Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The coming judgment

¹⁹ So Jesus made this response to them.

“I’m telling you the solemn truth,” he said. “The son can do nothing by himself. He can only do what he sees the father doing. Whatever the father does, the son does too, and in the same way. ²⁰ The father loves the son, you see, and shows him all the things that he’s doing. Yes: he will show him even greater things than these, and that’ll amaze you! ²¹ For, just as the father raises the dead and gives them life, in the same way the son gives life to anyone he chooses.

²² “The father doesn’t judge anyone, you see; he has handed over all judgment to the son, ²³ so that everyone should honor the son just as they honor the father. Anyone who doesn’t honor the son doesn’t honor the father who sent him.

²⁴ “I’m telling you the solemn truth: anyone who hears my word, and believes in the one who sent me, has the life of God’s coming age. Such a person won’t come into judgment; they will have passed out of death into life. ²⁵ I’m telling you the solemn truth: the time is coming—in fact, it’s here already!—when the dead will hear the voice of God’s son, and those who hear it will live. ²⁶ You see, just as the father has life in himself, in the same way he has given the son the privilege of having life in himself. ²⁷ He has even given him authority to pass judgment, because he is the son of man.

²⁸ “Don’t be surprised at this. The time is coming, you see, when everyone in the tombs will hear his voice. ²⁹ They will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.”

The evidence in support of Jesus

³⁰ “I can’t do anything on my own authority,” Jesus went on. “I judge on the basis of what I hear. And my judgment is just, because I’m not trying to carry out my own wishes, but the wishes of the one who sent me.

³¹ “If I give evidence about myself, my evidence isn’t true. ³² There is someone else who gives evidence about me, and I know that the evidence he brings about me is true. ³³ You sent messengers to John, and he gave evidence about the truth. ³⁴ Not that I need evidence from human beings; but I’m saying this so that you may be saved.

³⁵ “John was a burning, bright lamp, and you were happy to celebrate in his light for a while. ³⁶ But I have greater evidence on my side than that of John. The works which the father has given me to complete—these works, which I’m doing, will provide evidence about me, evidence that the father has sent me. ³⁷ And the father who sent me has given evidence about me. You’ve never heard his voice; you’ve never seen his form. ³⁸ What’s more, you haven’t got his word abiding in you, because you don’t believe in the one he sent.”

Jesus and Moses

³⁹ “You study the Bible,” Jesus continued, “because you suppose that you’ll discover the life of God’s coming age in it. In fact, it’s the Bible which gives evidence about me! ⁴⁰ But you won’t come to me so that you can have life.