Episode 263: Believe or be damned

John 3-5

Jesus and Nicodemus (be born again or be condemned)

3 ¹ A Pharisee named Nicodemus came to Jesus and said to him, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher from God, because you couldn't do miracles without God.”

³ Jesus said to him, “You must be born again to see the kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nicodemus said, “How can an old man be born again? Can he enter his mother's womb a second time?”

⁵ Jesus said,

¹⁴ As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, the Son of man will be lifted up.

¹⁶ God loved the world so much that he gave his only son, so that whoever believes in him will live forever.

¹⁸ Whoever believes in the name of God's only begotten Son is not condemned. But whoever doesn't believe is condemned already.

John the Baptist: The wrath of God is on disbelievers

²² After this, Jesus and his disciples went to Judea, where he baptized people.

²⁵ Some questioned John the Baptist, saying, “Rabbi, the one you bore witness to when you were across the Jordan is now baptizing people.”

²⁷ John the Baptist said,

I am not the Christ.

³⁰ He will become more important, while I become less.

³⁵ The Father loves the Son, and has given him power over everything.

³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son will live forever. The wrath of God is on everyone who disbelieves.

The Samaritan woman

4 ^1-3 When Jesus heard that the Pharisees said that he baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus himself didn't baptize, his disciples did), he left Judea, passing through Samaria on his way to Galilee.

⁵ While Jesus was resting at a well, a Samaritan woman came to get water.

⁷ Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.”

⁹ The woman said to Jesus, “Why is a Jew asking a Samaritan woman for a drink? Jews don't talk to Samaritans.”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “If you knew who was asking you for a drink, you'd ask me for living water.”

¹¹ She said, “Sir, the well is deep, and you don't even have a bucket. Where will you get living water?”

¹³ Jesus said,

Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again.

¹⁴ But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty and will live forever.

¹⁵ The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won't get thirsty or have to come to this well to get water.”

¹⁶ Jesus said, “Ask your husband to come here.”

¹⁷ The woman said, “I don't have a husband.”

¹⁸ Jesus said, “Yes, you're right. You don't have a husband. You've had five husbands, and the man you're with now is not your husband.”

²⁵ The woman said, “When the Messiah comes, he'll teach us everything.”

²⁶ Jesus said, “I'm the Messiah.”

²⁹ The woman went away and said to the men in the city, “Come see the man who told me everything I ever did. Isn't he the Christ?”

³⁰ And everyone went to see Jesus.

The nobleman's son

⁴³ After two days, Jesus left Samaria and went to Galilee.

⁴⁴ Jesus said, “A prophet isn't honored in his own country.”

⁴⁶ There was a nobleman in Cana of Galilee whose son was sick.

⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus was in Galilee, he went to ask him to heal his son.

⁴⁹ The nobleman said to Jesus, “My son is dying. Please help him.”

⁵⁰ Jesus said, “Go away. Your son will live.”

⁵¹ As the man was leaving, his servants met him and said, ‘Your son is alive.’”

⁵² He asked when his son recovered. They said, "Yesterday, at the seventh hour."

⁵³ Since that was when Jesus told him that his son would live, the nobleman believed, along with his whole family.

⁵⁴ This was Jesus's second miracle.

Jesus heals a crippled man on the sabbath

5 ¹ After this, Jesus went to Jerusalem, where the Jews were having a feast.

² At the pool of Bethsada, there were many sick people waiting for the water to move.

⁴ Because sometimes an angel would come down and trouble the water, and whoever stepped into the troubled water would be healed.

⁵ A man was there who had been sick for 38 years.

⁶ When Jesus saw him, he said to him, “Would you like to be healed?”

⁷ The man said, “I don't have anyone to help me get into the water, so others get in before me.”

⁸ Jesus said, “Stand up, take your bed, and walk.”

⁹ And immediately, the man stood up, took his bed, and walked.

¹⁰ The Jews said to the man who was cured, “It's the sabbath day. It's not legal for you to carry your bed.”

¹⁴ Later, Jesus saw the man he'd cured in the temple and said to him, “Don't sin anymore, or something worse will happen to you.”

¹⁵ The man left and told the Jews that Jesus had healed him.

¹⁶ So the Jews plotted to kill Jesus for healing on the sabbath.

¹⁷ But Jesus said to them, “My Father works on the sabbath and so do I.”

¹⁸ The Jews wanted to kill Jesus even more after this, since he called God his father, making himself equal to God.

Jesus talks about himself (in the third person mostly)

¹⁹ Jesus said to them

The Son can't do anything by himself. He does whatever he sees his father do.

²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he's doing.

²¹ The Father raises people from the dead. So the Son will raise whoever he wants from the dead.

²² The Father doesn't judge anyone. He's left all judgment to the Son.

²³ Everyone should honor the Son, just like they do the Father. If you don't honor the Son, you don't honor the Father.

²⁴ Whoever hears and believes my word will live forever.

²⁵ Dead people who hear the voice of the Son of God will live.

²⁸ Soon all the dead people will hear the Son of God's voice.

²⁹ And they'll come out. Those who did good will live, and those who did evil will be damned.

³¹ If I am my own witness, my witness isn't true.

³⁹ Search the scriptures. They tell about me.

⁴² I know you and you don't love God.

⁴⁵ I won't accuse you to the Father. Moses accuses you.

⁴⁶ If you believed Moses, then you'd believe me. Because he wrote about me.

⁴⁷ But since you didn't believe him, you won't believe me.