Daily Text and Bible Reading: Thursday, November 14 [Press play below]

10.1 “Most truly I say to you, the one who does not enter into the sheepfold through the door but climbs in by another way, that one is a thief and a plunderer.
10.2 But the one who enters through the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
10.3 The doorkeeper opens to this one, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
10.4 When he has brought all his own out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice.
10.5 They will by no means follow a stranger but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
10.6 Jesus spoke this comparison to them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
10.7 So Jesus said again: “Most truly I say to you, I am the door for the sheep.
10.8 All those who have come in place of me are thieves and plunderers; but the sheep have not listened to them.
10.9 I am the door; whoever enters through me will be saved, and that one will go in and out and find pasturage.
10.10 The thief does not come unless it is to steal and slay and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance.
10.11 I am the fine shepherd; the fine shepherd surrenders his life in behalf of the sheep.
10.12 The hired man, who is not a shepherd and to whom the sheep do not belong, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them—
10.13 because he is a hired man and does not care for the sheep.
10.14 I am the fine shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me,
10.15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I surrender my life in behalf of the sheep.
10.16 “And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; those too I must bring in, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd.
10.17 This is why the Father loves me, because I surrender my life, so that I may receive it again.
10.18 No man takes it away from me, but I surrender it of my own initiative. I have authority to surrender it, and I have authority to receive it again. This commandment I received from my Father.”
10.19 A division again resulted among the Jews because of these words.
10.20 Many of them were saying: “He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why do you listen to him?”
10.21 Others said: “These are not the sayings of a demonized man. A demon cannot open blind people’s eyes, can it?”
10.22 At that time the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was wintertime,
10.23 and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon.
10.24 Then the Jews surrounded him and began to say to him: “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
10.25 Jesus answered them: “I told you, and yet you do not believe. The works that I am doing in my Father’s name, these bear witness about me.
10.26 But you do not believe, because you are not my sheep.
10.27 My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
10.28 I give them everlasting life, and they will by no means ever be destroyed, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
10.29 What my Father has given me is something greater than all other things, and no one can snatch them out of the hand of the Father.
10.30 I and the Father are one.”
10.31 Once again the Jews picked up stones to stone him.
10.32 Jesus replied to them: “I displayed to you many fine works from the Father. For which of those works are you stoning me?”
10.33 The Jews answered him: “We are stoning you, not for a fine work, but for blasphemy; for you, although being a man, make yourself a god.”
10.34 Jesus answered them: “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said: “You are gods”’?
10.35 If he called ‘gods’ those against whom the word of God came—and yet the scripture cannot be nullified—
10.36 do you say to me whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?
10.37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me.
10.38 But if I am doing them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may come to know and may continue knowing that the Father is in union with me and I am in union with the Father.”
10.39 So they tried again to seize him, but he escaped from their reach.
10.40 And he went away again across the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and he stayed there.
10.41 And many people came to him and began saying: “John did not perform a single sign, but all the things John said about this man were true.”
10.42 And many put faith in him there.
11.1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick; he was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
11.2 This was the Mary who poured perfumed oil on the Lord and wiped his feet dry with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was sick.
11.3 So his sisters sent a message to him, saying: “Lord, see! the one you have affection for is sick.”
11.4 But when Jesus heard it, he said: “This sickness is not meant to end in death, but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
11.5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
11.6 However, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he actually remained in the place where he was for two more days.
11.7 Then after this he said to the disciples: “Let us go into Judea again.”
11.8 The disciples said to him: “Rabbi, just lately the Judeans were seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”
11.9 Jesus answered: “There are 12 hours of daylight, are there not? If anyone walks in daylight, he does not stumble into anything, because he sees the light of this world.
11.10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
11.11 After he said these things, he added: “Lazarus our friend has fallen asleep, but I am traveling there to awaken him.”
11.12 The disciples then said to him: “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will get well.”
11.13 Jesus, however, had spoken about his death. But they imagined he was speaking about taking rest in sleep.
11.14 Then Jesus said to them plainly: “Lazarus has died,
11.15 and I rejoice for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
11.16 So Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples: “Let us also go, so that we may die with him.”
11.17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
11.18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.
11.19 And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.
11.20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary kept sitting at home.
11.21 Martha then said to Jesus: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
11.22 Yet even now I know that whatever you ask God for, God will give you.”
11.23 Jesus said to her: “Your brother will rise.”
11.24 Martha said to him: “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.”
11.25 Jesus said to her: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life;
11.26 and everyone who is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all. Do you believe this?”
11.27 She said to him: “Yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
11.28 When she had said this, she went off and called Mary her sister, saying privately: “The Teacher is here and is calling you.”
11.29 On hearing this, she got up quickly and went to him.
11.30 Jesus had not yet come into the village, but he was still in the place where Martha had met him.
11.31 When the Jews who were with Mary in the house consoling her saw her get up quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
11.32 When Mary arrived where Jesus was and caught sight of him, she fell at his feet and said to him: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
11.33 When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he groaned within himself and became troubled.
11.34 He said: “Where have you laid him?” They said to him: “Lord, come and see.”
11.35 Jesus gave way to tears.
11.36 At that the Jews began to say: “See, what affection he had for him!”
11.37 But some of them said: “Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind man prevent this one from dying?”
11.38 Then Jesus, after groaning again within himself, came to the tomb. It was, in fact, a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
11.39 Jesus said: “Take the stone away.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to him: “Lord, by now he must smell, for it has been four days.”
11.40 Jesus said to her: “Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”
11.41 So they took the stone away. Then Jesus raised his eyes heavenward and said: “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
11.42 True, I knew that you always hear me; but I spoke on account of the crowd standing around, so that they may believe that you sent me.”
11.43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice: “Lazarus, come out!”
11.44 The man who had been dead came out with his feet and hands bound with wrappings, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them: “Free him and let him go.”
11.45 Therefore, many of the Jews who had come to Mary and who saw what he did put faith in him,
11.46 but some of them went off to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
11.47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Sanhedrin together and said: “What are we to do, for this man performs many signs?
11.48 If we let him go on this way, they will all put faith in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
11.49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them: “You do not know anything at all,
11.50 and you have not reasoned that it is to your benefit for one man to die in behalf of the people rather than for the whole nation to be destroyed.”
11.51 He did not say this, however, of his own originality, but because he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was to die for the nation,
11.52 and not only for the nation but also to gather together into one the children of God who were scattered about.
11.53 So from that day on they conspired to kill him.
11.54 Therefore, Jesus no longer walked about publicly among the Jews, but he departed from there to the region near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and he stayed there with the disciples.
11.55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many people from the countryside went up to Jerusalem before the Passover to cleanse themselves ceremonially.
11.56 They were looking for Jesus, and they were saying to one another as they stood around in the temple: “What is your opinion? That he will not come to the festival at all?”
11.57 But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone got to know where Jesus was, he should report it, so that they could seize him.
12.1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised up from the dead.
12.2 So they spread an evening meal for him there, and Martha was serving them, but Lazarus was one of those dining with him.
12.3 Then Mary took a pound of perfumed oil, genuine nard, very costly, and she poured it on the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet dry with her hair. The house became filled with the scent of the perfumed oil.
12.4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was about to betray him, said:
12.5 “Why was this perfumed oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?”
12.6 He said this, though, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief and had the money box and used to steal the money put in it.
12.7 Then Jesus said: “Let her alone, so that she may keep this observance in view of the day of my burial.
12.8 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.”
12.9 Meanwhile, a large crowd of Jews got to know that he was there, and they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised up from the dead.
12.10 The chief priests now conspired to kill Lazarus also,
12.11 since it was because of him that many of the Jews were going there and putting faith in Jesus.
12.12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
12.13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, and they began to shout: “Save, we pray you! Blessed is the one who comes in Jehovah’s name, the King of Israel!”
12.14 When Jesus found a young donkey, he sat on it, just as it is written:
12.15 “Have no fear, daughter of Zion. Look! Your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”
12.16 These things his disciples did not understand at first, but when Jesus was glorified, they recalled that these things were written about him and that they did these things to him.
12.17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him up from the dead kept bearing witness.
12.18 This is also why the crowd went to meet him, because they heard he had performed this sign.
12.19 So the Pharisees said among themselves: “You see that you are not getting anywhere. Look! The whole world has gone after him.”
12.20 Now there were some Greeks among those who had come to worship at the festival.
12.21 So these approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and they began to request him, saying: “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”
12.22 Philip came and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus.
12.23 But Jesus answered them: “The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified.
12.24 Most truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just one grain; but if it dies, it then bears much fruit.
12.25 Whoever is fond of his life destroys it, but whoever hates his life in this world will safeguard it for everlasting life.
12.26 If anyone would minister to me, let him follow me, and where I am, there my minister will be also. If anyone would minister to me, the Father will honor him.
12.27 Now I am troubled, and what should I say? Father, save me out of this hour. Nevertheless, this is why I have come to this hour.
12.28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.”
12.29 The crowd that was standing there heard it and began to say that it had thundered. Others said: “An angel has spoken to him.”
12.30 Jesus answered: “This voice has occurred, not for my sake, but for your sakes.
12.31 Now there is a judging of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
12.32 And yet I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all sorts of men to myself.”
12.33 This he was really saying to indicate what sort of death he was about to die.
12.34 Then the crowd answered him: “We heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man?”
12.35 So Jesus said to them: “The light will be among you a little while longer. Walk while you still have the light, so that darkness does not overpower you; whoever walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.
12.36 While you have the light, exercise faith in the light, so that you may become sons of light.” Jesus said these things and went off and hid from them.
12.37 Although he had performed so many signs before them, they were not putting faith in him,
12.38 so that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, who said: “Jehovah, who has put faith in the thing heard from us? And as for the arm of Jehovah, to whom has it been revealed?”
12.39 The reason why they were not able to believe is that again Isaiah said:
12.40 “He has blinded their eyes and has made their hearts hard, so that they would not see with their eyes and understand with their hearts and turn around and I heal them.”
12.41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory, and he spoke about him.
12.42 All the same, many even of the rulers actually put faith in him, but they would not acknowledge him because of the Pharisees, so that they would not be expelled from the synagogue;
12.43 for they loved the glory of men even more than the glory of God.
12.44 However, Jesus called out and said: “Whoever puts faith in me puts faith not only in me but also in him who sent me;
12.45 and whoever sees me sees also the One who sent me.
12.46 I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone putting faith in me may not remain in the darkness.
12.47 But if anyone hears my sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I came, not to judge the world, but to save the world.
12.48 Whoever disregards me and does not receive my sayings has one to judge him. The word that I have spoken is what will judge him on the last day.
12.49 For I have not spoken of my own initiative, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak.
12.50 And I know that his commandment means everlasting life. So whatever I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me.”