The Living Bible (340 page)

John
20

Early Sunday morning,
*
while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone was rolled aside from the entrance.

    
²
 She ran and found Simon Peter and me
*
and said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and I don’t know where they have put him!”

    
^3-4
 We
*
ran to the tomb to see; I
*
outran Peter and got there first,
⁵
 and stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but I didn’t go in.
⁶
 Then Simon Peter arrived and went on inside. He also noticed the cloth lying there,
⁷
 while the swath that had covered Jesus’ head was rolled up in a bundle and was lying at the side.
⁸
 Then I went in too, and saw, and believed that he had risen
*
—
⁹
 for until then we hadn’t realized that the Scriptures said he would come to life again!

    
¹⁰
 We
*
went on home,
¹¹
 and by that time Mary had returned to the tomb and was standing outside crying. And as she wept, she stooped and looked in
¹²
 and saw two white-robed angels sitting at the head and foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying.

    
¹³
 “Why are you crying?” the angels asked her.

    
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

    
¹⁴
 She glanced over her shoulder and saw someone standing behind her. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him!

    
¹⁵
 
“Why are you crying?”
he asked her.
“Whom are you looking for?”

    
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

    
¹⁶
 
“Mary!”
Jesus said. She turned toward him.

    
“Master!” she exclaimed.

    
¹⁷
 
“Don’t touch me,”
he cautioned,
“for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them that I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.”

    
¹⁸
 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.

    
¹⁹
 That evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors, in fear of the Jewish leaders, when suddenly Jesus was standing there among them! After greeting them,
²⁰
 he showed them his hands and side. And how wonderful was their joy as they saw their Lord!

    
²¹
 He spoke to them again and said,
“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
²²
 Then he breathed on them and told them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
²³
 
If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you refuse to forgive them, they are unforgiven.”

    
²⁴
 One of the disciples, Thomas, “The Twin,” was not there at the time with the others.
²⁵
 When they kept telling him, “We have seen the Lord,” he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands—and put my fingers into them—and place my hand into his side.”

    
²⁶
 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them and greeting them.

    
²⁷
 Then he said to Thomas,
“Put your finger into my hands. Put your hand into my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

    
²⁸
 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas said.

    
²⁹
 Then Jesus told him,
“You believe because you have seen me. But blessed are those who haven’t seen me and believe anyway.”

    
^30-31
 Jesus’ disciples saw him do many other miracles besides the ones told about in this book, but these are recorded so that you will believe that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing in him you will have life.

John
21

Later Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Lake of Galilee. This is how it happened:

    
²
 A group of us were there—Simon Peter, Thomas, “The Twin,” Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, my brother James and I
*
and two other disciples.

    
³
 Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.”

    
“We’ll come too,” we all said. We did, but caught nothing all night.
⁴
 At dawn we saw a man standing on the beach but couldn’t see who he was.

    
⁵
 He called,
“Any fish, boys?”
*

    
“No,” we replied.

    
⁶
 Then he said,
“Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get plenty of them!”
So we did, and couldn’t draw in the net because of the weight of the fish, there were so many!

    
⁷
 Then I
*
said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” At that, Simon Peter put on his tunic (for he was stripped to the waist) and jumped into the water and swam ashore.
*
⁸
 The rest of us stayed in the boat and pulled the loaded net to the beach, about 300 feet away.
⁹
 When we got there, we saw that a fire was kindled and fish were frying over it, and there was bread.

    
¹⁰
 
“Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,”
Jesus said.
¹¹
 So Simon Peter went out and dragged the net ashore. By his count there were 153 large fish; and yet the net hadn’t torn.

    
¹²
 
“Now come and have some breakfast!”
Jesus said; and none of us dared ask him if he really was the Lord, for we were quite sure of it.
¹³
 Then Jesus went around serving us the bread and fish.

    
¹⁴
 This was the third time Jesus had appeared to us since his return from the dead.

    
¹⁵
 After breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others?”
*

    
“Yes,” Peter replied, “you know I am your friend.”

    
“Then feed my lambs,”
Jesus told him.

    
¹⁶
 Jesus repeated the question:
“Simon, son of John, do you
really
love me?”

    
“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I am your friend.”

    
“Then take care of my sheep,”
Jesus said.

    
¹⁷
 Once more he asked him,
“Simon, son of John, are you even my friend?”

    
Peter was grieved at the way Jesus asked the question this third time. “Lord, you know my heart;
*
you know I am,” he said.

    
Jesus said,
“Then feed my little sheep.
¹⁸
 
When you were young, you were able to do as you liked and go wherever you wanted to; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and others will direct you and take you where you don’t want to go.”
¹⁹
 Jesus said this to let him know what kind of death he would die to glorify God. Then Jesus told him,
“Follow me.”

    
²⁰
 Peter turned around and saw the disciple Jesus loved following, the one who had leaned around at supper that time to ask Jesus, “Master, which of us will betray you?”
²¹
 Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord? What sort of death will he die?”
*

    
²²
 Jesus replied,
“If I want him to live
*
until I return, what is that to you?
You
follow me.”

    
²³
 So the rumor spread among the brotherhood that that disciple wouldn’t die! But that isn’t what Jesus said at all! He only said,
“If I want him to live
*
until I come, what is that to you?”

    
²⁴
 
I am that disciple!
I saw these events and have recorded them here. And we all know that my account of these things is accurate.

    
²⁵
 And I suppose that if all the other events in Jesus’ life were written, the whole world could hardly contain the books!

Acts

1
 
2
 
3
 
4
 
5
 
6
 
7
 
8
 
9
 
10
 
11
 
12
 
13
 
14
 
15
 
16
 
17
 
18
 
19
 
20
 
21
 
22
 
23
 
24
 
25
 
26
 
27
 
28
 

Acts
1

Dear friend who loves God:

    
In my first letter
*
I told you about Jesus’ life and teachings and how he returned to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions from the Holy Spirit.
³
 During the forty days after his crucifixion he appeared to the apostles from time to time, actually alive, and proved to them in many ways that it was really he himself they were seeing. And on these occasions he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.

    
⁴
 In one of these meetings he told them not to leave Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came upon them in fulfillment of the Father’s promise, a matter he had previously discussed with them.

    
⁵
 
“John baptized you with water,”
*
he reminded them,
“but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit
*
in just a few days.”

    
⁶
 And another time when he appeared to them, they asked him, “Lord, are you going to free Israel from Rome
*
now and restore us as an independent nation?”

    
⁷
 
“The Father sets those dates,”
he replied,
“and they are not for you to know.
⁸
 
But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power to testify about me with great effect, to the people in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, about my death and resurrection.”

    
⁹
 It was not long afterwards that he rose into the sky and disappeared into a cloud, leaving them staring after him.
¹⁰
 As they were straining their eyes for another glimpse, suddenly two white-robed men were standing there among them,
¹¹
 and said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring at the sky? Jesus has gone away to heaven, and some day, just as he went, he will return!”

    
¹²
 They were at the Mount of Olives when this happened, so now they walked the half mile back to Jerusalem
¹³
 and held a prayer meeting in an upstairs room of the house where they were staying.

    
Here is the list of those who were present at the meeting: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (also called “The Zealot”), Judas (son of James), and the brothers of Jesus.
¹⁴
 Several women, including Jesus’ mother, were also there.

    
¹⁵
 This prayer meeting went on for several days. During this time, on a day when about 120 people were present, Peter stood up and addressed them as follows:

    
¹⁶
 “Brothers, it was necessary for the Scriptures to come true concerning Judas, who betrayed Jesus by guiding the mob to him, for this was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit, speaking through King David.
¹⁷
 Judas was one of us, chosen to be an apostle just as we were.
¹⁸
 He bought a field with the money he received for his treachery and falling headlong there, he burst open, spilling out his bowels.
¹⁹
 The news of his death spread rapidly among all the people of Jerusalem, and they named the place ‘The Field of Blood.’
²⁰
 King David’s prediction of this appears in the Book of Psalms, where he says, ‘Let his home become desolate with no one living in it.’ And again, ‘Let his work be given to someone else to do.’

    
^21-22
 “So now we must choose someone else to take Judas’ place and to join us as witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection. Let us select someone who has been with us constantly from our first association with the Lord—from the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us into heaven.”

    
²³
 The assembly nominated two men: Joseph Justus (also called Barsabbas) and Matthias.
^24-25
 Then they all prayed for the right man to be chosen. “O Lord,” they said, “you know every heart; show us which of these men you have chosen as an apostle to replace Judas the traitor, who has gone on to his proper place.”

    
²⁶
 Then they drew straws,
*
and in this manner Matthias was chosen and became an apostle with the other eleven.