The Gospel as Recorded by St. John
After this Jesus travelled in Galilee; for He would not travel in Judea, because the Judeans were seeking to murder Him.
Third Visit to Jerusalem
When the Judean feast of Tabernacles was near, His brothers said to Him:
“Remove from here and go into Judea, so that those disciples of Yours may also see the works which You do; for no one does anything privately who desires to become famous himself. If you do them, exhibit Yourself to the world.”
For even His brothers did not believe in Him.
Jesus, therefore, answered them:
“My opportunity has not yet arrived; but your opportunity is always at hand. The world cannot hate you; but it hates Me, because I give evidence against it, that its doings are wicked. You yourselves can go up to the festival; I am not going up yet to this festival, because My time is not yet fulfilled.”
And having told them this, He stayed in Galilee.
Discourses at the Feast of Tabernacles
When His brothers had gone up to the festival, however, He also went up Himself – not publicly, but quietly. The Judeans were, however, searching for Him at the festival, and kept asking, “Where is He?”
And there was much muttering among the crowds respecting Him. Some even said, “He is a benefactor”; while others exclaimed, “Not He! On the contrary, He deceives the multitude.” None, however, spoke openly about Him, for fear of the Judeans.
When, however, the festival was half over, Jesus went up to the temple and began teaching. The Judeans then, in their astonishment, exclaimed:
“How can this fellow know theology, having never studied?”
Jesus, in reply to them, said:
“My teaching is not My own; but that of My Sender. If any one desires to conform to His purpose, he will recognize the doctrine, whether it originates from God, or whether I speak from Myself. The man who speaks from himself studies his own reputation; but the One Whose aim is to honour His Sender, He is true, and there is no falsehood in Him. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you observe the law! Why do you aim at murdering Me?”
The crowd replied, “You have a demon. Who wants to murder You?”
“I have done one thing,” said Jesus in reply to them, “and you were all astonished. Moses instituted the circumcision among you for a purpose (not, however that it originated with Moses, but with your ancestors); and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If then, a man is circumcised on a Sabbath, so that the law of Moses may not be disregarded, why are you furious against Me because I have restored a grown man to perfect health on a Sabbath? Do not decide at a glance, but think out the decision judicially.”
Some of those of Jerusalem then remarked:
“Is not this the Man Whom they wish to murder? Yet here He is speaking in public, and they say nothing to Him. Perhaps, however, the authorities have come to recognize the fact that this Man is the Messiah?”
[Others said], “We know where this fellow comes from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know from where He comes.”
Jesus therefore shouted, when teaching in the temple, saying:
“You both know Me, and know from where I come; and that I have not come from Myself. But My Sender is true, Whom you do not know. I know Him; because I am from Him, and He Himself sent Me.”
They therefore sought to arrest Him; yet none laid hands upon Him, because His time had not arrived. Among the crowd, however, many believed in Him, and said:
“When the Messiah does come, will He produce more proofs that this Man has done?”
An Attempt to Arrest Jesus
The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering about Him in this way; and the chief priests and the Pharisees dispatched officers to arrest Him.
Jesus therefore said:
“For a little time, I am still with you, then I go to Him Who sent Me. You will search for Me, and fail to find Me; and where I am you are unable to come.”
The Judeans, therefore, remarked to one another thus:
“Where will this fellow go, that we cannot find Him? Surely He will not go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? What is the Man’s meaning, when he says, ‘You will search for Me, and fail to find Me? And where I am, you are not able to come?’”
Now on the closing day, the great day of the festival, Jesus stood up, and called aloud, exclaiming:
“If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever trusts in Me, as the Scripture says: RIVERS OF LIVING WATERS SHALL FLOW OUT FROM HIS HEART.”1
[He said this, however, in reference to the Spirit, which the believers in Him were afterwards to receive; for The Spirit was not yet revealed, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.]
Many among the crowd, hearing this declaration, then began to say: “This is certainly the Prophet.” Others remarked: “This is the Messiah.” But some said: “What! Does the Messiah come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Messiah shall come from the race of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
So a division took place among the crowd on account of Him. And some of them wished to arrest Him; yet no one laid hands upon Him.
The officers, however, returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them:
“Why have you not brought Him?”
“No one ever spoke like this Man,” they replied.
The Pharisees therefore retorted:
“Are you also led astray? Have any of the nobles or of the Pharisees believed in Him? But this mob, that know not the law, are contemptible.”
Nicodemus, who was one of themselves, and who had previously come to Him, said to them: “Would our law convict a man, if it had not first examined about Him, and ascertained what He has done?”
They retorted, and said to him: “Are you also from Galilee? Search, and see that no prophet has ever sprung from Galilee.”2
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- Zech. 14:8
- The narrative of the sinful woman (chaps. 7:53 to 8:11) is rejected by the most competent authorities as a spurious interpolation. The question will be found fully discussed in the introduction to the larger edition of Westcott and Hort’s Greek New Testament (page 299, section 388); and it is given as their opinion that this particular passage “has no right to a place in the Text of the Four Gospels.” The language of the MSS. Containing the passage varies considerably; but the generally accepted reading I have added at the end of this Gospel, where it is placed as an appendix for reference, but not in any way as a part of the Sacred Text.
Transcribed by JT Atkinson on 02-15-2015
