The Words of Hyung Jin Moon From 2010
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The Words of Hyung Jin Moon From 2010 |
Good afternoon, brothers and sisters! It is really great to see you all. Welcome to the headquarters of the Unification Church. From this week, True Parents will be here honoring the Legacy Conference in Korea. As they start the conference, let us have a powerful mind and sincerity for the success of the conference. Today we are sincerely praying. Have a blessed week. In the Name of our Heavenly Father and True Parents. Aju
Good afternoon, brothers and sisters! Dear brothers and sisters, let us begin with manifesting the Principle: Give and Receive Action, Four-Position-Foundation, May I inherit the True Love of God! Aju
Today, before we enter into the Cheon Seong Gyeong, we want to welcome all the brothers and sisters from Japan. I believe there are over 300 brothers and sisters who are here with us today. Let's give them a very warm welcome. We are so pleased and honored to have these brothers and sisters here.
Today is Cheon Seong Gyeong at 7:30.
"Will you be ancestors who will be accused by your descendents or will you be ancestors of blessing who will be glorified. We are standing at this crossroad. As such you should be always thinking that you are representing three ages when we are gathering together the past, present and future. Put the physical and spiritual realms together and lead them; they will come running to you. We must accomplish this mission."
Aju!
Brothers and sisters, True Parents asked us the question in Cheon Seong Gyeong at 7:30, will you become ancestors who will be accused by their descendents in the future or spirit world, or ancestors of blessing who will be glorified. I believe we will be ancestors that glorify God and True Parents and Spirit World. Let's give it up to God and True Parents!
Let's begin by preparing our mind, body and breath. Let's start with our body: As we stretch our hands towards the sanctuary floor let's breathe in the Universal Prime Energy. As we stretch up toward heaven and breathe out, Give and Receive Action; as we deeply breathe in, Four Position Foundation. As we exhale, let's lift it up to the heavens. As we inhale: May I inherit and as we exhale: May I inherit the True Love of God! Aju. One more time: as we breathe in the Universal Prime Energy, hands towards the heavens; as we breathe out hands towards heaven, let's manifest the principle in a greater way, breathing in, Four Position Foundation; as we breathe it out, lifting it up towards heaven, breathing in: May I inherit; Breathing out: the true love of God. Aju
Brothers and sisters, let's all be seated now. Let's prepare our mind, let's keep our back straight, so we can breathe evenly and deeply. Let's prepare for our first meditation and visualization. Let us gently close our eyes and visualize ourselves not in this sanctuary but now let us visualize our self walking in the beautiful forest in the mist of spring. We can see the beautiful green grass that has broken through the harsh winter. We can see the beautiful cherry blossoms that are blooming in spring. We can feel the cool breeze, we can feel the warm sunlight and as we look up ahead we notice a beautiful stream. Let's walk up to that stream and let us stand before that stream. Let us notice the beautiful transparent waters being illuminated by the spring sun. Let us see the little fish swimming at the bottom of that stream. And let us notice the beautiful sound of the stream. Now in that image let us close our eyes and let us feel the presence of that environment with our body and mind and heart. As we breathe deeply in our hearts let us say: I am alive! And as we breathe out deeply in our hearts let us simply say: Thank you! Once again: As we breathe in, let us say in our hearts: My family is alive! As we breathe out in our hearts let us say: Thank you! Third inhalation as we breathe in: My nation is alive! As we breathe out: By your grace alone, thank you! Final inhalation as we breathe in: This world is still alive! As we breathe out: By your grace alone, thank you!
God and True Parents have blessed us with the blessed life. Let us become a still greater blessing to inherit the True Love of God, the cosmic parental heart, to become greater blessings for our spouse, our family, society, nation and world cosmos, and even to God. Now let us join our palms together and manifest the Principle: Give and Receive Action. Four Position Foundations. May I inherit the True Love of God. Aju!
Dear brothers and sisters, I will ask you all now to rise. This will be now a time for prayer. I want you to say your greetings to your brother and sister that are next to you. We are now going to pray. We are going to offer this prayer to that person, so that they can hear it. And as we offer our prayer we offer a beautiful song of praise. And I also want to invite you after your prayer for your brother and sister next to you to then pray for the people particularly in Cheonan who were in the accident of the submarine, where many soldiers who were guarding the Korean peninsula drowned. So we want to offer our prayers also for their spirits today. So let us all join our hearts and let us now begin to pray in unison with the person next to you.
Dear most beloved True Parents and Heavenly Father! Thank you so much! We want to pray for all those thousands of people who in the last few months ascended into the spirit world. The people of Haiti, the people of Chile, the people of Indochina, who were devastated by earthquakes. Father, we also pray for those military men and women, who are protecting this peninsula, our Fatherland -- the many men and women who lost their lives just a few weeks ago in the boat accident near China. We want to pray for their souls today. And we want to remember and honor their legacy. Let them come to True Parents and find eternal life. We are so grateful for all that you have blessed us with. We pray all things with gratitude and thanks in our own names as central blessed families. Aju.
Dear brothers and sisters, thank you so much. Let us give our brothers and sisters next to us a big hug! A big hug, big hug, big hug -- thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you, love you, love you. Have strength -- let's encourage him/her today.
Brothers and sisters, please be seated. We have now a very special video because we are the proud Unification Church. We are the proud Unification Family. Let us give it up for our entire worldwide Unification Family! (Applause) -- They can see you on video -- you can do better than that!
I think it was around late April 1970 when my older brother told me he wanted to take me somewhere on Saturday and I should prepare myself. That was Kwang Ju Church and the lecturer there asked us: "What do we need to know in order to practice filial piety?" [It] is that first you need to know your parents heart and what they wish for and their circumstances as well. Only then may we serve our parents well. Now, if you call God our Parent or Heavenly Father then you need to know His Heart. The reason He has to let the fallen world be... What He wants from the human beings... and he said that the Unification Church is where they teach us these things. And he said that is the main difference between the contemporary Christian Church and the Unification Church. That is the reason that I joined the Church.
I really feel the greatness of the Principle through business practice. We learn Give and Take Action, right? What comes first in Give and Take Action? You have to give and take well. In restoration providence we have a central figure for your offering and for your time and for your foundation of faith. And just like that I told everyone where they can buy certain products and I gave them the information that I had. And when I did that a close acquaintance of mine told me if I kept doing that I would be out of business within six months. However, when I gave away this beneficial information people began to purchase what I had to sell, and they brought their friends and through this we were able to achieve mutual prosperity and upon this natural sharing our business began to expand. My office is small but we are connected to thousands of other businesses. We have the same birthday (talking about his wife) and we feel as if True Parents picked us out of the crowd with a pair of tweezers and at first sight I could tell that my wife had a very pure heart. Anyway there are many things that I want to boast about my wife, but one thing that I'm truly grateful for is the fact that she has been very devoted towards my physical parents. I'm truly grateful for that. My mother once told my wife that she is the best daughter-in-law there is. And I'm very proud of that. Thank you.
(Wife talking) I was very grateful towards Heavenly Father for the blessing I had received. With that kind of mindset it was natural for me to serve my parents-in-law with a serious heart and I was grateful that they had given me their wonderful son. So even if we started out without much, I was able to do my best I think. And my husband never loses the focus on True Parents. Even in his office he does Hoon Dok Hae and talks to me about it, tells me where True Parents are, what they are doing and what are their directions. Sometimes he finds out these things before anyone and then makes announcements for everyone. Thank you to God and True Parents! We will always love you! Let's keep up the good work! Thank You!
(End of video)
Brothers and sisters, let's rise and read now True Parents Declaration.
These are my True Parents, the Eternal King and Queen of Peace, the Liberator of Gods Heart. They have saved me from my past, they have blessed my future and they give me true love, forgiveness and happiness today and I choose to receive them. My mind is awake, my heart is open wide and from this moment I will change forever. In my name. Aju!
Let us begin with the World Scriptures:
Christianity
"The dust returns to the earth as
it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it."
Ecclesiastes
12:7:
Aju!
Islam
"Surely We give life and cause to
die, and to Us is the eventual coming"
Qur'an 50:43
Hinduism
"Now my breath and spirit goes to
the Immortal, and this body ends in ashes; OM. O Mind! Remember.
Remember the deeds. Remember the actions".
Isha Upanishad 17:
True Parents Words
Selection of True Fathers Words
"A human being's essence is
spiritual. When you go to the spirit world you will recognize more
deeply that the essence of being human is to live for the sake of
others".
Volume 2:138
Aju.
Core Scriptures:
"I tell you the truth,"
Jesus answered, "this very night, before the rooster crows, you
will disown me three times." But Peter declared, "Even if I
have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the
other disciples said the same.
Matthew
26:34-35
Aju.
In Matthew 26:69-75 we have Peter who emphatically states that he will never disown Jesus, but when the pressure is on him and when Jesus had been captured to go the path of crucifixion, Peter denies Christ. First he denies Christ to a servant woman who asks him, and then to another woman who asks him and a third time to the crowd who has heard those questions and now asks him if he knows this man. He declares louder and louder: "I don't know this man!" -- "I don't know the man!" -- "I don't know the man!" Then the rooster crows and he remembers Jesus' prophecy that he would deny Christ. The in Bible says: "Then Peter flees and weeps knowing that he has indeed betrayed the Lord. On the other hand, Judas Iscariot, after having handed over Jesus to the Romans for 30 pieces of silver, ends up being possessed by evil spirits and committing suicide.
When we disown God we may think we are acting on our own strength -- that we have the power to disown the Almighty. And this pattern of falling prey to the pressures of society, like Peter did, denying our faith in God and True Parents, this is always a temptation that never leaves us. In this modern world there are so many people who say we don't need such an ancient concept as 'God'. That's such a medieval concept; totally useless for the modern age; completely unnecessary. We have science, we have modern technology, and we understand the evolution of the planets and the cosmos. We don't need anymore the idea, the concept of God
Nietzsche, the famous 19th century nihilist philosopher, who really was a genius in his own right; who brought the whole philosophical world to the realm of artistic philosophy through all these incredible visual metaphors and incredible writings that he did, branded the term, "God is dead." -- and we have killed him. Of course, this second part he didn't put in there. But this quote from his work: 'The mad man' became very famous. Interestingly enough his parents and also his grandfather were pastors. Nietzsche grew up to eventually disown Christianity and to become an ecstatic critique of the church. And he really began to believe that it is irrational to have such a concept of God, a remnant of an old time past, an ignorant age.
We don't need such a conception. Nietzsche believed that for the masses, who are dumb and uneducated, it is OK to have morality. But for the "exceptional people," like himself -- following the inner law was the key; that they could replace God with their own elitist self. But Nietzsche himself also warned in his writings of the dangers of "killing God." He said that a universal madness would occur and that bloodshed would be inevitable. It is very interesting to know that Nietzsche, who lived by his philosophy, was not a happy individual. For the last 13 years of his life he went insane. He would be silent for days or weeks on end, and then he would burst randomly into scripture verses that would pour out of his mouth. He died in a self fulfilling prophecy, lonely and degraded as a madman. It's very interesting to know that although Nietzsche died in this manner following his own philosophy of life, where he replaced God essentially with his own inner law, people don't know and don't understand this side of the story.
In fact, many people were greatly influenced by Nietzsche. One such man was a man we all know, famous in history, Adolf Hitler. He was inspired by Nietzsche's concept of the "Uebermensch", (literally "over-man") the superman. And he handed over this concept to Mussolini and Stalin -- three of the greatest "manifestations of Satan or Lucifer" in all of the modern history in the 20th century. They all valued the concept of the "Uebermensch", the supreme ego who defies both God and the masses, who despises egalitarianism and democracy, who believes that democracy creates weakness and believes the weakest going to the wall and pushing them off if they don't go fast enough. The strong man determines his own fate and can set up his own moral law.
With a philosophy that saw morality as a tool for the dumb masses and for the exceptional people making their own law, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, went on to create the worst hellish horrors of the 20th century. Hitler actually went further than that. He didn't only incorporate Nietzsche's psychology and philosophy but also utilized a "pseudo-scientific approach" trying to show that the Arian race was the superior race; that by exterminating what he called the "parasitic" races of the Polish and the Slavs and the "life unworthy of life races" of the Gypsies and the Jews, that he was simply participating in the natural evolution where the "survival of the fittest weeds out the imperfection in a certain species". You see what happens?
Interestingly enough Darwin never sought to disprove God, and in his own writings he also warns, as Nietzsche does, that through a philosophical outworking of the theories he was propounding in scientific terms there could be rationalization for all sorts of bloodshed. As one philosopher said, "If you get rid of God, someone has to take His place, Megalomania, or Erotomania, Hitler or Hugh Heffner." With the philosophy, "We simply don't need God, and who is to say who is right and wrong, (nobody can be that judge), we don't need God to do that; we can decide for ourselves; We can create our own moral law". These dangers like Hitler can only inevitably arise.
When they had finished eating, Jesus
said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me
more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know
that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again
Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He
answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus
said, "Take care of my sheep." The third time he said to
him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt
because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?"
He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love
you."
John 21: 15-17
Aju!
This is the scene after the death of Christ. He was crucified and then after three days was resurrected from the grave. This is the third visit that he has with his disciples, in the Gospel of John. Here Simon Peter is out fishing and he cannot catch anything that day. Nothing was caught the whole day. Then the resurrected body of the Christ is on the shore and tells them: "Throw the net to the right side and you will have abundance." That's when they recognized that it is Jesus. At that instant Peter jumps into the water and swims to the shore. The others in the boat haul up the net and bring up 153 fish. They share a meal with Jesus in the resurrected body. This is the scene where Jesus asks Peter three times: "Do you love me?"
We know that this is to indemnify the three denials that Peter had committed against the Christ when Jesus was arrested. In this instant when Peter sees the resurrected body he is truly repentant. A true transformation occurs in Peter. When Jesus was being arrested and crucified, Peter tried to preserve his own life. But after he saw Jesus in the resurrected body, when Jesus asked him the three questions "Do you love me?" and committed him to answer, he truly gave himself over to the Lord. From that moment he decided that he would risk his life now to serve and proclaim the Lord.
We can see this because after the Gospel of John, in the Acts of the Apostles, Peter is now on the frontline. He is declaring the Gospel, going around to all the Mediterranean cities, creating communities and churches and fighting with persecutors of the faith. Even though he is mocked and persecuted he fights for Christ and the Kingdom of God. He is sincere in his remorse, he now puts his life on the line to proclaim the Gospel of Christ, never to repeat the same denials and mistakes that he did.
He goes to Jerusalem even though he knows that he will be arrested and that he will die because of his faith. As we know Simon Peter was crucified upside down. We also know that Simon Peter requested that, because until the very end he was so repentant and so filled with sadness that he denied the Lord when he was present, that he didn't do anything to stand up for him, that he said: "I cannot go like the Lord. I'm not worthy of that. Put me upside down and let me experience a more painful passing."
We, as Unificationists, are in the midst of the Messiah, in the position of the Apostles, when Jesus was present. Peter did deny Christ. He denied him and Jesus was crucified. But I believe, that unlike Peter, the brothers and sisters around the world profess faith in True Parents and the Unification Church. I believe we are not those types of children that disown their parents. We can see True Parents with our spiritual eyes. We recognize them. We will bring them glory while they are here on this earth. Let's give it up for all our Unification brothers and sisters around the world! (Applause)
This week when True Father held the International Seunghwa Ceremony, which is the Ascension Ceremony, it was so powerful. There were the pictures of the great men and women of the world whose lives Father was celebrating. They had candles lit next to them, a very beautiful scene, and True Father explained that 'death is not a sad time. It is a time when we ascend into the glorious light, if we live right. Seunghwa actually means glorious light -- so it's the 'Ascending into the Glorious Light.'
We all came out. A couple of us had to introduce Father and give other introductions to what the ascension ceremony was etc. and we all came out and declared True Parents as the Messiah, the Returning Lord and the Second Coming of Christ. We did not introduce him as a 'peace activist' or an 'educator'; we introduced him in his true identity and the core of our faith. There were many Peace Ambassadors there and many guests, but many of them told us that for the last decades they had been attending these peace ceremonies never understanding how to see True Parents. They saw him just as a peace activist and many times couldn't understand why he is screaming up there, talking about God, hell and spiritual world, eternal life -- why can't he tell us about the newest methods of peace building! But when we described him as the Messiah, the Lord who has returned, many of the ambassadors said in their testimonies that that was much more clarifying. We could understand why he is so passionate about God, why he always talks about God, why he always speaks about sin and repentance, eternal life and that inevitably we must go to spirit world, why he is so strongly against communism that tries to get rid of God; we could finally understand why he would do all that.
Mr. Yoo, Dr. Seuk and Mr. Song Young Suk all came out and declared True Parents as the Lord. I also declared True Parents as the Lord in my introduction. The stage was set for True Father. He came up and he gave this incredible, electrifying two hour speech. Which is very short actually, we all were expecting much longer training. But it was a two hour speech filled with incredible passion for God. There was also holy fire coming down against sin, evil and Satan stealing Adam and Eve, in a speech explaining that in the hour of our death we are forced to assess our lives from the eyes of our Creator.
Many of the Peace Ambassadors realized that the Messiah doesn't come to make us feel good. He doesn't come to soothe us with beautiful words; he comes to challenge us to follow God. He comes to tell us that we are of the fallen lineage; that we must admit this and come to the original lineage, back to God, before we pass.
There was this one Peace Ambassador who recently gave his testimony and he said that he read a bestselling book, a book about a man. The author was an atheist and a tremendous admirer of Nietzsche. He said that his philosophy of life comes from the thought of Nietzsche. The author's daughter was a Christian and she always tried to bring her father to church but he always resisted, saying 'I don't need God. That is a concept for the weak. I'm an Uebermensch. I don't need that. I can follow and create my own values.'
But then the daughter was diagnosed with a terminal illness. She was given only three months to live by the doctors. That man watched his daughter slowly die. He saw her dilapidating, he saw her hair falling out, he saw her becoming so emaciated and he realized that he could not control this situation. No matter how much he wanted to believe that he could be the 'over-man' and the superman who can create his own inner law and morals, in the end, when he saw his daughter dying before his eyes, he said that he prayed for the first time to God. He said that he needed something to hold onto in such an empty philosophical world. So he prayed. He didn't know what prayer was, he just prayed out of his heart 'please save my daughter.' He prayed and prayed and he received a miracle. The author went on to say that his daughter survived the disease and regained her health.
The Peace Ambassador who read this book said that he was very moved and inspired by it. It made him think about life and death. It made him think about eternal life. He said that when he came to the Ascension Ceremony, that True Parents led, he could feel the power of why we have to contemplate eternal life on a whole new level. He said that he had heard True Father say that it is through True Parents that we receive eternal life and he said that when I die I want to go through True Parents. I want to go through a Seunghwa Ascension Ceremony and meet my maker in the spirit world.' Let's give it up for True Parents. (Applause)
'I don't need God in my life. I don't need that concept. It's an ideological view which was imposed upon me; it's something that is unnecessary in the modern world.' This was basically the concept of Nietzsche. This kind of philosophy has seeped into popular culture without people actually knowing and understanding its roots. We understand that philosophy has three levels. The first level is theoretical, where we can argue philosophically about different ideas, second is the artistic, where we play music and philosophize -- many artists don't know that they are doing philosophy but they are, through the arts. And the third level is through application. How then does a philosophy of life that we expound on the first and second level apply? What is the result in the third? These are the different levels when you study basic philosophy.
In this kind of popular philosophy, 'I don't need God', 'unnecessary concept', the logical outworking can be quite devastating. This philosophical relativity was the starting point that created the rationalization and justification of the horrors of the 20th century, the bloodiest century known to men. Once you take away the moral law giver, the entity that gives us morals above any nation or state, you take away the moral law. When you take away the moral law you take away the ability to differentiate between good and evil. When you take away the ability to differentiate between good and evil you take away good -- you make good relative; and you take away evil because you make evil relative. Then you can rationalize, pragmatize and theorize any type of human action. Anything can be rationalized and explained. This is exactly what happened in the Nazi history; the tribulation of evil. Slaughter, mass murder, human experimentation, ethnic cleansing was all in the name of scientific progress, of natural evolution processes.
After the Second World War the Nazi leaders were overcome, defeated. There were the Nuremberg trials, very famous trials where they tried the major leaders of the Nazi regime. The majority, of course, received the death penalty for war crimes against humanity. During the trials one of the judges asked those Nazi leaders: "How could you have committed such heinous crimes against humanity?"
They responded: "It was an order! It was the law of the land. I only followed the orders. I have done nothing wrong. I followed my orders like a patriot." The judge went on and said: "But is there not something beyond the law of the land that calls you to have a feeling of remorse, when you partake in mass slaughter? Isn't there something within you that says 'no, no, no, even though the government tells me to kill Jews, I should not do so'? Isn't there something, an inner voice or a moral law that is a greater order than a national state? They said: "No!"
It is this type of hardening that Hitler wanted -- to make people cruel, vicious and hardened towards evil. In the end the Nazi leaders, even though they believed they were the 'over-men', the elite itself who can make their own inner laws and rules, lost and they were punished. They were punished and went to spirit world with the sin of tens of millions of people's souls in their hands. They had to face their maker. Peter as well denied Christ when he was alive but he led a live that tried to glorify Christ until the very end of his own life. As I mentioned earlier, he requested that he be hung upside down on the cross.
When we understand how valuable this time is where we have the ability to actually serve the returning Christ, then we also understand what a wonderful opportunity it is for us to be able to glorify, praise and declare that our True Parents are the Messiah and the returning Christ. Aju!
In the end God is irreplaceable!
I want to end with a final quotation from True Father's speeches. This is from the 27th volume:
"What is the final goal of life? It is not merely a matter of meeting the Lord in heaven. The real issue is whether you are able to dwell together with the Lord. What will be your condition when you meet him? Will you be in a state where you can live comfortably with him? You will find the Lord in the central most position. If you want to live with him you must be able to live in the central position. That central position is the place of God's love. For this reason the ultimate goal sought by the human conscience is to connect with heavenly fortune and follow it to the point where we become one with God's love and make God's love our own."
Aju.
Heavenly Father, thank You so much for this day. All around the world in the last couple of months, we have seen so much devastation, so much loss of life -- from Haiti to Indonesia, from China to Korea. We pray that You may have Your holy hand upon all the souls that are ascending to the spirit world. We pray that we all may come to know True Parents and live in Your realm of love at the center most part of the spirit world.
We want to offer our thanks and prayers. We know that we cannot bring those children to You. But we want to pray for them and encourage them to move closer to Your heart. We pray that you may be with their families as well in this time where all these things are occurring. We pray that we may understand why True Father is trying to enlighten us, why he is trying to give us the Ascension Ceremony as a center of the providence, to remind us that one day we will pass, that we are impermanent, that we are not eternally here on the physical realm. When we contemplate eternal life, let us frame our own life and how we live and how we declare and serve the Lord in a greater way than even Simon Peter. We pray that in the time of the Messiah, the returning Christ, we can be even greater than the Apostles, that we can do what they could not have done and bring them glory. That we can alleviate their frustration, so that they can see us and be glad and proud of us as we step up and declare True Parents while they are here on earth.
We pray that you bless each one of our brothers and sisters, they have come from all over the world -- from Japan, Africa, Russia, America, South America who have gathered here in the Fatherland, to witness Your glory, to witness the miracles that are happening all around and to do the impossible with You.
We pray that today we may know that You are irreplaceable, that we trust You, that we need You and we want to hold onto You because there are times in our life where we realize our own mortality, realize that we cannot control the things in our own life, that we thought we have so much control over. We pray that we can offer our hearts to You in humility and thanks. We want to give You all the glory today. Be glad, seeing us today, for we love You and we trust in You. We want to return the glory and victory to True Parents. Let us be one as we move forward to accomplish Cheon Il Guk. We pray these things in our own names as central blessed families and in the name of our beloved True Parents. Aju!
1: When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples,
2: "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of man will be delivered up to be crucified."
3: Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, who was called Ca'iaphas,
4: and took counsel together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.
5: But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be a tumult among the people."
6: Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,
7: a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head, as he sat at table.
8: But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste?
9: For this ointment might have been sold for a large sum, and given to the poor."
10: But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me.
11: For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.
12: In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial.
13: Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."
14: Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests
15: and said, "What will you give me if I deliver him to you?" And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.
16: And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.
17: Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the passover?"
18: He said, "Go into the city to a certain one, and say to him, `The Teacher says, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at your house with my disciples.'"
19: And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the passover.
20: When it was evening, he sat at table with the twelve disciples;
21: and as they were eating, he said, "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me."
22: And they were very sorrowful, and began to say to him one after another, "Is it I, Lord?"
23: He answered, "He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me, will betray me.
24: The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born."
25: Judas, who betrayed him, said, "Is it I, Master?" He said to him, "You have said so."
26: Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is my body."
27: And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you;
28: for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
29: I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."
30: And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
31: Then Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of me this night; for it is written, `I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'
32: But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee."
33: Peter declared to him, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away."
34: Jesus said to him, "Truly, I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times."
35: Peter said to him, "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you." And so said all the disciples.
36: Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsem'ane, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here, while I go yonder and pray."
37: And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zeb'edee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
38: Then he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me."
39: And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt."
40: And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour?
41: Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
42: Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, thy will be done."
43: And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
44: So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words.
45: Then he came to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
46: Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."
47: While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people.
48: Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "The one I shall kiss is the man; seize him."
49: And he came up to Jesus at once and said, "Hail, Master!" And he kissed him.
50: Jesus said to him, "Friend, why are you here?" Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him.
51: And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest, and cut off his ear.
52: Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.
53: Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?
54: But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?"
55: At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me.
56: But all this has taken place, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.
57: Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Ca'iaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered.
58: But Peter followed him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards to see the end.
59: Now the chief priests and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death,
60: but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward
61: and said, "This fellow said, `I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.'"
62: And the high priest stood up and said, "Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?"
63: But Jesus was silent. And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."
64: Jesus said to him, "You have said so. But I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven."
65: Then the high priest tore his robes, and said, "He has uttered blasphemy. Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy.
66: What is your judgment?" They answered, "He deserves death."
67: Then they spat in his face, and struck him; and some slapped him,
68: saying, "Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?"
69: Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a maid came up to him, and said, "You also were with Jesus the Galilean."
70: But he denied it before them all, saying, "I do not know what you mean."
71: And when he went out to the porch, another maid saw him, and she said to the bystanders, "This man was with Jesus of Nazareth."
72: And again he denied it with an oath, "I do not know the man."
73: After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, "Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you."
74: Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, "I do not know the man." And immediately the cock crowed.
75: And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, "Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly.
1: After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tibe'ri-as; and he revealed himself in this way.
2: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathan'a-el of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zeb'edee, and two others of his disciples were together.
3: Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat; but that night they caught nothing.
4: Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
5: Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any fish?" They answered him, "No."
6: He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, for the quantity of fish.
7: That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his clothes, for he was stripped for work, and sprang into the sea.
8: But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.
9: When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it, and bread.
10: Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught."
11: So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and although there were so many, the net was not torn.
12: Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord.
13: Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish.
14: This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
15: When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs."
16: A second time he said to him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep."
17: He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.
18: Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go."
19: (This he said to show by what death he was to glorify God.) And after this he said to him, "Follow me."
20: Peter turned and saw following them the disciple whom Jesus loved, who had lain close to his breast at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?"
21: When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?"
22: Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!"
23: The saying spread abroad among the brethren that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?"
24: This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true.
25: But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.