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Read the Gospels in 40 Days

Read through the four Gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John--in 40 days.

Duration: 40 days

John 15-16

Chapter 15

The Vine and the Branches. ¹^[a]“I am the true vine,^[b] and my Father is the vine grower.^(A) ²He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes^[c] so that it bears more fruit. ³You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.^(B) ⁴Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. ⁵I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. ⁶^[d]^(C)Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. ⁷If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.^(D) ⁸By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.^(E) ⁹As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.^(F) ¹⁰If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.^(G)

¹¹“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.^(H) ¹²This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.^(I) ¹³^[e]No one has greater love than this,^(J) to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends,^[f] because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.^(K) ¹⁶It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.^(L) ¹⁷This I command you: love one another.^(M)

The World’s Hatred.^[g] ¹⁸“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.^(N) ¹⁹If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.^(O) ²⁰Remember the word I spoke to you,^[h] ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.^(P) ²¹And they will do all these things to you on account of my name,^[i] because they do not know the one who sent me.^(Q) ²²If I had not come and spoken^[j] to them, they would have no sin; but as it is they have no excuse for their sin.^(R) ²³Whoever hates me also hates my Father.^(S) ²⁴If I had not done works among them that no one else ever did, they would not have sin; but as it is, they have seen and hated both me and my Father.^(T) ²⁵But in order that the word written in their law^[k] might be fulfilled, ‘They hated me without cause.’^(U)

²⁶“When the Advocate comes whom I will send^[l] you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.^(V) ²⁷And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.^(W)

Chapter 16

¹“I have told you this so that you may not fall away. ²They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour^[m] is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God.^(X) ³They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me.^(Y) ⁴I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you.^(Z)

Jesus’ Departure; Coming of the Advocate.^[n] “I did not tell you this from the beginning, because I was with you. ⁵But now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me,^[o] ‘Where are you going?’^(AA) ⁶But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. ⁷But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you.^(AB) But if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸^[p]And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: ⁹sin, because they do not believe in me;^(AC) ¹⁰righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; ¹¹condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.^(AD)

¹²“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. ¹³^[q]But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.^(AE) He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. ¹⁴He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.

¹⁶“A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.”^(AF) ¹⁷So some of his disciples said to one another, “What does this mean that he is saying to us, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸So they said, “What is this ‘little while’ [of which he speaks]? We do not know what he means.” ¹⁹Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing with one another what I said, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? ²⁰Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.^(AG) ²¹When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.^(AH) ²²So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.^(AI) ²³On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.^(AJ) ²⁴Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

²⁵^[r]^(AK)“I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. ²⁶On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you.^(AL) ²⁷For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. ²⁸I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”^(AM) ²⁹His disciples said, “Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. ³⁰Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God.”^[s] ³¹Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? ³²Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered^[t] to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.^(AN) ³³I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”^(AO)

Footnotes

15:1–16:4 Discourse on the union of Jesus with his disciples. His words become a monologue and go beyond the immediate crisis of the departure of Jesus.
15:1–17 Like Jn 10:1–5, this passage resembles a parable. Israel is spoken of as a vineyard at Is 5:1–7; Mt 21:33–46 and as a vine at Ps 80:9–17; Jer 2:21; Ez 15:2; 17:5–10; 19:10; Hos 10:1. The identification of the vine as the Son of Man in Ps 80:15 and Wisdom’s description of herself as a vine in Sir 24:17 are further background for portrayal of Jesus by this figure. There may be secondary eucharistic symbolism here; cf. Mk 14:25, “the fruit of the vine.”
15:2 Takes away…prunes: in Greek there is a play on two related verbs.
15:6 Branches were cut off and dried on the wall of the vineyard for later use as fuel.
15:13 For one’s friends: or: “those whom one loves.” In Jn 15:9–13a, the words for love are related to the Greek agapaō. In Jn 15:13b–15, the words for love are related to the Greek phileō. For John, the two roots seem synonymous and mean “to love”; cf. also Jn 21:15–17. The word philos is used here.
15:15 Slaves…friends: in the Old Testament, Moses (Dt 34:5), Joshua (Jos 24:29), and David (Ps 89:21) were called “servants” or “slaves of Yahweh”; only Abraham (Is 41:8; 2 Chr 20:7; cf. Jas 2:23) was called a “friend of God.”
15:18–16:4 The hostile reaction of the world. There are synoptic parallels, predicting persecution, especially at Mt 10:17–25; 24:9–10.
15:20 The word I spoke to you: a reference to Jn 13:16.
15:21 On account of my name: the idea of persecution for Jesus’ name is frequent in the New Testament (Mt 10:22; 24:9; Acts 9:14). For John, association with Jesus’ name implies union with Jesus.
15:22, 24 Jesus’ words (spoken) and deeds (works) are the great motives of credibility. They have seen and hated: probably means that they have seen his works and still have hated; but the Greek can be read: “have seen both me and my Father and still have hated both me and my Father.” Works…that no one else ever did: so Yahweh in Dt 4:32–33.
15:25 In their law: law is here used as a larger concept than the Pentateuch, for the reference is to Ps 35:19 or Ps 69:5. See notes on Jn 10:34; 12:34. Their law reflects the argument of the church with the synagogue.
15:26 Whom I will send: in Jn 14:16, 26, the Paraclete is to be sent by the Father, at the request of Jesus. Here the Spirit comes from both Jesus and the Father in mission; there is no reference here to the eternal procession of the Spirit.
16:2 Hour: of persecution, not Jesus’ “hour” (see note on Jn 2:4).
16:4b–33 A duplicate of Jn 14:1–31 on departure and return.
16:5 Not one of you asks me: the difficulty of reconciling this with Simon Peter’s question in Jn 13:36 and Thomas’ words in Jn 14:5 strengthens the supposition that the last discourse has been made up of several collections of Johannine material.
16:8–11 These verses illustrate the forensic character of the Paraclete’s role: in the forum of the disciples’ conscience he prosecutes the world. He leads believers to see (a) that the basic sin was and is refusal to believe in Jesus; (b) that, although Jesus was found guilty and apparently died in disgrace, in reality righteousness has triumphed, for Jesus has returned to his Father; (c) finally, that it is the ruler of this world, Satan, who has been condemned through Jesus’ death (Jn 12:32).
16:13 Declare to you the things that are coming: not a reference to new predictions about the future, but interpretation of what has already occurred or been said.
16:25 See note on Jn 10:6. Here, possibly a reference to Jn 15:1–16 or Jn 16:21.
16:30 The reference is seemingly to the fact that Jesus could anticipate their question in Jn 16:19. The disciples naively think they have the full understanding that is the climax of “the hour” of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension (Jn 16:25), but the only part of the hour that is at hand for them is their share in the passion (Jn 16:32).
16:32 You will be scattered: cf. Mk 14:27 and Mt 26:31, where both cite Zec 13:7 about the sheep being dispersed.

New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.