自強之路

8:11 Oh, my Lord! My dear heavenly Father! Let me praise You for not deserting me, forgiving my pathetique soul, and granting me the eternal life.
8:17 Dt 17:6, 19:15
8:20 "He gave this speech in the Treasury while teaching in the Temple. No one arrested him because his time wasn't yet up." God has all this taken care. It is all in God's plan. And of course, it is beyond our perception.
8:24 Jesus said, "You're tied down to the mundane; I'm in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I'm living on other terms. I told you that you were missing God in all this. You're at a dead end. If you won't believe I am who I say I am, you're at the dead end of sins. You're missing God in your lives." 你們若不信我是基督，必要死在罪中。
8:34-35 "I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. A slave is a transient, who can't come and go at will. The Son, though, has an established position, the run of the house. So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through." Indeed, a slave is transient. We are waiting for Jesus to set us free.
8:57-59 The Jews said, "You're not even fifty years old—and Abraham saw you?" "Believe me," said Jesus, "I am who I am long before Abraham was anything." That did it — pushed them over the edge. They picked up rocks to throw at him. But Jesus slipped away, getting out of the Temple. Well, we should do to others who still don't believe in God just as Jesus did.
9:3 You're looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do.
9:6-7 Why did Jesus heal the blind this time in a so complicated way while other times He just healed people only by His words? That's an interesting question...
9:16 "Obviously, this man can't be from God. He doesn't keep the Sabbath." Obviously, I can't be from God. I sin almost every moment. Isn't that the same statement? May God mercy the Pharisees...
9:41 What great philosophy Jesus' Words!
10:3 He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. BY NAME! God cares for each of us, EACH!
10:16 Thank You, Father, for not deserting me. "You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They'll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd."
10:22 "Hanukkah" - "temple restoring fest" was a holiday set up between the two testaments, which was the one not existing in Old Testament times.
10:34 Ps 82:6; gods: the sovereigns and the legislators, the powerful authorities on earth. 
Those who bear God's Wills and live out God's Plans can be called "gods".
11:16 Thomas believed it was certainly fatal when they went back to Judea.
11:17 Jews believed the soul would leave dead body after 4 days. Lazarus had been dead for over 4 days, and the people then were  very convinced that his sould would never come back, that is, it was hopeless to bring his life back again. It was Jesus' plan to prove in front of those stubborn Jews that it is only He that holds
the power of life and death. To God, nothing is impossible.
11:35 Jesus wept.
11:50 Caiaphas was Chief Priest that year; he unwittingly prophesied that Jesus was about to die sacrificially for the nation, and not only for the nation but so that all God's exile-scattered children might be gathered together into one people.
12:6 Judas Iscariot was the treasury of Jesus' missionary then, managing incomes and paidouts. He was a greedy man, a thief, who misappropriated, peculated and embezzled missionary funds.12:14 Zechariah 9:9
12:15 Isa 40:9
12:25 "Anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal."
12:34 Ps 102:26-27; Isa 9:6-7
12:38 Isa 6:10; 53:1
12:41 Isa 6:1
13:18 Ps 41:9, 17:12
Of course Jesus knows who would betray Him. But since He knows this, why would Jesus do that? So as not to interfere the fulfillment of the Scriptures? This is truly a mystery. I would rather say God has everything already in mind, and Jesus already knows it too. Jesus would totally be obedient under God's will. But why Judas? Well, even if it had not been Judas, there would have been another one to this placement. It is not the point who is in this place, but certainly someone be doomed to do this. And it happened to Judas. Did Jesus not love Judas? Yes, He did. He gave Judas a dipped crust, which meant friendliness then in Middle-east. Jesus Himself still would give Judas plenty of chances to repant --- even though He knows it would be in vain in the end? No, I'd rather believe He always bears hopes for people and never gives up loving us!
13:38 The "rooster" story.
14:6 Jesus said, "I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me."
14:12 "The person who trusts me will not only do what I'm doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I've been doing." The reason why we could do greater things is through grace of Jesus. He authorizes us to be able to share His honor.
14:16-17 The Falling of Holy Spirit, a true Friend, the Spirit of Truth, will be with us and in us!
14:26 Holy Spirit is also a good teacher, who will make everything plain to us and  remind us of all the things Jesus has told us. The Holy Spirit is Jesus' parting gift to us. Thank You, Jesus.