The Gospel According to St. John

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 5 -

Then the time came for another Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem for it.

There is in Jerusalem beside one of the gates going into the city, a place called the Sheep Gate. At that gate there is a pool called Bethesda (as it said in Aramaic). Next to the pool are five roofed porches or colonnades.

There was a great number of people there who were sick, blind, and could not walk.

Many people who could not walk were lying on the porch.

One man who could not walk had been there for thirty-eight years.

Jesus saw him lying there and realized that he had been in this condition for a long time. He said to the man, “Do you want to become healthy and strong?”

The man replied to him, “Sir, I have no one here to help me get down into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get to the pool, someone else always steps down in front of me.”

Jesus said to him, “Get up! Take up your bed and walk!”

At once the man was healed, and he picked up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath, the day of rest.

So the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath day, and you know it is against our law for you to carry your mat on this day of rest.”

The man who had been healed said to them, “But the one who healed me told me, ‘Take up your bed and walk!’”

They asked him, “Who was that man?”

Now although Jesus had healed the man, the man did not know his name. After healing him, Jesus had left the man and disappeared into the crowd.

Later, Jesus found the man in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well now. Do not sin anymore, so nothing worse will happen to you.”

The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that the man who had healed him was Jesus.

The Father and the Son

So the Jews began efforts to stop Jesus because he was doing marvelous things and was showing his power and because he often did those works on the Sabbath day.

Jesus gave this answer to them, “My Father is working even now, and I am also working.”

This is why the Jews were trying more and more to put Jesus to death, not only because he was breaking the Sabbath day, but also because he even called God his own Father, claiming that he was equal to God.

Jesus replied to them, “I am telling you the truth: I, the Son of Man, can do nothing on my own authority. I can do only what I see the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, that is what I, the Son, do.

The Father loves me, the Son, and shows me everything he is doing. Even greater works than these the Father will show me, so that you may see what I can do and be amazed.

As the Father raises up those who have died and gives them life again, so I, the Son, give life to anyone I want.

The Father judges no one, but has given over all judgment to me,

so that all people may honor me, the Son, in the same way that they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor me cannot honor the Father.

I am telling you the truth: Anyone who hears my message and trusts that God sent me has eternal life and will not come into God’s judgment. Instead, he has gone from being dead to being alive.

I am telling you the truth: A time is coming when those who have died will hear my voice, that of me, the Son of God, and those who hear me will live.

For as the Father is able to cause people to live, in the same way he has given power to me, the Son, to cause them to live.

The Father has given me authority to do whatever he knows is just, because I am the Son of Man.

Do not be surprised at this because there will be a time when all people who have died will hear me call,

and they will come out of their graves. God will raise to everlasting life those who have done good. But those who have done evil, God will raise them up, but only to condemn them and punish them forever.

I can do nothing on my own. Whatever I hear from the Father, that is how I judge, and I judge in a just manner. I judge justly because I do not try to do what I want, but what the Father wants, he who sent me here.

Testimonies about Jesus

If I alone were the only one to be a witness about myself, no one would believe my witness to be true or reliable.

Nevertheless, there is someone else who bears witness about me, and I know that his testimony about me is true.

You sent messengers to John the Baptizer, and he told you the truth about me.

I do not actually need for him or anyone else to be a witness about me, but I am saying these things so that God can save you.

John the Baptizer was a burning and shining lamp, and you were glad to rejoice for a while in his light.

However, the witness I give about myself is even greater than the witness John gave about me. All the things that the Father has allowed me to do, I do those things every day, and you see me doing them, those things tell much about who I am; they explain my purpose for coming here. They are proof that the Father has sent me.

The Father who sent me, he is the one who has given testimony about me. You have never heard his voice and you have never seen him physically.

The proof that you do not have his word living in you is that you do not trust me, the one he sent.

The Witness of Scripture

(Luke 16:19–31)

You carefully study the scriptures because you think that by studying them you will find eternal life, and those scriptures tell about me.

Yet still you refuse to come to me in order that you might receive everlasting life from me.

If people praise me or congratulate me, I ignore them.

I know this about you, you do not love God.

I have come with my Father’s authority, but still you do not welcome me or trust me. If someone else came with his own authority, you would listen to him.

How can you trust in me when you work so hard for others among yourselves to honor you? Yet all the while, you refuse to seek the true honor that comes from the one and only God.

Do not think that I am the one who accuses you before my Father. You thought Moses would defend you, so on him you have set your hopes. However, it is Moses who accuses you.

If you had accepted what Moses said, you would have received what I said as the truth.

Since you did not even believe in what Moses wrote, how could you possibly trust what I have said to you!”

After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, there is a pool, which is called in Hebrew, “Bethesda”, having five porches.

In these lay a great multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water;

for an angel went down at certain times into the pool and stirred up the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.(a)

A certain man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years.

When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been sick for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be made well?”

The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, another steps down before me.”

Jesus said to him, “Arise, take up your mat, and walk.”

Immediately, the man was made well, and took up his mat and walked. Now that day was a Sabbath.

So the Jews said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry the mat.”

He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’ ”

Then they asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your mat and walk’?”

But he who was healed didn’t know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a crowd being in the place.

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you are made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”

The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

The Father and the Son

For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath.

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.”

For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.

For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel.

For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires.

For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son,

that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.

“Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

Most certainly I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live.

For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.

He also gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man.

Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice

and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.

I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is righteous, because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.

Testimonies about Jesus

“If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid.

It is another who testifies about me. I know that the testimony which he testifies about me is true.

You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.

But the testimony which I receive is not from man. However, I say these things that you may be saved.

He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John; for the works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the very works that I do, testify about me, that the Father has sent me.

The Father himself, who sent me, has testified about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form.

You don’t have his word living in you, because you don’t believe him whom he sent.

The Witness of Scripture

(Luke 16:19–31)

“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.

Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life.

I don’t receive glory from men.

But I know you, that you don’t have God’s love in yourselves.

I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and you don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God?

“Don’t think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, on whom you have set your hope.

For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me.

But if you don’t believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

Footnotes

(a)5:4 NU omits from “waiting” in verse 3 to the end of verse 4.