Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
From below or from above
21 So Jesus spoke to them once more.
“I am going away,” he said. “You will look for me, and you will die in your sin. You can’t come where I’m going.”
22 “Is he going to kill himself?” asked the Judaeans. “Is that what he means when he says we can’t come where he’s going?”
23 “You come from below,” Jesus said to them, “but I come from above. You are from this world, I am not from this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; you see, that’s what will happen to you if you don’t believe that I am the one.”
25 “Who are you?” they asked.
“What I’ve been telling you from the beginning,” replied Jesus. 26 “There are plenty of things I could say about you, yes, and against you too! But the one who sent me is true, and I tell the world what I heard from him.”
27 They didn’t understand that he was talking about the father.
28 So Jesus said to them, “When you’ve lifted up the son of man, then you will know that I’m the one, and that I never act on my own initiative; I say exactly what the father taught me. 29 And the one who sent me is with me. He hasn’t left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”
The truth will make you free
30 As Jesus said all this, several people believed in him.
31 So Jesus spoke to the Judaeans who had believed in him.
“If you remain in my word,” he said, “you will truly be my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
33 “We are Abraham’s descendants!” they replied. “We’ve never been anyone’s slaves! How can you say that ‘you’ll become free’?”
34 “I’m telling you the solemn truth,” Jesus replied. “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 The slave doesn’t live in the house forever; the son lives there forever. 36 So, you see, if the son makes you free, you will be truly free.”
Children of Abraham—or of the devil
37 “I know you’re Abraham’s descendants,” Jesus went on. “But you’re trying to kill me, because my word doesn’t find a place among you. 38 I am speaking of what I have seen with the father; and you, too, are doing what you heard from your father.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.