"When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, because a person more distinguished than you may have been invited by your host.

Then you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

At the time for the banquet he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, because everything is now ready.'

Returning home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, telling them, 'Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.'

because this son of mine was dead, and is alive again -- he was lost and is found!' So they began to celebrate.

The slave replied, 'Your brother has returned, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he got his son back safe and sound.'

So he called the manager in and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Turn in the account of your administration, because you can no longer be my manager.'

The master commended the dishonest manager because he acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their contemporaries than the people of light.

So he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish in this fire.'

He won't thank the slave because he did what he was told, will he?

yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out by her unending pleas.'"

So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, because Jesus was going to pass that way.

And when Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, because I must stay at your house today."

Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this household, because he too is a son of Abraham!

While the people were listening to these things, Jesus proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.

And the king said to him, 'Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, you will have authority over ten cities.'

For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You withdraw what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.'

They will demolish you -- you and your children within your walls -- and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God."

But if we say, 'From people,' all the people will stone us, because they are convinced that John was a prophet."

Then the experts in the law and the chief priests wanted to arrest him that very hour, because they realized he had told this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.

In fact, they can no longer die, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, since they are sons of the resurrection.

But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you, handing you over to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and governors because of my name.

You will be hated by everyone because of my name.

because these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.

But when these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

And after about an hour still another insisted, "Certainly this man was with him, because he too is a Galilean."

When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some miraculous sign.

Pilate addressed them once again because he wanted to release Jesus.

because the sun's light failed. The temple curtain was torn in two.

but they urged him, "Stay with us, because it is getting toward evening and the day is almost done." So he went in to stay with them.

And while they still could not believe it (because of their joy) and were amazed, he said to them, "Do you have anything here to eat?"

John testified about him and shouted out, "This one was the one about whom I said, 'He who comes after me is greater than I am, because he existed before me.'"

This is the one about whom I said, 'After me comes a man who is greater than I am, because he existed before me.'

Jesus said to him, "Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these."

Now while Jesus was in Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover, many people believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing.

But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people.

The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

Now this is the basis for judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.

John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming to him and being baptized.

You people worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.

Now at that very moment his disciples came back. They were shocked because he was speaking with a woman. However, no one said, "What do you want?" or "Why are you speaking with her?"

Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the report of the woman who testified, "He told me everything I ever did."

and because of his word many more believed.

They said to the woman, "No longer do we believe because of your words, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this one really is the Savior of the world."

So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him because they had seen all the things he had done in Jerusalem at the feast (for they themselves had gone to the feast).

Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began persecuting him.

For this reason the Jewish leaders were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.

and he has granted the Son authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

"Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice

I can do nothing on my own initiative. Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.

nor do you have his word residing in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent.

You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me,

If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.

A large crowd was following him because they were observing the miraculous signs he was performing on the sick.

Then Jesus, because he knew they were going to come and seize him by force to make him king, withdrew again up the mountainside alone.

Jesus replied, "I tell you the solemn truth, you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted.

Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus began complaining about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven,"

Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who consumes me will live because of me.

So Jesus added, "Because of this I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has allowed him to come."

After this Jesus traveled throughout Galilee. He stayed out of Judea because the Jewish leaders wanted to kill him.

The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I am testifying about it that its deeds are evil.

You go up to the feast yourselves. I am not going up to this feast because my time has not yet fully arrived."

However, because Moses gave you the practice of circumcision (not that it came from Moses, but from the forefathers), you circumcise a male child on the Sabbath.

But if a male child is circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?

but I know him, because I have come from him and he sent me."

So then they tried to seize Jesus, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.

(Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)

So there was a division in the crowd because of Jesus.

Jesus answered, "Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you people do not know where I came from or where I am going.

But if I judge, my evaluation is accurate, because I am not alone when I judge, but I and the Father who sent me do so together.

(Jesus spoke these words near the offering box while he was teaching in the temple courts. No one seized him because his time had not yet come.)

So the Jewish leaders began to say, "Perhaps he is going to kill himself, because he says, 'Where I am going you cannot come.'"

And the one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do those things that please him."

I know that you are Abraham's descendants. But you want to kill me, because my teaching makes no progress among you.

Why don't you understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot accept my teaching.

You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

But because I am telling you the truth, you do not believe me.

The one who belongs to God listens and responds to God's words. You don't listen and respond, because you don't belong to God."

Then some of the Pharisees began to say, "This man is not from God, because he does not observe the Sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such miraculous signs?" Thus there was a division among them.

(His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders. For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

Jesus replied, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but now because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains."

When he has brought all his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice.

They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him, because they do not recognize the stranger's voice."

Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away.

This is why the Father loves me -- because I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again.

Another sharp division took place among the Jewish people because of these words.

But you refuse to believe because you are not my sheep.

The Jewish leaders replied, "We are not going to stone you for a good deed but for blasphemy, because you, a man, are claiming to be God."

do you say about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?

Jesus replied, "Are there not twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks around in the daytime, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

But if anyone walks around at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."

Then the people who were with Mary in the house consoling her saw her get up quickly and go out. They followed her, because they thought she was going to the tomb to weep there.

Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, replied, "Lord, by this time the body will have a bad smell, because he has been buried four days."

(Now he did not say this on his own, but because he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish nation,

(Now Judas said this not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money box, he used to steal what was put into it.)

Now a large crowd of Judeans learned that Jesus was there, and so they came not only because of him but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead.

Because they had heard that Jesus had performed this miraculous sign, the crowd went out to meet him.

For this reason they could not believe, because again Isaiah said,

Isaiah said these things because he saw Christ's glory, and spoke about him.

Nevertheless, even among the rulers many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they would not confess Jesus to be the Christ, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue.