And the Word became Man, and dwelt among us, (We saw his glory--the glory of the Only Son sent from the Father), full of love and truth.

"Who then are you?" they continued; "tell us, that we may have some answer to give to those who have sent us. What do you say about yourself?"

John's answer was--"I baptize with water, but among you stands one whom you do not know;

The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him, and exclaimed: "Here is the Lamb of God, who is to take away the sin of the world!

I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water, he said to me 'He upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon him--he it is who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'

The two disciples heard him say this, and followed Jesus.

But Jesus turned round, and saw them following. "What are you looking for?" he asked. "Rabbi," they answered (or, as we should say, "Teacher"), "where are you staying?"

"Come, and you shall see," he replied. So they went, and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was then about four in the afternoon.

One of the two, who heard what John said and followed Jesus, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

He found Nathanael and said to him: "We have found him of whom Moses wrote in the Law, and of whom the Prophets also wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, Joseph's son!"

"Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" asked Nathanael. "Come and see," replied Philip.

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said: "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit!"

"How do you know me?" asked Nathanael. "Even before Philip called you," replied Jesus, "when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."

"Do you believe in me," asked Jesus, "because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You shall see greater things than those!

In truth I tell you," he added, "you shall all see Heaven open, and 'the angels of God ascending and descending' upon the Son of Man."

And, when they had filled them to the brim, he added: "Now take some out, and carry it to the Master of the Feast." The servants did so.

So he made a whip of cords, and drove them all out of the Temple Courts, and the sheep and bullocks as well; he scattered the money of the money-changers, and overturned their tables,

And said to the pigeon-dealers: "Take these things away. Do not turn my Father's House into a market-house."

While Jesus was in Jerusalem, during the Passover Festival, many came to trust in him, when they saw the signs of his mission that he was giving.

"In truth I tell you," exclaimed Jesus, "unless a man is reborn, he cannot see the Kingdom of God."

And, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up;

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that every one who believes in him may not be lost, but have Immortal Life.

Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew on the subject of 'purification;'

John's answer was--"A man can gain nothing but what is given him from Heaven.

It is the bridegroom who has the bride; but the bridegroom's friend, who stands by and listens to him, is filled with joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. This joy I have felt to the full.

For he whom God sent as his Messenger gives us God's own teaching, for God does not limit the gift of the Spirit.

He who believes in the Son has Immortal Life, while he who rejects the Son will not even see that Life, but remains under 'God's displeasure.'

Jacob's Spring was there, and Jesus, being tired after his journey, sat down beside the spring, just as he was. It was then about mid-day.

"Give me this water, Sir," said the woman, "so that I may not be thirsty, nor have to come all the way here to draw water."

"I see, Sir, that you are a Prophet!" exclaimed the woman.

"It was on this mountain that our ancestors worshiped; and yet you Jews say that the proper place for worship is in Jerusalem."

So the woman, leaving her pitcher, went back to the town, and said to the people:

"Come and see someone who has told me everything that I have done. Can he be the Christ?"

And the people left the town and went to see Jesus.

Do not you say that it still wants four months to harvest? Why, look up, and see how white the fields are for harvest!

Already the reaper is receiving wages and gathering in sheaves for Immortal Life, so that sower and reaper rejoice together.

Many from that town came to believe in Jesus--Samaritans though they were--on account of the woman's statement--'He has told me everything that I have done.'

And they said to the woman: "It is no longer because of what you say that we believe in him, for we have heard him ourselves and know that he really is the Savior of the world."

So Jesus came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. Now there was one of the King's officers whose son was lying ill at Capernaum.

Jesus answered: "Unless you all see signs and wonders, you will not believe."

So he asked them at what time the boy began to get better. "It was yesterday, about one o'clock," they said, "that the fever left him."

Jesus saw the man lying there, and, finding that he had been in this state a long time, said to him: "Do you wish to be cured?"

Now it was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured: "This is the Sabbath; you must not carry your mat."

So Jesus made this further reply: "In truth I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself; he does only what he sees the Father doing; whatever the Father does, the Son does also.

For the Father loves his Son, and shows him everything that he is doing; and he will show him still greater things--so that you will be filled with wonder.

For, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them Life, so also the Son gives Life to whom he pleases.

So that all men may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son fails to honor the Father who sent him.

For, just as the Father has inherent Life within him, so also he has granted to the Son to have inherent Life within him;

But the testimony which I have is of greater weight than John's; for the work that the Father has given me to carry out-- the work that I am doing--is in itself proof that the Father has sent me as his Messenger.

I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee--otherwise called the Lake of Tiberias.

A great crowd of people, however, followed him, because they saw the signs of his mission in his work among those who were afflicted.

"There is a boy here," said Andrew, another of his disciples, Simon Peter's brother,

"Who has five barley loaves and two fishes; but what is that for so many?"

"Make the people sit down," said Jesus. It was a grassy spot; so the men, who numbered about five thousand, sat down,

When they were satisfied, Jesus said to his disciples: "Collect the broken pieces that are left, so that nothing may be wasted."

The disciples did so, and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves, which were left after all had eaten.

When the people saw the signs which Jesus gave, they said: "This is certainly 'the Prophet who was to come' into the world."

When evening fell, his disciples went down to the Sea,

The Sea, too, was getting rough, for a strong wind was blowing.

The people who remained on the further side of the Sea had seen that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not gone into it with his disciples, but that they had left without him.

So, on the next day, when the people saw that Jesus was not there, or his disciples either, they themselves got into the boats, and went to Capernaum to look for him.

And, when they found him on the other side of the Sea, they said: "When did you get here, Rabbi?"

"In truth I tell you," answered Jesus, "it is not on account of the signs which you saw that you are looking for me, but because you had the bread to eat and were satisfied.

"What sign, then," they asked, "are you giving, which we may see, and so believe you? What is the work that you are doing?

"Is not this Jesus, Joseph's son," they asked, "whose father and mother we know? How is it that he now says that he has come down from Heaven?"

As the Living Father sent me as his Messenger, and as I live because the Father lives, so he who takes me for his food shall live because I live.

"Is this a hindrance to you? What, then, if you should see the Son of Man ascending where he was before?

So Jesus said to the Twelve: "Do you also wish to leave me?"

"Did not I myself choose you to be the Twelve?" replied Jesus; "and yet, even of you, one is playing the 'Devil's' part."

After this, Jesus went about in Galilee, for he would not do so in Judea, because the Jews were eager to put him to death.

His brothers said to him: "Leave this part of the country, and go into Judea, so that your disciples, as well as we, may see the work that you are doing.

So, in reply, Jesus said: "My teaching is not my own; it is his who sent me.

If any one has the will to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching is from God, or whether I speak on my own authority.

Yet here he is, speaking out boldly, and they say nothing to him! Is it possible that our leading men have really discovered that he is the Christ?

So they sought to arrest him; but no one touched him, for his time was not come yet.

The Pharisees heard the people whispering about him in this way, and so the Chief Priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him;

So there was a sharp division among the people on account of Jesus.

But one of their number, Nicodemus, who before this had been to see Jesus, said to them:

And so I told you that you would die in your sins, for, unless you believe that I am what I am, you will die in your sins."

So Jesus added: "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will understand that I am what I am, and that I do nothing of myself, but that I say just what the Father has taught me.

So Jesus went on to say to those Jews who had believed him: "If you remain constant to my Message, you are truly my disciples;

"Our father is Abraham," was their answer. "If you are Abraham's children," replied Jesus, "do what Abraham did.

How is it that you do not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to listen to my Message.

He who comes from God listens to God's teaching; the reason why you do not listen is because you do not come from God."

"Now we are sure that you are possessed by a demon," the Jews replied. "Abraham died, and so did the Prophets; and yet you say 'If any one lays my Message to heart, he will never know death.'

"If I do honor to myself," answered Jesus, "such honor counts for nothing. It is my Father who does me honor--and you say that he is your God;

And yet you have not learned to know him; but I know him; and, if I were to say that I do not know him, I should be a liar like you; but I do know him, and I lay his Message to heart.

Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; and he did see it, and was glad."

As Jesus passed by, he saw a man who had been blind from his birth.

Saying this, Jesus spat on the ground, made clay with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes.

"Go," he said, "and wash your eyes in the Bath of Siloam" (a word which means 'Messenger'). So the man went and washed his eyes, and returned able to see.

"The man whom they call Jesus," he answered, "made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me 'Go to Siloam and wash your eyes.' So I went and washed my eyes, and gained my sight."

So the Pharisees also questioned the man as to how he had gained his sight. "He put clay on my eyes," he answered, "and I washed them, and I can see."

So there was a difference of opinion among them, and they again questioned the man; "What do you yourself say about him, for it is to you that he has given sight?"

"Is this your son," they asked, "who you say was born blind? If so, how is it that he can see now?"

But how it is that he can see now we do not know; nor do we know who it was that gave him his sight. Ask him--he is old enough- -he will tell you about himself."

So the Jews again called the man who had been blind, and said to him: "Give God the praise; we know that this is a bad man."

"I know nothing about his being a bad man," he replied; "one thing I do know, that although I was blind, now I can see."

We know that God never listens to bad men, but, when a man is god-fearing and does God's will, God listens to him.