The one coming from above,
is above all things.
The one being from the earth
is from the earth
and speaks from the earth,
He who is coming from heaven
is above all things.

He who has seen, and heard this,
bears witness
yet nobody receives his witness (statement.)

The one who has received his witness,
has confirmed
that God is truthful.

-whom God sent,
to speak the words of God,
for he does not give the Spirit
in a measured way.

The Father loves the Son,
and he has given all things
into his hand.
The one who believes in the Son
has the life of the world to come.
The one who disbelieves the Son,
will not see life,
but the wrath of God remains on him.

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

After these things
Jesus and his disciples went
into the Judean countryside
and he stayed there
with them
and was baptizing
And John also was baptizing
in Aenon, near Salim,
because there was plenty of water there,
and (people) came and were being baptized
f or John was not yet thrown into prison.

Then an argument arose
from between disciples of John
and a Judean
about washing.
And they came to John
and said to him:
‘Rabbi,
the one who was with you
beyond the Jordan
to whom you bore witness,
Look! He is baptizing and
they all are going to him.’
John replied:
‘No one can receive anything
unless it has been given to him
from heaven.
You yourselves bear witness about me
that I said:
‘I am not the Christ,
but
‘ I have been sent before him’
The one who has the bride
is the bridegroom.
But the friend of the bridegroom,
he is the one who stands and
listens
with great joy
because of the the voice of the bridegroom.
so this joy of mine is complete.
He must increase
and I decrease.’

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

(unknown)

(…so that everyone who believes
in him might have future-age-life.)

For, to such an extent
God loved the world
that he gave the only son,
so that everyone who believes
might not perish
but might have next-age-life.

For God did not send the Son
into the world
in order to pronounce judgement on the world
but in order to save the world
through him.

The one who believes in him
will not be judged,
but the one who does not believe
has already been judged,
because they have not already believed
in the name of the only son of God.

And this is the judgement
namely that the Light came into the world
and people loved the darkness
rather than the Light.
For their deeds are evil.
For everyone who does evil
hates the light,
and does not come to the Light,
so that their works might not be made visible.
But the one who does truth,
comes to the L ight,
so that their works might be made visible
because they were done in God.

Eternal God and Fatther,
you create us by your power,
and redeem us by your love,
guide and strengthen us by your Spirit,
that we may give ourselves in love and service
to one another and to you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(Jesus replied)
Truly, truly, I say to you:
what we speak of
we know
and what we bear witness to
we have seen,
but you all do not receive our witness.
If we have spoken of earthly things,
and you do not believe,
how will you believe
if I speak to you about heavenly things?
And nobody has gone up into heaven
except the one who has come down out of heaven:
The Son of Man.
And as Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness,
so it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes
in him might have future-age-life.

Lord God,
you feed us with the living bread from heaven;
you renew our faith,
increase our hope,
and strengthen our love.

Teach us to hunger
for Christ who is the true and living bread,
and to live by every word
that comes from your mouth,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Now there was a man – one of the Pharisees,
Nicodemus by name
a leader of the Judeans.
He came to him (Jesus)
at night
and said to him:
‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher
who has come from God.
For nobody can d o these signs,
which you are doing
unless God was with him.’

Jesus replied:
Truly, truly, I tell you
unless someone is reborn from above
they cannot see the Kingdom of God.’

Nicodemus said to him:
‘How can a (man) be born being an old person?
He cannot enter the womb of his mother
a second time
and be born,
can he?’
Jesus replied:
Truly, truly, I tell you
unless someone is born
from ‘water and Spirit’
he cannot enter the Kingdom of God
The one born from flesh
is flesh
but the one born from the Spirit
is spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you all:
“It is necessary to be reborn from above.”
The wind blows were it wishes
and you hear its sound
but you do not know where it is coming from
or where it goes.
It is this way for all who have been reborn from above.

Nicodemus replied:
How can these things be?

Jesus replied:
You are ‘the teacher’ of Israel,
but you do not know these things?

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts;
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil;
Eternal Power, be our support;
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance:
That we may seek your face
with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. Amen.

Alcuin

Then the Judeans replied:
What sign do you show us,
that you do these things?
Jesus replied to them:
Tear down this sanctuary
and in three days I will raise it up.
So the Judeans said
46 years the temple has been being built
and you will raise it up in three days?
-But he said that about the sanctuary of his body.
So that when he was raised up from the dead people,
his disciples remembered that he said this,
and they believed in the scripture
and the word which he said.

And now he was in Jerusalem
at Passover
during the Festival.
Many believed in his name
seeing the signs which he was doing.
But Jesus did not trust himself
to them
because he knew all people
and
because he had no need
for anyone to bear witness
about anyone,
For he knew what was in everyone.

Lord God,
you feed us with the living bread from heaven;
you renew our faith,
increase our hope,
and strengthen our love.

Teach us to hunger
for Christ who is the true and living bread,
and to live by every word
that comes from your mouth,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

And the Passover of the Judeans was near,
and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
And he found in the Temple
those who sold oxen and sheep and pigeons,
and money changers,
sitting down.
And having made a whip,
from cords,
he threw them all out of the temple (precinct)
together with the sheep and oxen
and he poured out the small coins of the money changers
and he turned over the tables.
And to the sellers of the pigeons he said:
‘Take these things from here-
Stop making the house of my Father a house of merchants’

His disciples remembered
that is written:
Zeal for Your house will consume me. ¹

1. Psalm 69:9 ↩︎

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts;
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil;
Eternal Power, be our support;
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance:
That we may seek your face
with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. Amen.

Alcuin

Now there were standing
there six water jars,
made of stone
for the purpose of the purification rites of the Judeans.
each one holding two or three measures.

Jesus said to them:
Fill the jars with water,
and they filled them up to the brim.

And he said to them
Now draw
and carry (some) to the head steward
and they did so.

And when the head steward tasted the water
which had become wine
and he did not know where it had come from
but the servants knew
who had drawn the water
– the head steward called the bridegroom
and said to him:
Everyone first puts out the good wine
and when they are drunk – the poorer (wine)
You have kept the good wine until now!

He did this at the beginning of his signs
in Cana of Galilee
and he revealed his glory
and his disciples believed in him.

After this,
he went down to Capernaum:
he
and his disciples
and his brothers
and his mother
and there they stayed
not many days.

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

On the third day there was (became) a wedding
in Cana of Galilee
and the mother of Jesus was there.
Now Jesus and his disciples
also were invited to the wedding.

And the wine having run out
the mother of Jesus said to him:
‘They have no wine.’
And Jesus said to her:
What is your business to do with me, Lady?
My hour has not yet come.’
His mother said to the servants:
Whatever he says to you, do it.

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts,
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil,
Eternal Power, be our support,
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance,
Eternal Pity, have mercy upon us;
that with all our heart and mind
and soul and strength we may seek thy face
and be brought by thine infinite mercy
to thy holy presence;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Alcuin (735-804)