He Shows Goodwill Tells the Good Story 8

CONFLICT BETWEEN LAW AND KINDNESS

1But Creator Sets Free (Jesus) went to Olive Mountain to find lodging there. 2Early in the morning at the sunrise, he returned again to the sacred lodge. All the people began to gather around him, so he sat down and once again began to teach and tell his stories.

Across the plaza a cloud of dust was rising from a group of people who were walking toward Creator Sets Free (Jesus) as he was teaching. They were forcefully dragging a woman along with them. He could see her tears and the look of terror on her face.

3It was the scroll keepers and the Separated Ones (Pharisees). They brought the woman to Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and forced her down on the ground in front of him and all the people.

4“Wisdomkeeper,” they said, “we found this woman in the very act of being unfaithful to her husband. 5Drawn from the Water (Moses) instructed us in the law to throw stones at her until she dies. What do you have to say about this?”

6They were putting him to a test, so they could have a way to accuse him.

The crowd was silent and waited to see what he would say, but he said nothing.

He bent over and with his finger wrote something in the dirt.

When he did not answer right away, the Separated Ones (Pharisees) became angry and kept questioning him.

7Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked up at them and said, “The one who has done no wrong should be the first to throw a stone at her.”

8He then bent over and again began to write in the dirt with his finger.

9When they heard his words, they all stood there silently. Then, beginning with the elders, one at a time they dropped their stones and walked away. Soon all were gone except for Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and the woman. 10He stood up and looked at her.

“Honored woman,” he said. “Where are the ones who were accusing you? Is there no one who finds fault with you?”

11The woman looked up timidly into his eyes and said, “No one, Wisdomkeeper.”

“Then I also find no fault with you,” he said to her. “You may go your way, but take care not to return to this broken path you have been walking.”

CONFLICT BETWEEN LIGHT AND DARKNESS

After the woman left, the people began to gather around him again, waiting to hear what he would say.

12Creator Sets Free (Jesus) lifted up his voice and said to them, “I am the light shining on this dark world. The ones who walk with me will not stumble in the darkness but will have the light that gives them life.”

13When they heard this, the Separated Ones (Pharisees) said to him, “When you say these things about yourself, you are the only one who says they are true. If no one else speaks for you, then we cannot receive your words.”

14Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered them, “If I am the only one who speaks for myself, my words are still true. I know where I came from and where I am going. You are the ones who do not know where I came from or where I am going. 15You are deciding about me with weak human minds. I am not deciding about anyone, 16but even if I did, my decisions would be true, for I do not stand alone. My Father who sent me is the one who stands with me. 17Your tribal law tells you it takes the word of two people to know the truth. 18So then, I speak for myself, and the Father speaks for me also.”

WHO IS YOUR FATHER?

19“Where is your Father?” they said back to him.

“You do not know me or my Father,” he told them. “If you knew me, you would know who my Father is.”

20Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said these things at the sacred lodge, where he was teaching, near the storehouse where they keep the ceremonial gifts. No one laid a hand on him, for his time had not yet come.

The people began to argue among themselves about him.

21So he lifted up his voice again and said, “You are not able to go where I am going. When I am gone, you will wander in the darkness looking for the Chosen One,#8:21 Lit. me and your bad hearts will lead you down the path of death to a bad end.”

22The people said to each other, “Is he going to kill himself, since he says he is going where we cannot follow?”

23So he said to them, “You are from below and belong to the ways of this world. I am from above, and this world and its ways have no place in me. 24This is why I said that your bad hearts and broken ways will lead you down a path of death. Unless you put your trust in who I am and follow my ways, your end will be death.”

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

25When they heard this, they said to him in anger, “Who do you think you are?”

He answered, “From the beginning I have been telling you who I am. 26I have many more things I could say and decide about you. The words I speak to the people of this world come from the one who sent me, and he is the Truth.”

27But no one could see that he was talking about the Father, who is the Great Spirit.

28So Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to them, “When you lift up the True Human Being on the cross, then you will know that I am who I say I am. For I only do and say the things taught to me by my Father. 29The one who sent me is with me now. He has never left me alone, for I always walk in the ways that make his heart glad.”

CONFLICT ABOUT FREEDOM

30Many began to trust in him as they listened to his words, 31so Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to the Tribal Members who believed in him, “If you walk in my footsteps and follow my teachings, you will truly be my followers. 32Then you will see and understand the truth that sets all people free.”

33But they questioned him, “We are the descendants of Father of Many Nations (Abraham) and have never been anyone’s slave. How can you say, ‘You will be set free’?”

34“I speak truth from my heart,” he answered them. “All who walk in the broken ways of this world become slaves to their bad hearts. 35A slave is not a member of the family and will not always live with the family. But a son of the family always has a home. 36The freedom the Son gives you is the way of true freedom.

CONFLICT OVER FATHERHOOD

37“I know you are the descendants of Father of Many Nations (Abraham), but you still want to kill me 38because my message has no home in you. I am telling you the things my Father has shown me, but you are doing the things you have heard from your father.”

39“Father of Many Nations (Abraham) is our father,” they said back to him in anger.

Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to them, “If you were truly the children of Father of Many Nations (Abraham), you would do the same things he did. 40Instead, you want to put to death the one who has told you truth from the Great Spirit. This is not what Father of Many Nations (Abraham) did. 41You are doing the same things your father does.”

“We were not born from an unmarried woman,” they said. “We have but one Father—the Great Spirit.”

THE BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN

42Creator Sets Free (Jesus) told them, “If the Great Spirit were truly your Father, you would love me and show respect, for I came from him. I did not send myself. He is the one who sent me.

43“Why can you not hear what I am saying to you? Are my words not clear? Then I will speak more clearly. 44Your father is Accuser (Satan), the evil trickster. You are doing what he wants, for he was the first to take the life of another. He stands outside of the truth, because truth has no home in him. He speaks with a forked tongue and twists his words. His lies show who he truly is. He is a liar and the father of all that is false.

45-46“Even though I am telling you the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you can show that I have done anything wrong? 47The ones who come from the Great Spirit can hear his words. The reason you do not hear me is that you are not from him.”

ACCUSED OF HAVING AN EVIL SPIRIT

48“Now we have the right to call you a mixed blood from High Place (Samaria) and one who has an evil spirit,” they said to him in anger.

49He answered them back, “I have no evil spirit. I honor my Father, but you dishonor me. 50I am not trying to honor myself, but there is one who honors me, and he has the final decision. 51I speak from my heart, death will not have the final word for the ones who walk in my message.”

52“Now we are sure you have an evil spirit,” they said. “Father of Many Nations (Abraham) and all the prophets crossed over to death. How can you say that the ones who walk in your word will not taste of death? 53Do you think you are greater than Father of Many Nations (Abraham) and the prophets? Who are you making yourself out to be?”

MY FATHER HONORS ME

54Creator Sets Free (Jesus) answered them, “If I honor myself, then I have no honor. The one who honors me is my Father, the one of whom you say, ‘He is our Great Spirit.’ 55You do not truly know him, but I do. If I were to say, ‘I do not know him,’ I would be a liar, like you! But I know him deeply and walk in all his ways. 56Father of Many Nations (Abraham) looked ahead to my day. He saw it, and it made his heart glad!”

57“How could you have seen Father of Many Nations (Abraham)?” they asked, shaking their heads. “You have not even seen fifty winters.”

58“I speak from my heart,” he answered. “I was there before Father of Many Nations (Abraham) was born—for I am.”#8:58 A possible reference to the name of the Great Spirit. See Exodus 3:14.

The tribal leaders had heard enough! 59They picked up stones to throw at him, but he hid himself in the crowd, passed them by, and walked out of the sacred lodge.

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