A Question About Fasting

18 Now ^kJohn’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, ^l“Why do John’s disciples and ^mthe disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, ⁿ“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 ^oThe days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^pthen they will fast in that day.

36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old ^rwineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”¹

The Healing at the Pool on the Sabbath

1 After this there was a ^ofeast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 Now there is in Jerusalem by ^pthe Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic¹ called Bethesda,² which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and ^qparalyzed.³ 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, ^r“Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 ^rAnd at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

^sNow that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews⁴ said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and ^tit is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for ^uJesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! ^vSin no more, ^wthat nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews ^xwere persecuting Jesus, ^ybecause he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

Jesus Is Equal with God

18 This was why the Jews ^zwere seeking all the more to kill him, ^abecause not only was he ^bbreaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God ^chis own Father, ^dmaking himself equal with God.

The Authority of the Son

19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^ethe Son ^fcan do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father⁵ does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For ^gthe Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And ^hgreater works than these will he show him, so that ⁱyou may marvel. 21 For as the Father ^jraises the dead and ^kgives them life, so ^lalso the Son gives life ^mto whom he will. 22 ⁿFor the Father judges no one, but ^ohas given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they ^phonor the Father. ^qWhoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, ^rwhoever hears my word and ^sbelieves him who sent me has eternal life. He ^tdoes not come into judgment, but ^uhas passed from death to life.

25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^van hour is coming, and is now here, when ^wthe dead will hear ^xthe voice of the Son of God, and those who hear ^wwill live. 26 ^yFor as the Father has life in himself, ^zso he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he ^ahas given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for ^van hour is coming when ^ball who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, ^cthose who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

Witnesses to Jesus

30 ^d“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and ^emy judgment is just, because ^fI seek not my own will ^gbut the will of him who sent me. 31 ^hIf I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is ⁱanother who bears witness about me, and ^jI know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. 33 ^kYou sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that ^lthe testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and ^mshining lamp, and ⁿyou were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But ^lthe testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For ^othe works that the Father has given me ^pto accomplish, the very works that I am doing, ^qbear witness about me that ^rthe Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me ^shas himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, ^this form you have never seen, 38 and ^uyou do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 ^vYou search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and ^wit is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet ^xyou refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 ^yI do not receive glory from people. 42 But ^zI know that you do not have ^athe love of God within you. 43 I have come ^bin my Father’s name, and ^cyou do not receive me. ^dIf another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and ^edo not seek the glory that comes from ^fthe only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, ^gon whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for ^hhe wrote of me. 47 But ⁱif you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

1 At that time ^wJesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and ^xthey began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, ^y“Look, your disciples are doing ^zwhat is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, ^a“Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate ^bthe bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read ^cin the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, ^dsomething greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known ^ewhat this means, ^f‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

27 And he said to them, ^z“The Sabbath was made for man, ^anot man for the Sabbath. 28 So ^bthe Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”