They answered Him, "Our father is Abraham." Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, you must be practicing what Abraham did.

You sprang from the devil, your real father, and you want to practice your father's wishes. He was a murderer from the very start, and he does not stand by the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks out of his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

You are not greater than our forefather Abraham, are you? He is dead and the prophets are dead. Who do you claim to be?"

And yet you have not learned to know Him; but I know Him, and if I say I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you. On the other hand, I do know Him and I do follow His teaching.

His parents said this, because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone owned Jesus as the Christ, he should be shut out of the synagogues.

Jesus answered them, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty, but now you keep on claiming, 'We can see'; so your sin remains."

"I most solemnly say to you, whoever does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs over at some other place is a thief and a robber.

But the one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

The doorkeeper opens the door to him, and the sheep obey his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.

Jesus told them this allegory, but they did not understand what He meant by it.

I am the door myself. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

The Jews retorted, "It is not for a good deed but for blasphemy we are going to stone you; namely, because you, although a mere man, claim to be God."

If men to whom God's message came are called gods -- and the Scriptures cannot be made null and void --

When Jesus received the message, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death but is to honor God, that the Son of God through it may be honored."

Jesus said, "Slip the stone aside." The dead man's sister, Martha, said to Him, "Lord, by this time he is offensive, for he has been dead four days."

yes, I knew that you always listen to me. But I have said this for the sake of the crowd that is standing by, that they may come to believe that you have sent me."

you do not take into account that it is for your own welfare that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should be destroyed."

Now the high priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone should learn where He was, he should let it be known so that they might arrest Him.

took palm branches and went out to meet Him, and kept on shouting: "Blessings on Him! Blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord; Blessings on the King of Israel!"

Jesus answered them, "The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified,

This world is now in process of judgment; the prince of this world is now to be expelled.

The crowd answered Him, "We have learned from the law that the Christ is to remain here forever, and so how can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?"

Jesus said to them, "Only a little while longer you will have the light. Keep on living by it while you have the light, so that darkness may not overtake you, for whoever walks about in the dark does not know where he is going.

Jesus answered him, "You do not now understand what I am doing, but by-and-by you will learn."

I do not mean all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but I know that the Scriptures must be fulfilled: 'The man who is eating my bread has lifted his heel against me.'

But no one else at the table knew what He meant by this,

for some of them were thinking, as Judas had the purse, that Jesus meant to say to him, "Buy what we need for the feast," or to give something to the poor.

Dear children, I am to be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, but, as I told the Jews, so I now tell you, you cannot just now go where I am going.

By this everybody will know that you are my disciples, if you keep on showing love for one another."

"Stop letting your hearts be troubled; keep on believing in God, and also in me.

And if I go and make it ready for you, I will come back and take you to be face to face with me, so that you may always be right where I am.

And anything you ask for as bearers of my name I will do for you, so that the Father may be glorified through the Son.

even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see Him or recognize Him, because He is going to remain with you, and will be within you.

In just a little while the world will not see me any more, but you will be seeing me. Because I am to live on, you too will live on.

Whoever continues to hold and keep my commands is the one who really loves me, and whoever really loves me will be loved by my Father; yes, I will love him myself and will make myself real to him."

I now leave you the blessing of peace, I give you the blessing of my own peace. I myself do not give it in the way the world gives it. Stop letting your hearts be troubled or timid.

You must remain in union with me and I will remain in union with you. Just as no branch by itself can bear fruit unless it remains united to the vine, so you cannot unless you remain in union with me.

By your continuously bearing abundant fruit and in this way proving yourselves to be real disciples of mine, my Father is glorified.

"I have told you these things, that the joy which I have had may remain in you and that your joy may be complete.

"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But now the fact is, they have no excuse for their sin.

If I had not done things among them that no one else has ever done, they would not be guilty of sin. But now the fact is, they have seen and even hated both my Father and me.

But this is so that the saying written in their law may be fulfilled, 'They hated me without a cause.'

Yet it is nothing but the truth I now tell you, that it is better for you that I should go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come into close fellowship with you, but if I do go away, I will send Him to be in close fellowship with you.

So some of His disciples said to one another, "What does He mean by telling us, 'In just a little while you will not see me, and yet in just a little while after you will see me again,' and 'Because I am going away to the Father'?"

So they kept saying, "What does He mean by saying, 'a little while'? We do not know what He is talking about."

I most solemnly say to you, you will weep and wail, but the world will be glad; you will grieve but your grief will be turned into gladness.

So you too are now in sorrow, but I am going to see you again, and then your hearts will be happy, and no one can rob you of your happiness.

Up to this time you have not asked for anything as bearers of my name, but now you must keep on asking, and you will receive, that your cup of joy may be full to the brim.

Listen! A time is coming, yea, it is right here, when you will all be scattered to your homes and will leave me alone. And yet, I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

I have told you these things, that you through union with me may have peace. In the world you have trouble, but be courageous! I have conquered the world."

I have glorified you down here upon the earth by completing the work which you have given me to do.

And now I am no longer to be in the world, but they are to stay on in the world, while I am going to be with you. Holy Father, keep them by the power which you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are.

As long as I was with them, I kept them by your power which you gave me, and I protected them, and not one of them was lost, except the one who is now doomed to be lost, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

And now I am going to be with you, and I am saying these things while still in the world, that the joy which I experience may be fully experienced in their own souls.

Consecrate them by your truth; your message is truth.

And so for their sake I am consecrating myself, that they too may be consecrated by truth.

for them all to be one, just as you, Father, are in union with me and I in union with you, for them to be in union with us, so that the world may be convinced that you have sent me.

I have given them the glory which you gave me, so that they may be one, just as we are,

I in union with them and you in union with me, so that they may be perfectly united, and the world may be sure that you sent me and that you have loved them just as you have loved me.

and I made known to them your very self, and I will make you known still further, so that the love which you have shown to me may be felt in them, and I in union with them."

He said this that the statement He had just made might be fulfilled, "I have not lost one of those whom you have given me."

After He had said this, one of the attendants standing by slapped Jesus in the face, and said, "Is this the way you answer the high priest?"

Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor's palace. It was early in the morning, and they would not go into the governor's palace themselves, in order not to be defiled, so as to be unfit to eat the Passover supper.

This made it possible for the word of Jesus to be fulfilled which He spoke to indicate what sort of death He was to die.

The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and in accordance with that law He deserves to die, for claiming to be God's Son."

Because of this Pilate kept on trying to set Him free, but the Jews shouted, "If you set Him free, you are no friend to the emperor. Anyone who claims to be a king is uttering treason against the emperor!"

So Pilate then turned Him over to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus,

and He went out carrying the cross by Himself to a spot called The Place of the Skull, or in Hebrew, Golgotha.

After this, as Jesus knew that everything was now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, He said, "I am thirsty."

For this took place that this Scripture might be fulfilled, "Not a bone of His will be broken."

So, because it was the Jewish Preparation day and because the tomb was near by, they laid Him there.

but the handkerchief which had been over His face was not lying with the bandages, but was folded up by itself in another place.

In the evening of that same first day of the week, even with the doors of the room bolted where the disciples had met for fear of the Jews, Jesus went in and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you!"

Jesus again said to them, "Peace be with you! Just as my Father has sent me forth, so I am now sending you."

Just a week later the disciples were in the room again and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were bolted, Jesus came in and stood among them, and said, "Peace be with you!"

Then He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and look at my hands, and take your hand and put it in my side, and stop being an unbeliever, but be a believer!"

Jesus said to him, "Is it because you have seen me, Thomas, that you believe? Blessed be those who believe, even though they have not seen me!"

Jesus again said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, are you really devoted to me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I tenderly love you." Jesus said to him, "Then be a shepherd to my sheep."

He said this to point out the sort of death by which Peter was to glorify God. So after He had said this, He said to Peter, "Keep on following me!"

There are many other things that Jesus did, which, if they were all written down in detail, I do not suppose that the world itself could hold the books that would have to be written.

After He had suffered, He had shown Himself alive to them, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them through a period of forty days, and telling them the things about the kingdom of God.

"for John baptized people in water, but in a few days you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit."

but you are going to receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you must be witnesses for me in Jerusalem and all over Judea and Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth."

"Brothers, that Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit uttered by the mouth of David in the former times about Judas who became the guide to those who arrested Jesus;

For in the Book of Psalms it is written: 'Let his estate be desolate, and let no one live on it,' and 'Let someone else take his position.'

from the time of His baptism by John down to the day when He was taken up from us, must be added to our number as a witness to His resurrection."

And thus they all continued to be astounded and bewildered, and continued to say to each other, "What can this mean?"

But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

Then everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.'

"Fellow Israelites, listen to what I say. Jesus of Nazareth, as you yourselves well know, a man accredited to you by God through mighty deeds and wonders and wonder-works which God performed through Him right here among you,

this very Jesus, I say, after He was betrayed, in accordance with the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you had wicked men kill by nailing Him to a cross;

but God raised Him up by loosing Him from the pangs of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held by the power of death.

For David says of Him: 'I always kept my eyes upon the Lord, for He is at my right hand, so that I may not be removed.

Peter said to them, "You must repent -- and, as an expression of it, let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ -- that you may have your sins forgiven; and then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,

A sense of reverence seized everyone, and many wonders and wonder-works were done by the apostles.

And all the believers lived together and held all they had as common goods to be shared by one another.

when a man crippled from his birth was being carried by, who used to be laid every day at what was called The Beautiful Gate of the temple, to beg from people on their way into the temple.

Then he took him by the right hand and lifted him, and his feet and ankles instantly grew strong,

When Peter saw this, he said to the people, "Fellow Israelites, why are you so surprised at this? Why do you keep staring at us, as though we had by our own power or piety made this man walk?

Yes, you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked a murderer to be pardoned as a favor to you,