awakening

¹⁴Because of this, it is said: “You who are sleeping: awaken, and rise up from the dead, and so shall the Christ enlighten you.”

¹¹And we know the present time, that now is the hour for us to rise up from sleep. For already our salvation is closer than when we first believed.

¹Rise up, Rise up! Clothe yourself in strength, O Zion! Put on the garments of your glory, O Jerusalem, the city of the Holy One! For the uncircumcised and the unclean will no longer pass through you.

¹¹He said these things, and after this, he said to them: “Lazarus our friend is sleeping. But I am going, so that I may awaken him from sleep.” ¹²And so his disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he shall be healthy.” ¹³But Jesus had spoken about his death. Yet they thought that he spoke about the repose of sleep. ¹⁴Therefore, Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus has died.

⁸Whoever does not love, does not know God. For God is love. ⁹The love of God was made apparent to us in this way: that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through him. ¹⁰In this is love: not as if we had loved God, but that he first loved us, and so he sent his Son as a propitiation for our sins. ¹¹Most beloved, if God has so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.

⁵And he saved us, not by works of justice that we had done, but, in accord with his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and by the renovation of the Holy Spirit,

¹Now there was a man among the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ²He went to Jesus at night, and he said to him: “Rabbi, we know that you have arrived as a teacher from God. For no one would be able to accomplish these signs, which you accomplish, unless God were with him.” ³Jesus responded and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one has been reborn anew, he is not able to see the kingdom of God.” ⁴Nicodemus said to him: “How could a man be born when he is old? Surely, he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be reborn?” ⁵Jesus responded: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one has been reborn by water and the Holy Spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will return again, and then I will take you to myself, so that where I am, you also may be.

¹⁶You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. And I have appointed you, so that you may go forth and bear fruit, and so that your fruit may last. Then whatever you have asked of the Father in my name, he shall give to you.

²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither servant nor free; there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. ²He was with God in the beginning. ³All things were made through Him, and nothing that was made was made without Him. ⁴Life was in Him, and Life was the light of men. ⁵And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ⁶There was a man sent by God, whose name was John.

¹Blessed is the man who has not followed the counsel of the impious, and has not remained in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the chair of pestilence. ²But his will is with the law of the Lord, and he will meditate on his law, day and night. ³And he will be like a tree that has been planted beside running waters, which will provide its fruit in its time, and its leaf will not fall away, and all things whatsoever that he does will prosper. ⁴Not so the impious, not so. For they are like the dust that the wind casts along the face of the earth. ⁵Therefore, the impious will not prevail again in judgment, nor sinners in the council of the just. ⁶For the Lord knows the way of the just. And the path of the impious will pass away.