Beginning

13 Before the Passover Feast had started, Jesus saw that the time had come for him to leave this world. The time had come for him to go back to his Father. He loved his own people who were in the world. And he loved them the same way right to the end.

² He and his disciples were eating together. The devil had already put it into Judas' heart to give Jesus over to people who hated him. (Judas was the son of Simon Iscariot.)

³ Jesus knew that his Father had put everything into his hands. He knew he had come from God. He knew he was going back to God.

⁴ Jesus stood up where he had been eating. He took off his outer clothing. And he took a towel and tied it around him.

⁵ Then he poured water into a pan and began to wash the disciples' feet. He wiped their feet with the towel he had tied around him.

⁶ He came to Simon Peter. Peter said to him, `Lord, are you going to wash my feet?'

⁷ Jesus answered him, `You do not understand now what I am doing, but you will understand it later.'

⁸ Peter said to him, `You will never wash my feet!' Jesus answered him, `If I do not wash you, then you do not belong to me.'

⁹ Simon Peter said to him, `Lord, wash my feet, and my hands, and my head also!'

¹⁰ Jesus said, `A person who has bathed himself needs to wash his feet only. He is all clean. You are clean, but not all of you.'

¹¹ Jesus knew who was going to give him over to people who hated him. That is why he said, `You are not all clean.'

¹² After Jesus had finished washing their feet, he took his gown and sat down again. `Do you understand what I have done to you?' he asked.

¹³ `You call me Master and Lord. What you say is right. I am your Master and Lord.

¹⁴ I am your Lord and Master and have washed your feet. If I do that, then you should wash one another's feet.

¹⁵ I have shown you what to do. Now you do as I have done.

¹⁶ I tell you the truth. The servant is not better than his master. The one who is sent is not better than the one who sent him.

¹⁷ Do you understand what I have told you? If you do, you will have much happiness for doing it.

¹⁸ I am not talking about all of you but I know the people I have chosen. So God's word comes true. The holy writings say, "He who is eating my bread has turned against me."

¹⁹ `I am telling you this now before it happens. So when it happens you will believe who I am.

²⁰ I tell you the truth. The person who receives the one I send, receives me. He that receives me, receives the one who sent me.'

²¹ When Jesus had said this, he was troubled in his heart. He said, `I tell you the truth. One of you will give me over to people who hate me.'

²² The disciples looked at one another. They did not know which one of them Jesus was talking about.

²³ The disciple Jesus loved was at his right side.

²⁴ Simon Peter nodded to that disciple. He said, `Tell us who he is talking about.'

²⁵ He who was at Jesus' right side said to Jesus, `Lord, who is it?'

²⁶ Jesus answered, `I will put a piece of bread in the dish. Then I will give it to that one.' He put in the bread, then he took it and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.

²⁷ Right after Jesus had given the bread, Satan came into Judas. Then Jesus said to him, `What you are going to do, do right away.'

²⁸ No one at the table knew why Jesus said, `Do it right away.'

²⁹ Judas had the money bag. Some thought that Jesus was telling him, `Buy what we need for the feast,' or that he wanted Judas to give something to the poor people.

³⁰ Judas went out right after he had taken the bread. It was night.

³¹ When he had gone out, Jesus said, `Now the Son of Man is very great. And he has made God's name great.

³² If he has made God's name great, God also will make him great by his own power. He will do it right away.

³³ My children, I am with you for a short time longer. You will look for me. What I said to the Jews I say to you now: "You cannot come to the place where I am going."

³⁴ I give you a new law. That law is, "Love each other." As I have loved you, so you also love each other.

³⁵ This is how all people will know that you are my disciples.'

³⁶ Simon Peter said to him, `Lord, where are you going?' Jesus answered him, `You cannot go with me where I am going now. Later on you will go with me.'

³⁷ Peter said to him, `Lord, why can I not go with you now? I am willing to die for you.'

³⁸ Jesus answered him, `Will you die for me? I tell you the truth. Before the cock calls, you will say three times that you do not know me.'

14 Jesus said, `Do not let anything trouble your heart. You believe in God and you must believe in me also.

² In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to make a place ready for you.

³ If I go to make a place ready for you, I will come again. I will come to take you so that you may be with me.

⁴ You know where I am going, and you know the way.

⁵ Thomas said to Jesus, `Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?'

⁶ Jesus said to him, `I am the way. I am the truth. I give life. No one can come to my Father unless I take him there.

⁷ If you knew me, you would have known my Father also. But from now on you do know him because you have seen him.'

⁸ Philip said to him, `Lord, show us the Father, then we will be happy.'

⁹ Jesus said to him, `Philip, you mean to say that I have been with you all this time and yet you do not know me? The person who has seen me has seen my Father also. Why do you say, "Show us your Father"?

¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in my Father and my Father is in me? The things that I say, I speak not from my own mind. But my Father lives in me and he does the work.

¹¹ I tell you that I am in my Father and my Father is in me. But you do not believe me. So then let the work that I do prove it to you.

¹² `I tell you the truth. The person who believes in me will do the big work that I do. And he will do even bigger work because I go to my Father.

¹³ I will do anything you ask of my Father in my name. In that way the Son will make my Father's name great.

¹⁴ If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.'

¹⁵ `If you love me, you will obey me.

¹⁶ I will ask my Father. He will give you another one to help you and to be with you always.

¹⁷ He will send you the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive the true Spirit because it does not see or know him. You know him because he is with you and will be in you.

¹⁸ `I will not leave you without someone to help you. And I myself will come back to you.

¹⁹ In a short time the world will not see me again, but you will see me again. Because I live, you will live also.

²⁰ At that time you will know that I am in my Father. You are in me, and I am in you.

²¹ `He who knows the things I tell him to do and does them, really loves me. My Father will love him and I also will love him. I will show him who I am.'

²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to Jesus, `Lord, how are you going to make yourself real to us, and not to the rest of the world?'

²³ Jesus said to him, `If a person loves me, he will obey me. My Father also will love him. And we will come to him and will live with him.

²⁴ The person who does not love me does not obey me. The word which you hear is not my word. It is my Father's word. He is the one who sent me.

²⁵ `I have told you these things while I am still with you.

²⁶ But the Holy Spirit is the one who will help you. My Father will send him in my name. He will teach you everything that I have said to you. His Helper will remind you of all that I said.

²⁷ Peace is what I leave for you. I give you my own peace. People of the world also say, "Peace" to you. I do not say it as they say it. Do not let anything trouble your hearts. Do not fear.

²⁸ You heard me say, "I am going away and then I will come back to you." If you really loved me, then you would have been very glad that I am going to my Father. My Father is greater than I am.

²⁹ `I have told you this before it happens. Then when it does happen, you will believe.

³⁰ After this I will not talk much with you. The ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me.

³¹ I will do what my Father tells me to do so that the people of the world may know that I love my Father. `Get up now! We must go.'

15 I am the real fruit tree. My Father is the One who takes care of the tree.

² He takes away from me every branch that does not bear fruit. And he cleans every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit.

³ What I said to you has made you clean already.

⁴ But you must be in me and I will be in you. The branch cannot bear fruit by itself. It must be joined to the tree. And you cannot do any good thing if you are not joined to me.

⁵ I am the fruit tree and you are the branches. I will be in the person who is in me. That person will have a fruitful life. But you can do nothing without me.

⁶ If any person is not in me, he is cut off like a branch and dies. People gather the dry branches and throw them into the fire to be burned.

⁷ If you are in me and obey me, you may ask me for anything you want and I will give it to you.

⁸ If you do much good and become my disciples, you will make my Father's name great.

⁹ `I have loved you just as my Father has loved you. So let me love you always.

¹⁰ If you obey me, I will love you always. That is what I have done. I have obeyed my Father. And he will love me always.

¹¹ `I have told you these things so that you may be glad in the same way I am glad. Then you will be very glad always.

¹² `I am telling you to love each other as I have loved you.

¹³ The strongest love anyone can have is this. He will die to save his friends.

¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I tell you to do.

¹⁵ I do not call you servants anymore, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends because you know everything that my Father has told me.

¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you. I gave you a big work to do. That work is to go out and do good things and to make the good things that you do remain strong. If you do that, my Father will do anything you ask in my name.

¹⁷ `Here is the law I gave you. Love each other.'

¹⁸ `If the world hates you, remember that it hated me before it hated you.

¹⁹ If you belonged to this world, the world would love you. But you do not belong to the world. I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

²⁰ Remember what I told you. I said, "The servant is not better than his master." If the people in the world have troubled me, they will also trouble you. If they obey me, they will also obey you.

²¹ They will do all these things to you because you are true to me. They do not know the one who sent me.

²² `I came and spoke to them. If I had not done that, then what they did would not have been a wrong thing. But now they have no excuse for doing it.

²³ The person who hates me hates my Father also.

²⁴ No other person has ever done the work that I have done. If they had, then what they did would not be a wrong thing. But now they have seen me and hated me and my Father also.

²⁵ This has happened in order to make the words of their law book come true. It says, "They hated me for no reason."

²⁶ `I will send the true Spirit to comfort you. He will come from my Father. When he comes, then he will talk about me.

²⁷ You also will talk about me because you have been with me from the time I began my work.'