June 13th, 2026

This Sunday’s title is the Third Sunday after Pentecost, and similar things continue. This year, being the “A Series”, we are going through the Gospel according to Matthew, the first of three somewhat similar accounts of Jesus. The Gospel Reading for this Sunday is Matthew 9:35-10:8, with the option of also including verses 9-20.


With the writings of this website, we have been going through the Gospel according to John, a significantly different Gospel account. We are taking a little bit at a time, in the order in which it has been laid out, and we are not skipping any parts. And we are also hoping that, by the end of the church year, we would be close to finishing a very special translation of that Gospel account. We are currently calling that special translation an EXTREMELY literal translation. And we are currently in what is called chapter twelve of that Gospel account. If you are familiar with this style of translation, then you may bypass the next two paragraphs.


The first significant thing to mention regarding the description of this type of translation is that the verse numbers will not be included within the text itself. Both the chapter numbers and verse numbers were added quite later after the text was written, and they are certainly helpful when someone is searching for a particular text, but the structure they imply is not always helpful. These numerical designations tend to focus the reader on the very beginning of the text, where the writer started, and that is usually not the most important thing that the writer wants the reader to remember. The writers basically wanted the readers to focus on Jesus and not themselves. And the words are much more important than the numbers, and often those words lead the reader near the middle and/or the end of the text in some way. (Jesus says his “Amen, amen” near the middle and end of his last words of the text below. This helps to give a structure to his words and points to Someone very important.)


It should also be noted that the words with hyphens occur when more than one English word is used to describe a single word of the ancient Greek. And some of the words chosen below are meant to point out the close connection that often occurs between the English and Greek languages. (Hopefully that is not too distracting.) It is also important to mention that the order of the words below is also the same order that is in the ancient Greek. This may help to show the important words, especially when another word besides the verb is first in the sentence or phrase. Sometimes this emphasis is shown with a “(!)”. The exception to this translation order is that there are just a small number of words (like “therefore”, “now”) that are usually second in a sentence that are meant to be first when translated. And although it should be obvious, it should be said that repetition of words should be noted as another type of emphasis. One more thing to mention is that the verbs in capital letters are called HISTORICAL PRESENTS. In this section of the Gospel account, they are becoming much more frequent.  That is when a verb in a past tense is expected, but a verb in the present tense is given. This special characteristic of some of the verbs has been explained elsewhere in these writings, and it may be helpful to read some of the other writings of this website. With all of the above things to consider, it will probably be helpful to have another translation or a study bible nearby as you read the text below.


So what follows is an EXTREMELY literal translation of what is essentially the second half of the Gospel according to John, where Jesus is getting close to his death and resurrection. This is the first part of the what has been called the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel according to John (13:1-20).


Now  pro  the  Feast  of-the  Pascha,  having-known,  the  Jesus,  that  it-came  of-him,  the  hour,  in-order-that  he-should-remove  out-of  the  cosmos,  this,  toward  the  Father,  having-agape  the  own-ones,  the  in  the  cosmos,  into  telos  he-agape  them.  And  supper  happening,  the  diabolos  already  having-thrown  into  the  cardiac  in-order-that  he-should-give-over  him,  Judas  of-Simon  Iscariot,  having-known  that  all  he-gave  to-him,  the  Father,  into  the  hands,  and  that  from  God  he-came-out,  and  toward  the  God  he-is-going-away,  HE-RISES  out-of  the  supper,  and  he-places  the  garments,  and  having-taken  a-towel,  he-tied-around  himself;  then  HE-THROWS  water  into  the  basin,  and  he-began  to-wash  the  feet  of-the  disciples  and  to-wipe-off  with  the  towel  with-which  he-was  having-been-tied-around.


Therefore  HE-COMES  toward  Simon  Peter;  HE-SAYS  to-him,  “Lord,  you(!)  of-me  you-wash  the  feet?”


He-answered,  Jesus,  and  he-said  to-him,  “What  I,  I-am-doing,  you(!)  not  you-know  yet,  now  you-will-know  after  these-things.”


HE-SAYS  to-him,  Peter,  “Certainly  not  you-will-wash  of-me  the  feet  into  the  age.”
He-answered,  Jesus,  him,  “If  not  I-wash  you,  not  you-have  part  with  me.”


HE-SAYS  to-him,  Simon  Peter,  “Lord,  not  the  feet  of-me  mono,  but-on-the-contrary,  also  the  hands  and  the  head.”


HE-SAYS  to-him,  the  Jesus,  “The-one  having-been-bathed,  not  he-has  a-need,  if  not  the  feet  to-wash,  but-on-the-contrary,  he-is  catharsis,  whole;  and  you,  catharsis  you-are,  but-on-the-contrary,  not  all.”  For  he-knew  the-one  giving-over  him;  on-account  of-this  he-said  that  not  all  catharsis  you-are.
​

Therefore  when  he-washed  the  feet  of-them,  and  he-took  the  garments  of-him,  and  he-reclined  again,  he-said  to-them,  “Do-you-know  what  I-have-done  to-you?  You,  you-call  me  ‘The Teacher’  and  ‘The Lord’,  and  well  you-say,  for  I-am.  Therefore  if  I,  I-washed  of-you  the  feet,  the  Lord  and  the  Teacher,  also  you,  you-ought,  of-one-another  to-wash  the  feet.  For  an-example(!)  I-gave  to-you  in-order-that  as  I,  I-did  to-you,  also  you,  you-may-do.  Amen,  amen,  I-am-saying  to-you,  not  is  a-slave  greater-than  the  lord  of-him,  nor  an-apostle  greater-than  the-one  sending  him.  If  these-things  you-know,  blessed  are-you  if  you-do  them.  Not  about  all  of-you  I-am-saying;  I,  I-know  whom  I-spoke-out,  but-on-the-contrary,  in-order-that  the  graph  might-be-fulfilled,  “The-one  chewing  of-me  the  bread,  he-lifted-against,  against  me,  the  heel  of-him.”  Since  now  I-am-saying  to-you  pro  the  to-happen,  in-order-that  you-may-believe  when  it-happens  that  I,  I-am.  Amen,  amen,  I-am-saying  to-you,  the-one  receiving  the  someone  I-am-sending,  me  he-receives,  now  the  me,  the-one-receiving,  he-receives  the-one  having-sent  me.”