John 12:20-36

Easy-to-Read Version

Jesus Talks About Life and Death

²⁰ There were some Greeks there too. These were some of the people who went to Jerusalem to worship at the Passover festival. ²¹ They went to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.” ²² Philip went and told Andrew. Then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

²³ Jesus said to them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to receive his glory. ²⁴ It is a fact that a grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die before it can grow and produce much more wheat. If it never dies, it will never be more than a single seed. ²⁵ Whoever loves the life they have now will lose it. But whoever is willing to give up their life in this world will keep it. They will have eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me. My servants must be with me everywhere I am. My Father will give honor to anyone who serves me.

Jesus Talks About His Death

²⁷ “Now I am very troubled. What should I say? Should I say, ‘Father save me from this time of suffering’? No, I came to this time so that I could suffer. ²⁸ Father, do what will bring you glory!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have already brought glory to myself. I will do it again.”

²⁹ The people standing there heard the voice. They said it was thunder.

But others said, “An angel spoke to him!”

³⁰ Jesus said, “That voice was for you and not for me. ³¹ Now is the time for the world to be judged. Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out. ³² I will be lifted up^[a] from the earth. When that happens, I will draw all people to myself.” ³³ Jesus said this to show how he would die.

³⁴ The people said, “But our law says that the Messiah will live forever. So why do you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

³⁵ Then Jesus said, “The light^[b] will be with you for only a short time more. So walk while you have the light. Then the darkness will not catch you. People who walk in the darkness don’t know where they are going. ³⁶ So put your trust in the light while you still have it. Then you will be children of light.” When Jesus finished saying these things, he went away to a place where the people could not find him.