²⁸ So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I am he.^[a] I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me.

¹⁹ So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.

³⁰ I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.

⁴⁹ I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. ⁵⁰ And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say.”

³⁸ For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.

¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

⁴ and he was shown to be^[a] the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit.^[b] He is Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁵ For some of the Jews killed the prophets, and some even killed the Lord Jesus. Now they have persecuted us, too. They fail to please God and work against all humanity ¹⁶ as they try to keep us from preaching the Good News of salvation to the Gentiles. By doing this, they continue to pile up their sins. But the anger of God has caught up with them at last.

⁴ But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of men who believed now totaled about 5,000.

³² And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” ³³ He said this to indicate how he was going to die.

³⁴ The crowd responded, “We understood from Scripture^[a] that the Messiah would live forever. How can you say the Son of Man will die? Just who is this Son of Man, anyway?”