Chronological

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.’

The branches must stay in the vine

15 Jesus said, ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.^{[c] 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.^[d]

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.^{[e] 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.”^[f] 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.’

16 Jesus then said, ‘I have told you all these things, so that you will not turn away from God. ² People will send you away from their meeting places. There will be a time when people will want to kill you. When they do this, they will even think that they are doing what God wants. ³ They will do these things to you because they have never known either the Father or me. ⁴ But I have told you this so that you will remember. When they begin to do these things, you will remember that I told you about them already.’

The work of God's Spirit

‘I did not tell you these things at the beginning, because I was with you. ⁵ But now I will go to the Father who sent me. But none of you asks me, “Where will you go?” ⁶ And now you are very sad, because I have told you these things. ⁷ But what I tell you is true. It will be better for you if I go away. Because, if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I do go away, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will show the people of this world what they are like. He will show clearly that they are wrong. They are wrong about what sin really is. They are wrong about who is right with God. They are wrong about how God judges people. ⁹ They are wrong about sin, because they do not believe in me. ¹⁰ They are wrong about who is right with God, because I will go to the Father. Then you will not see me again. ¹¹ They are wrong about how God judges people, because God has already judged Satan, the ruler of this world.

¹² I have many more things to tell you. But you are not strong enough to know them now. ¹³ But the Spirit will come. He is the one who shows people true things about God. When he comes, he will be a guide to you. He will help you to understand everything that is true. He will not speak on his own authority. He will tell you only what he hears from the Father. He will tell you about things that will happen after this time. ¹⁴ He will take my message and he will tell it to you. In that way, he will give me honour. ¹⁵ Everything that the Father has is mine. That is why I said, “The Spirit will take what is mine and then he will tell it to you.” ’

The disciples will be sad first but after that they will be happy

¹⁶ Jesus then said, ‘After a short time, you will not see me any more. But soon after that, you will see me again.’ ¹⁷ Some of his disciples said to each other, ‘What does he mean? He says, “After a short time, you will not see me any more, but soon after that you will see me.” He also says, “It is because I go to the Father.” ¹⁸ What does he mean when he says, “a short time”? We do not know what he is talking about!’

¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him about this. So he said to them, ‘I said, “After a short time, you will not see me. But soon after that, you will see me again.” Perhaps you are asking each other about that. ²⁰ I tell you this: You will be sad and you will cry. But the people who belong to this world will be happy. Yes, you will be sad. But soon after that, you will become happy instead. ²¹ It will be like this. When a woman is soon to give birth to a baby, she is sad. She knows that it will be painful. But after the baby is born, she is happy. She forgets her pain, because now she is so happy. She is happy because her child has been born into the world. ²² It is like that for you. You are sad now. But I will see you again, and then you will be happy. You will be really happy. Nobody will be able to take away your joy.

²³ When that day arrives, you will not ask me for anything. I tell you this: The Father will help you with anything that you ask him for in my name. ²⁴ Until now, you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask God, and you will receive what you ask for. Then you will be completely happy.

²⁵ I have spoken to you with words and stories that are like pictures. But there will be a time when I will not speak like that any more. Instead, I will speak clearly to you about the Father. ²⁶ When that day arrives, you yourselves will ask the Father in my name.^[g] I do not say that I will ask the Father on your behalf. ²⁷ I will not need to do that, because the Father himself loves you. He loves you because you love me, and you have believed that I came from God. ²⁸ Yes, I came from the Father, and I came into this world. Now I will leave this world and I will return to the Father.’

²⁹ Jesus' disciples said to him, ‘Now you are speaking clearly. You are not speaking with words that are like pictures! ³⁰ Now we are sure that you know everything. You do not even need to ask people what they are thinking. Because of this, we believe that you came from God.’ ³¹ Jesus answered them, ‘You say that you believe in me now. ³² But it will happen very soon that all of you will run away to your own homes. Yes, that time has already arrived. You will run away and leave me alone. But I will not really be alone, because the Father is always with me. ³³ I have told you these things so that you will have peace. You will be like that because you live together with me. In this world, you will have trouble. But be brave! I have destroyed the power of this world.’

Jesus prays for himself

17 After Jesus said this, he looked up to heaven. He said, ‘Father, the time has now arrived. Show everyone how great your Son is. So then I, the Son, can show how great you are. ² You gave me authority over all people. You did this so that I could give people life for ever. Those are the people that you gave to me. ³ What does it mean for people to live with you for ever? It means that they know you, the one who is the only true God. They also know me, Jesus Christ, the one that you have sent. ⁴ I have shown people here on the earth how great you are. In that way, I have finished the work that you gave to me to do. ⁵ So, Father, now that I return to you, show people how great I am. Before the world began, I had great glory with you. Show again that I am great like that.’

Jesus prays for his disciples

⁶ ‘You gave some people to me who were from this world.^[h] I have shown them who you are. They were yours and you gave them to me. They have obeyed your message. ⁷ Everything that I have comes from you. Now they know that you gave me everything. ⁸ I gave to them the message that you gave to me. They accepted that message. They know certainly that I came from you. They believe that you sent me.

⁹ I pray for them. I am not praying for the people who belong to this world. No, I am praying for those people that you have given to me. I am praying for them because they are yours. ¹⁰ Everything that I have is yours. And everything that you have is mine. These people have shown how great I am. ¹¹ I will not remain in the world any longer. I will return to you now. But they will still be here in the world. Holy Father, please keep them safe in your name. That is the powerful name that you gave to me. Then they can be united in the same way that you and I are united. ¹² While I was with them, I kept them safe in the power of your name. That is the name that you gave to me. I kept them safe so that only one of them turned away from you. That was the man who had to become lost. The Bible already said that it would happen in that way.^[i]

¹³ Now, Father, I will come to you. I am saying these things while I am still in the world. Then these people, my disciples, can be completely happy. I want them to be completely happy in the same way that I am happy. ¹⁴ I have given your message to them. The world's people have hated them because they do not belong to the world. They do not belong to the world, in the same way that I do not belong to the world. ¹⁵ I am not asking that you will take them out of the world. But I ask you to keep them safe from the Devil. ¹⁶ They do not belong to the world, in the same way that I do not belong to the world. ¹⁷ Help them to belong completely to you, as they follow the truth. Your message is the truth. ¹⁸ I have sent them into the world, in the same way that you sent me into the world. ¹⁹ On their behalf I give myself to you, so that I belong completely to you. Then they also can completely belong to you, as they follow the truth.’

Jesus prays for everyone who will believe in him

²⁰ ‘I do not pray only for these people, my disciples. I pray also for those people who will believe in me because of my disciples' message. ²¹ I pray that all of them will become united. You, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they also will be united in us. Then the world's people will believe that you sent me. ²² I have given to them the same honour that you gave to me. Now they can be united in the same way that you and I are united. ²³ I will be in them, and you will be in me, so that they can be completely united. As a result, the world's people will know that you sent me. They will also know that you love my own people as you love me.

²⁴ Father, you have given these people to me. I want them to be with me where I am. Then they will see how great I am. You made me great because you loved me. You loved me even before the world began. ²⁵ Father, you always do what is right. The world's people do not know you, but I know you. These disciples know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have shown them what you are like. And I will continue to show them what you are like. Then they will love other people, in the same way that you love me. And I myself will be in them.’