The Sabbath Before the Passover

Jesus told them, "The time has come that the Son of Man must be glorified. I tell you truly, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it will produce no fruit. But if it does die it produces much fruit.

"Anyone who loves his own life will loose it, but anyone who does not love his life in this world will have life for all eternity. If anyone want to serve me let him follow me - where I am there will my servant be as well. And if he serves me the Father will honor and cherish him.

"Now I am filled with turmoil and anxiety - what can I say? Should I ask the Father to deliver me from what is to come? But it is the very thing I have come to do. Father, glorify your own name."

Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified My name and I will glorify it again!"

Some of the people around Jesus said it was thunder but others said an angel spoke to Him."

Jesus told them, "The voice didn't come for my sake but for your sakes.

Now is the judgment of this world. The chief ruler of this world and all the nations in it will be overthrown and rejected. And when I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all to Myself." He said this to show the kind of death He was about to die; the people well knew that "lifted up" refereed to being crucified.

They replied, "We have heard from the scriptures that the Messiah, the Christ, will live forever. How then can you say the Son of Man must be 'lifted up?' Who is the Son of Man?"

Jesus said, "For just a little while yet you have the light with you. Walk while you have the light so that the darkness doesn't overcome you. Anyone who is walking in the darkness doesn't know where they're going. While you have the light, believe and have faith in the light so that you may become children of light."

After this Jesus went away from them for the rest of the Sabbath. But even though He had done miracles and signs in their presence they still didn't believe in Him. This was to fulfill the prophesy of Isaiah, who said, "He had blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so they would not see with their eyes and understand with their hearts and be converted and I should heal them."

He taught each day in the temple and the chief priests and scribes and other leaders were seeking to destroy Him. By they could find no way to do it because great crowds surrounded Him and were listening intently to Him.

The next day, the first day of the week, He was teaching in the temple and the chief priests and scribes and other leaders acme up to Him and asked, "By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you the authority?"

Jesus answered them, "I will ask you a question, and if you answer it, I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer me!"

The discussed it among themselves and said to one another, "If we answer that it was from heaven he will ask us why we didn't believe it. But if we say that it was from men, the people will stone us for they all believe John was a prophet. So they answered, "We don't know it's origin."

"Then I won't tell you where my authority comes from either." Jesus replied. "But what do you think of this, a man had two sons. He went to the first and told him to work today in the vineyard, but the son said no - but then he repented and went. He then went to the second son and told him to work in the vineyard and he said he would go, but he didn't go. Which of the two sons did what his father wanted?"

They replied, "The one who went."

Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, the publicans and harlots are going into the Kingdom of God before you, because John came bringing you the way of righteousness and you didn't believe him, but the publicans and harlots believed him. But having seen this you didn't even repent afterward to believe him."

Life of Christ Part Forty-Four - Parables and Persecution

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