Study Desk

and said, "The best wine is always served first. Then after the guests have had plenty, the other wine is served. But you have kept the best until last!"

But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple.

Jesus replied, "Mother, my time hasn't yet come: You must not tell me what to do." Mary then said to the servants, "Do whatever Jesus tells you to do." At the feast there were six stone water jars that were used by the people for washing themselves in the way that their religion said they must. Each jar held about twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants to fill them to the top with water. Then after the jars had been filled, he said, "Now take some water and give it to the man in charge of the feast." The servants did as Jesus told them, and the man in charge drank some of the water that had now turned into wine. He did not know where the wine had come from, but the servants did. He called the bridegroom over and said, "The best wine is always served first. Then after the guests have had plenty, the other wine is served. But you have kept the best until last!" This was Jesus' first miracle, and he did it in the village of Cana in Galilee. There Jesus showed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him. After this, he went with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples to the town of Capernaum, where they stayed for a few days. Not long before the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus went to Jerusalem. There he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple. He also saw moneychangers sitting at their tables. So he took some rope and made a whip. Then he chased everyone out of the temple, together with their sheep and cattle. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins. Jesus said to the people who had been selling doves, "Get those doves out of here! Don't make my Father's house a marketplace." The disciples then remembered that the Scriptures say, "My love for your house burns in me like a fire." The Jewish leaders asked Jesus, "What miracle will you work to show us why you have done this?" "Destroy this temple," Jesus answered, "and in three days I will build it again!" The leaders replied, "It took forty-six years to build this temple. What makes you think you can rebuild it in three days?" But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple. And when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered what he had told them. Then they believed the Scriptures and the words of Jesus. In Jerusalem during Passover many people put their faith in Jesus, because they saw him work miracles.

But Jesus knew what was in their hearts, and he would not let them have power over him.

Jesus answered: I tell you for certain that before you can get into God's kingdom, you must be born not only by water, but by the Spirit.

Only God's Spirit gives new life. The Spirit is like the wind that blows wherever it wants to. You can hear the wind, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going.

I tell you for certain that we know what we are talking about because we have seen it ourselves. But none of you will accept what we say.

No one who has faith in God's Son will be condemned. But everyone who doesn't have faith in him has already been condemned for not having faith in God's only Son.

But everyone who lives by the truth will come to the light, because they want others to know that God is really the one doing what they do.

But everyone who does believe him has shown that God is truthful.

Everyone who has faith in the Son has eternal life. But no one who rejects him will ever share in that life, and God will be angry with them forever.

But Jesus' disciples were really the ones doing the baptizing, and not Jesus himself.

But no one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again. The water I give is like a flowing fountain that gives eternal life."

My ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say Jerusalem is the only place to worship."

You Samaritans don't really know the one you worship. But we Jews do know the God we worship, and by using us, God will save the world.

But a time is coming, and it is already here! Even now the true worshipers are being led by the Spirit to worship the Father according to the truth. These are the ones the Father is seeking to worship him.

The disciples returned about this time and were surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman. But none of them asked him what he wanted or why he was talking with her.

But Jesus told them, "I have food that you don't know anything about."

You may say that there are still four months until harvest time. But I tell you to look, and you will see that the fields are ripe and ready to harvest.

The man answered, "Lord, I don't have anyone to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up. I try to get in, but someone else always gets there first."