John 12

²They made a special dinner for Jesus. Martha served the food. Lazarus sat at the table with Jesus.

³Mary poured very expensive perfume on Jesus' feet. She wiped His feet with her hair. The whole house filled with the sweet smell.

⁴One of Jesus' twelve disciples was Judas Iscariot. He would one day hand Jesus over to His enemies.

⁵Judas asked: 'Why wasn't this perfume sold? It was worth a lot of money. It should have been given to the poor!'

⁶Judas did not really care about the poor. He was a thief. He kept the money bag and stole from it.

⁷Jesus said: 'Leave her alone. She kept this perfume for the day of My burial.' Jesus was talking about His coming death.

⁸Jesus said: 'You will always have the poor to help. But I will not always be with you in this way.'

⁹A large crowd heard Jesus was in Bethany. They came to see Jesus — and also to see Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead.

¹⁰The chief priests made a plan. They wanted to kill Lazarus too.

¹¹Because of Lazarus, many people were leaving the religious leaders and putting their trust in Jesus.

¹²The next day, a great crowd had come to the Passover feast. When they heard Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they got excited.

¹³The people took palm branches and ran out to meet Jesus. They shouted: 'Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel who comes in the name of the Lord!'

¹⁴Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it. This was exactly what the Scriptures had said would happen.

¹⁵The Scripture said: 'Do not be afraid! Your King is coming, riding on a donkey's colt.'

¹⁶At first, the disciples did not understand what was happening. Later, after Jesus rose again, they remembered — and understood it all.

¹⁷The people who had seen Jesus call Lazarus out of the grave kept telling everyone about it.

¹⁸That is why the crowd came to meet Jesus — they had heard about the miracle He had done.

¹⁹The Pharisees said to each other: 'Nothing is working! Look — the whole world is following Jesus!'

²⁰Some Greek people had also come to Jerusalem to worship at the Passover feast.

²¹These Greeks came to Philip and said: 'Sir, we want to see Jesus.'

²²Philip went to Andrew. Then Andrew and Philip together brought the message to Jesus.

²³Jesus said: 'The hour has come. It is time for the Son of Man to be glorified.'

²⁴Jesus said: 'A seed that stays a seed produces nothing. But when it is planted and dies, it grows into something that bears much fruit.'

²⁵Jesus said: 'Whoever tries to keep their life for themselves will lose it. Whoever gives their life to Me will keep it forever.'

²⁶Jesus said: 'If anyone serves Me, follow Me. Where I am, My servant will be too. And My Father will honour those who serve Me.'

²⁷Jesus said: 'My soul is deeply troubled. Should I say, Father, save Me? But no — this is exactly why I came.'

²⁸Jesus prayed: 'Father, bring glory to Your name!' Then a voice came from heaven: 'I have already glorified it — and I will glorify it again.'

²⁹The crowd heard the voice from heaven. Some thought it was thunder. Others thought an angel had spoken.

³⁰Jesus said: 'That voice from heaven was not for Me. It was for you.'

³¹Jesus said: 'The judgment of this world has come. The ruler of this world — the devil — will be thrown out!'

³²Jesus said: 'When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to Myself.'

³³Jesus said this to show what kind of death He would die — He would be crucified.

³⁴The crowd said: 'The law says the Messiah lives forever. So why do You say He must be lifted up and die? Who are You really?'

³⁵Jesus said: 'I am the Light, and I am with you only a little while longer. Walk in the Light now, before the darkness comes. Those who walk in darkness do not know where they are going.'

³⁶Jesus said: 'Trust in the Light while you have it, and you will become children of light.' After this, Jesus left and hid Himself from them.

³⁷Even though Jesus had done so many miracles in front of them, many people still refused to believe in Him.

³⁸This happened to fulfil Isaiah the prophet's words: 'Lord, who has believed what we told them? Who has seen God's mighty power?'

³⁹They were not able to believe — because Isaiah had also said something else about this.

⁴⁰Isaiah said: 'God has let their eyes become blind and their hearts become hard. They cannot see, they cannot understand, they cannot turn and be healed.'

⁴¹Isaiah wrote these words after he had a vision of God's glory. He was speaking about Jesus.

⁴²Even among the religious leaders, many believed in Jesus secretly. But they would not say so — they were afraid the Pharisees would throw them out of the synagogue.

⁴³They cared more about what people thought of them than what God thought of them.

⁴⁴Jesus called out loudly: 'Whoever believes in Me is not just believing in Me alone — they are believing in the Father who sent Me!'

⁴⁵Jesus said: 'When you see Me, you are seeing the Father who sent Me.'

⁴⁶Jesus said: 'I have come as a Light into the world. Everyone who trusts in Me will not live in darkness.'

⁴⁷Jesus said: 'If anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge them now. I did not come to judge the world — I came to save the world.'

⁴⁸Jesus said: 'Whoever rejects Me and refuses My words will face judgment. The very words I have spoken will judge them on the last day.'

⁴⁹Jesus said: 'I have not spoken from Myself. The Father who sent Me told Me exactly what to say.'

⁵⁰Jesus said: 'I know that the Father's command is eternal life. So everything I say, I say exactly as the Father told Me to say it.'