Jesus is the way to the Father

14 Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Do not be sad or afraid. Believe in God, and also believe in me. ² There are many rooms in my Father's house. I will go now so that I can prepare a place for you there. If it was not true, I would not have told you this. ³ After I have prepared a place for you, I will return. Then I will take you so that you will be with me. You will be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I will go.’

⁵ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you will go. So how can we know the way to get there?’ ⁶ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. Nobody comes to the Father except by me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will also know my Father. From now on, you do know him and you have seen him.’

⁸ Philip said, ‘Lord, show the Father to us. That is all that we need.’ ⁹ Jesus answered, ‘I have been with all of you for a long time. But still you do not seem to know me, Philip! Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. So why do you say, “Show the Father to us”? ¹⁰ I am in the Father and the Father is in me. You should believe that. The words that I say to you do not come from me myself. But the Father lives in me, and he is doing his work. ¹¹ I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Believe me when I say that. You have seen the things that I have done. So, if you do not believe my words, believe because of my work. ¹² I tell you this: Whoever believes in me will do the same things that I have been doing. Yes, he will do even greater things than these, because I will go to my Father. ¹³ Ask me to help you. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it for you. In that way, the Son will show everyone how great the Father is. ¹⁴ Yes, you should ask me for anything in my name.^[a] I will do it for you.’

Jesus promises to send God's Spirit

¹⁵ Jesus then said, ‘If you love me, do what I have told you to do. ¹⁶ I will ask the Father to help you with this. He will send another Helper to be with you. That Helper will stay with you for ever. ¹⁷ He is God's Spirit and he shows you what is true. The people who belong to this world cannot receive him. That is because they cannot see him. They cannot know who he is. But you know him because he stays with you. And he will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not let you remain alone, like children without parents. I will come to you.

¹⁹ Soon, the people who belong to this world will not see me any more. But you will see me. Because I continue to live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day, you will know that I am in my Father. You will know that you are in me and I am in you. ²¹ Those people who obey my commands are the ones who really love me. They accept my words and they do what I say. My Father will love everyone who loves me. I also will love them and I will show myself to them.’

²² Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, ‘Lord, why will you show yourself only to us? Why will you not show yourself also to the people who belong to this world?’

²³ Jesus replied, ‘Everyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them. And my Father and I will come to them and we will make our home with them. ²⁴ Anyone who does not love me will not obey my message. These words that you hear are not my own. No, they come from the Father, who sent me. ²⁵ I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Father will send the Holy Spirit to be with you. He will be your Helper. He will come in my name, and he will teach you all things.^[b] He will help you to remember everything that I have told you.

²⁷ I will go away but I will give you a gift of peace. It is mine to give and yours to keep. It is not like a gift that this world gives. Do not let yourselves be sad. Do not be afraid. ²⁸ You heard me say to you, “I will go away, but I will return to you.” If you loved me, you would be happy because of that. You would be happy because I will go to the Father. And he is greater than I am. ²⁹ I have told you this now, before it happens. So then, when it does happen, you will believe. ³⁰ I will not talk with you much more, because the ruler of this world will come soon. He has no power over me. ³¹ But the people who belong to this world must learn about me. They must know that I love the Father. I do everything that he tells me to do. I must show that to them. Now get up, we must go from here.’