart,” he answered. “I was there before Father of Many Nations (Abraham) was born—for I AM.”21

  The tribal leaders had heard enough! 59They picked up stones to throw at him, but he hid himself in the crowd, passed them by, and walked out of the sacred lodge.

  WHO IS BLIND AND WHY?

  1After walking safely away from the lodge, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) saw a man blind from birth sitting by the pathway. They stopped near the man and 2the ones who walked the road with him asked, “Wisdomkeeper, why was this man born blind? Was it his wrongdoings or his parents’ that caused this?”

  3“The wrongdoings of neither he nor his parents caused this,” he told them, “but that the healing power of the Great Spirit would be seen in him, 4for while the sun still shines, we must be doing what he wants. A time of darkness is coming when no one will do what he wants. 5But as long as I am in the world, I will be its light.”

  HE HEALS A MAN BORN BLIND

  6-7After saying this, he spit on the ground. Then he made mud from his spit and rubbed it on the man’s eyes and instructed him to go and wash in the Waters of Sending Village (Pool of Siloam). With the help of others, the man went and washed the mud out of his eyes and returned with his sight restored.

  8The people who lived near him, and others who knew he was a blind beggar, saw him and said in amazement, “Could this be the blind man who sat and asked for handouts?”

  9Some were saying it was he, others said he only looked like him, but he kept saying, “I am the one!”

  10So they asked him, “How did your sight return to you?”

  11He said, “A man named Creator Sets Free (Jesus) made some mud and rubbed it on my eyes. He told me to go to the Waters of Sending Village (Pool of Siloam) and wash. So I did what he said, and now I can see.”

  12“Where is he?” they asked.

  “I do not know where he is,” the man answered.

  HOW WERE YOU HEALED?

  13-14Since it was on the Day of Resting that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had healed the man, they decided to take him to the Separated Ones (Pharisees) to see what they would say. 15The Separated Ones (Pharisees) asked the man how he was healed.

  He said to them, “He rubbed mud on my eyes. I washed off the mud, and now I can see.”

  16Then some of the Separated Ones (Pharisees) said, “This man, who does not honor the Day of Resting, cannot be from the Great Spirit.”

  But others were saying, “How can someone with a bad heart perform powerful signs such as these?”

  17The tribal leaders could not agree, so they said to the blind man, “You are the one he healed. What do you have to say about him?”

  The man answered them, “He must be a prophet from the Great Spirit.”

  18The tribal leaders could not believe the man had been blind. So they found his parents 19and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How does he now see?”

  20-22His parents were afraid of the tribal leaders who had said that anyone who says Creator Sets Free (Jesus) is the Chosen One would be put out of the gathering house.

  23“Yes, this is our son, and he was born blind,” they answered, “but we do not know how he sees, or who opened his eyes. He is a full-grown man. Ask him. He will tell you for himself.”

  I WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE

  24They went back to the man who was blind and said to him, “Give honor to the Great Spirit for healing you, not to Creator Sets Free (Jesus), for we know he is an outcast with a bad heart.”

  25“I do not know whether this man has a bad heart,” he answered them. “But this I do know—I was blind but now I see.”

  26They asked the man again, “What did he do to open your eyes?”

  27He said to them, “You did not listen the first time I told you. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become one of his followers?”

  This made the leaders angry, so they tried to insult the man.

  28“You are his follower!” they said with disrespect in their voices. “We follow Drawn from the Water (Moses), 29for we know the Great Spirit has spoken to him, but we do not know where this man is from.”

  30The man answered them, “This is a strange thing! You, who are tribal leaders, do not know where this man comes from, yet he is the one who opened my eyes. 31The Great Spirit does not listen to people with bad hearts. He listens to the ones who humbly serve him and do what is right. 32From the creation of the world no one has ever seen a man healed who was born blind. 33If he were not from the Great Spirit, he could not have done this.”

  BANNED FROM THE GATHERING HOUSE

  The Separated Ones (Pharisees) were furious! How could this outcast talk back to them like this?

  34They puffed up their chests and said, “You were born an outcast, and you think you can teach us?”

  Then they threw him out and banned him from his gathering house.

  35When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) heard that they had put the man out of the gathering house, he went to him and said, “Will you put your trust in the True Human Being?”

  36“Honored One, tell me who he is,” the man answered, “and I will put my trust in him.”

  37“Look at me and see the True Human Being,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said. “He is talking with you now.”

  38The man bowed down to him and said, “Honored One, I believe!”

  39Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said, “I came to show what is right and wrong about the ways of this world, so that the blind will see—and that the ones who see may become blind.”

  BLIND GUIDES

  40Some of the Separated Ones (Ph
arisees) overheard what he said to the man. “Are you saying that we are blind?” they asked.

  41“If you were truly blind, you would have no guilt,” he answered them. “But since you claim to see, your guilt remains.”

  THE GOOD SHEPHERD

  Creator Sets Free (Jesus) told this story to the Separated Ones (Pharisees), for they were blind guides, leading the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) down a false path to a bad end.

  1“I speak from my heart,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to the blind tribal leaders. “Thieves and outlaws do not use the gate to the sheep pen but sneak in some other way. 2But the shepherd uses the gate to enter, 3-4and the gatekeeper opens the way. The sheep know their shepherd’s voice, for he calls each one of them by name, and they follow him as he leads them in and out of the sheep pen.

  5“The sheep will not follow the voice of a stranger. They will run away, for they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

  6Because he was using a story to teach them, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) could see that they did not understand, 7so he told them the meaning of the story.

  THE GATE FOR THE SHEEP

  “I speak again from my heart,” he said. “I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who put themselves before me are thieves and outlaws—false shepherds. My sheep do not listen to them.

  9“I am the gate for the sheep. The ones who enter by me will be safe and well cared for. Following the Shepherd, they will go in and out and find good food to eat.

  10“Thieves enter only to take away life, to steal what is not theirs, and to bring to ruin all they cannot have. I have come to give the good life, a life that overflows with beauty and harmony.

  GOOD SHEPHERD

  11“I am the Good Shepherd, the one who watches over the sheep. I will lay down my life for them. 12The ones who watch the sheep only for pay will run away when a wolf comes, because the sheep are not theirs. Then the wolf preys upon the sheep and scatters the flock. 13The ones who do it only for pay are not true shepherds, for they do not care for the sheep but only for themselves.

  14-15“I am the Good Shepherd, the one who lays down his life for the sheep. The Father knows me, and I know him. In the same way, I also know each one of my sheep, and they know me. 16I have other sheep who are not from this flock. I will go and find them, and they will also hear my voice. Then there will be only one flock, with one Shepherd.

  17“My Father has a great love for me, for I lay my life down to take it back again. 18No one takes my life from me, for I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay my life down and the right to take it back. It is my Father who gives me this right.”

  DISAGREEMENT

  19This story brought much disagreement among the Tribal Members, and they began to argue about him.

  20Many were saying, “He has lost his mind and has an evil spirit. Why do we even listen to him?”

  21At the same time others were saying, “These are not the words of someone with an evil spirit. Can an evil spirit open blind eyes?”

  FEAST OF DEDICATION

  Two moons had passed since the Festival of Shelters, and 22it was now time for the people to celebrate the Feast of Dedication22 in Village of Peace (Jerusalem).

  This festival was to remember the time when the Great Spirit’s lodge was cleansed after it had been made ceremonially unclean by an evil ruler.

  23It was winter, and Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was walking near the sacred lodge under the entryway named after the great chief Stands in Peace (Solomon).

  24The tribal leaders came to him and said, “How long will you make us wait? If you are the Chosen One, then tell us!”

  25“I already told you who I am,” he said to them, “but you did not believe me. The things I do, representing my Father, speak the truth about me. 26As I told you before, you do not trust me because you are not my sheep. 27I know who my sheep are, for they know my voice and go where I lead them. 28My gift to them is the life of the world to come, full of beauty and harmony, and they will never fade away or come to a bad end. 29My Father gave them to me, and no one can take them from me, because no one is greater than my Father. My sheep are safe in his hands, 30for I and my Father are one.”

  TRIBAL LEADERS REJECT HIM

  31The tribal leaders became furious and picked up stones to kill him.

  32Creator Sets Free (Jesus) stood his ground and said to them, “I have done many good things, representing my Father. For which of these do you mean to stone me?”

  33They answered, “Not for any good thing you have done, but for speaking lies against the Great Spirit. How can you, a weak human being, represent yourself as the Great Spirit?”

  34Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered them, “In your tribal law it says, ‘You are powerful spiritual beings.’23 35If Creator’s word, which came to you, says you are ‘powerful spiritual beings,’ and the Sacred Teachings are clear and cannot be changed, 36then how can you say that the one the Father has set apart and sent into the world is speaking against the Great Spirit when he says, ‘I am the Son of the Great Spirit’?

  37“If I am not doing what my Father does, then do not believe me. 38But even if you do not believe me, then at least believe in the powerful things I do. Then you will see clearly that I am in the Father and he is in me.”

  39The tribal leaders moved toward him to take him by force, but he slipped through their hands and walked away.

  CREATOR SETS FREE RETREATS

  Creator Sets Free (Jesus) decided it was time to leave Village of Peace (Jerusalem) again.

  40He went to the place on the east side of the river Flowing Down (Jordan) where Gift of Goodwill (John) first performed the purification ceremony.24 He and his followers remained there for a time.

  41Many people from the area came to hear him and, after seeing Creator Sets Free (Jesus) teach, tell his stories, heal the sick, and force out evil spirits, the people were saying, “Gift of Goodwill (John) never performed a miracle or did any powerful signs, but what he told us about this man is true.”

  42And so many of the people there believed in him that he was the Chosen One.

  A FRIEND CROSSES OVER

  1-2In House of Figs (Bethany), near Village of Peace (Jerusalem), a man named Creator Helps Him (Lazarus) was very sick. He was the brother of Healing Tears (Mary) and Head Woman (Martha). Healing Tears (Mary) is the one who poured ointment over the head and feet of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and wiped his feet with her hair.25

  3The sisters sent a messenger to Creator Sets Free (Jesus), who said to him, “Our brother, Creator Helps Him (Lazarus), the one you care deeply about, is sick.”

  4When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) heard the message, he said, “This sickness will not end in death. Instead, this will bring honor to the Great Spirit and shine a light on his Son.”

  HIS LIGHT SHINES BRIGHTER

  5Even though Creator Sets Free (Jesus) loved this family dearly, 6he stayed where he was for two more days. 7Then he said to his followers, “Let us go back to the Land of Promise (Judea).”

  8But his followers said to him, “Wisdomkeeper, the Tribal Members there tried to throw stones at you to kill you! Why would you want to go back there?”

  9He answered them, “Does not the sun give us a full day of light? The ones who walk during the day never stumble, because they see the light that shines on this world. 10But the ones who walk at night stumble in the darkness, because there is no light for them to see.”

  He was telling them that he was the light shining in this dark world and that it was time to let his light shine even brighter.

  11Creator Sets Free (Jesus) explained to them, “Our good friend, Creator Helps Him (Lazarus), has fallen asleep and I am going to wake him.”

  12They said to him, “Wisdomkeeper, if he is only sleeping, he will get well.”

  13They did not understand that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) meant that Creator Helps Him (Lazarus) had died. 14They thought he was sleeping naturally.

  He then told them plainly, “Creato
r Helps Him (Lazarus) has crossed over to death. 15It is a good thing that I was not there, so you will believe. But we must go to him now.”

  16Looks Like His Brother (Thomas) said to the others, “Yes, we should go and die with him.”

  FOUR DAYS DEAD

  17When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) came to House of Figs (Bethany), he found out that Creator Helps Him (Lazarus) had died four days earlier and was laid in a burial cave. 18House of Figs (Bethany) was a close walk26 from Village of Peace (Jerusalem). 19Many of the local Tribal Members had gathered, along with the women, to give comfort to Head Woman (Martha) and Healing Tears (Mary) for the loss of their brother.

  I AM THE RISING FROM THE DEAD

  20When Head Woman (Martha) heard that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was coming, she went out to greet him, but Healing Tears (Mary) stayed home.

  21When she found Creator Sets Free (Jesus), she said to him, “Wisdomkeeper, if you had been here, my brother would still be with us. 22Even so, I know if you ask anything of the Great Spirit, he will give it to you.”

  23“Your brother will live again,” he answered.

  24“I know he will live again,” she said, “when the dead rise up at the end of all days.”

  25-26“I am the rising from the dead and the life that follows,” he told her. “The ones who trust me will live again, even after death. Death will never be the end of the ones who are alive and trust in me. Do you believe what I am saying to you?”