(I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. But you seek to kill me, because my word finds no room in you. That which I have seen at the Father’s side, I have spoken, yet you do what you have heard from your father. )
They answered him ‘Our father is Abraham!’
Jesus said to them: ‘If you are children of Abraham, you would be doing the things Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you, which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You are doing the works of your father.’
They said to him ‘We were not born immorally – without a father. We have one father, God himself. ‘
Jesus said to them: ‘If God was your father, you would love me, for I have come from God and I am now here. For I have not come on my own initiative but rather he sent me.
‘Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot grasp my teaching. You are from your father, the Devil, and you are intent on doing what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
‘But because I speak the truth , you do not believe me. Who among you can prove me guilty of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me? The person who belongs to God hears the words of God. Because of this – that you do not hear – you do not belong to God.’
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)