Beginning
Jesus washes his disciples' feet
13 It was nearly time for the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that he would soon leave this world and to go to the Father. He had always loved those who were his own people in the world. He continued to love them to the end.
2 Jesus and his disciples were eating supper. The Devil had already put an idea into the mind of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son. The idea was to sell Jesus to his enemies. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him power over everything. He knew that he had come from God. And he knew that he would soon return to God. 4 So, during the meal, he stood up. He took off the coat that he wore over his other clothes. He tied a piece of cloth round himself. 5 Then he poured water into a bowl and he began to wash the disciples' feet. Jesus made their feet dry with the cloth that was round him.
6 Jesus came to Simon Peter. Peter asked him, ‘Lord, will you really wash my feet?’ 7 Jesus answered him, ‘You do not understand now what I am doing. But you will understand in the future.’ 8 Peter said, ‘No! You will never wash my feet!’ Jesus answered, ‘If I do not wash you, you do not belong with me.’ 9 Simon Peter replied, ‘So Lord, do not wash my feet only! Wash my hands and my head too!’ 10 Jesus said, ‘A person who has washed his whole body is completely clean. He needs only to wash his feet. And all of you are clean, except one of you.’ 11 Jesus knew already who would sell him to his enemies. That is why he said, ‘Not every one of you is clean.’
12 When he had finished washing the disciples' feet, Jesus put on his coat. He returned to his place at the meal. He asked them, ‘I want you to understand what I have just done for you. 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right. That is what I am. 14 I am your Teacher and your Lord, but I have washed your feet. So you also should wash each other's feet. 15 I have given you an example. You should do the same for others as I have done for you. 16 I tell you this: No servant is more important than his master is. No messenger is more important than the person who sent him with a message. 17 Now you understand these things. So you should do them, and God will bless you.’
18 Jesus then said, ‘I am not talking about all of you. I know the people that I have chosen. The Bible says, “Someone who ate food with me has turned against me.”[a] 19 I am telling you this now, before it happens. So then, when it does happen, you will believe me. You will believe that “I am who I am”.[b] 20 I tell you this: Anyone who accepts someone that I send to them is also accepting me. Anyone who accepts me is also accepting my Father God who sent me.’
Jesus tells the disciples what will happen to him
21 After Jesus had said this, he felt very upset. He said to the disciples very seriously, ‘I tell you this: One of you will help my enemies to take hold of me.’ 22 The disciples looked at each other. They did not know which of them Jesus was speaking about. 23 The disciple that Jesus loved was sitting very near to Jesus. 24 Simon Peter looked towards that disciple and said to him, ‘Ask Jesus who he is speaking about.’ 25 So that disciple moved even nearer to Jesus and he asked, ‘Who is it, Lord?’ 26 Jesus answered, ‘I will put a piece of bread in the dish of food. Then I will give the bread to him. That is the man.’ So he put a piece of bread in the dish. Then he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
27 When Judas had taken the bread, Satan came into him. Then Jesus said to Judas, ‘Do quickly what you want to do.’ 28 None of the other disciples who were sitting at the meal understood this. They did not know why Jesus said this to Judas. 29 Judas kept the bag of money on behalf of the group of disciples. So some of them thought that Jesus had asked Judas to buy some things. Maybe he should buy what they needed for the festival. Or maybe he should go and give some money to the poor people.
30 Judas took the bread and he ate it. Then he went out immediately. By now it was night.
Jesus' new rule
31 When Judas had left, Jesus said, ‘Now people will see how great the Son of Man is. Because of him, they will also see how great God is. 32 The Son will show how great God is. Then God will take the Son to himself and he will show how great the Son is. He will do that very soon.
33 My children, I will be with you for only a short time now. You will look for me. But I tell you now what I told the Jews. You cannot go where I am now going. 34 I give a new rule to you. Love each other. You must love each other as I have loved you. 35 In this way, everyone will know that you are my disciples. They will know it, if you really love each other.’
36 Simon Peter asked him, ‘Lord, where will you go?’ Jesus replied, ‘You cannot follow now where I will go. But some time after this, you will follow.’ 37 Peter said, ‘Lord, why can I not go with you now? I would even die for you.’ 38 Jesus answered, ‘You say that you would die for me. But I tell you this: Soon you will say that you do not know me. Before the cockerel sings early tomorrow morning, you will say that three times.’
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.[c] 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.[d] 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.’
The branches must stay in the vine
15 Jesus said, ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.[e] 2 Some branches that are part of me may have no fruit on them. My Father completely removes all those branches. But other branches do have fruit. My Father cuts all those branches to make them better. Then they will be good and make more fruit. 3 The words that I have spoken to you have made you good already. 4 Continue to live in me, and I will continue to live in you. A branch cannot make fruit by itself. It can make fruit only if it continues to be part of the vine. You are like that. You cannot make fruit unless you continue to live in me.[f]
5 I am the vine, and you are the branches. You must continue to live in me and I must continue to live in you. Only if you do that will you make plenty of fruit. That is because you can do nothing without me. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, that person is like a dead branch. The gardener will throw that branch away and it will die. People throw all those dead branches into the fire so that they burn. 7 You must remain in me, and my teaching must remain in you. Then you may ask for anything that you want. God will do it for you. 8 If you make plenty of fruit, that will give honour to my Father. You will show that you are truly my disciples.
9 I have loved you in the same way that the Father has loved me. Continue to live in a way that shows my love. 10 If you obey what I have told you, you will be living in my love. In the same way, I have obeyed what my Father has told me to do. In that way, I live in his love. 11 I want you to be completely happy, in the same way that I myself am happy. That is why I have told you these things.
12 This is the rule that I give to you: You must love each other, in the same way that I have loved you. 13 A person really loves his friends if he dies so that they can live. Nobody could love anyone more than that. 14 And you are my friends, if you obey my message. 15 A servant does not know what his master is doing. So I do not call you servants any more. No, I call you my friends. This is because I have told you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you. I chose you to go and to make plenty of fruit. That kind of fruit will continue always. For that reason, the Father will help you with anything that you ask him. If you ask him in my name, he will do it for you.[g] 17 This is what I tell you to do: You must love each other.’
People will hate the disciples
18 ‘The people who belong to this world may hate you. But remember this: They hated me before they hated you. 19 If you belonged to this world, this world's people would love you. They would love you because you would belong with them. But I chose you so that you would be separate from this world's people. You do not belong with them, so they hate you. 20 Remember what I told you: “No servant is more important than his master is.” If they have caused trouble for me, they will also cause trouble for you. But if they have obeyed my message, they will also obey your message. 21 They will do all these things to you because you belong to me. They will do them because they do not know the one who sent me.
22 I have come and I have spoken my message to them. If I had not done that, they would not have been guilty of their sin. But now they cannot say, “We have not done anything wrong.” 23 Anyone who hates me also hates my Father. 24 When I was with them, I did many great things. Nobody else ever did things like that. If I had not done those great things among them, they would not have known what is wrong. But they have seen what I did. As a result, they have hated me, and they have hated my Father too. 25 Their book of God's Law says, “They hated me without any good reason.”[h] What that book already said long ago had to happen.
26 When I return to my Father, I will send the Helper to you. The Helper is God's Spirit who speaks only true things. He comes to you from the Father. I will send him to you and he will speak true things about me. 27 You also must speak to people about me, because you have been with me from the beginning.’
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