John 14-17

Contemporary English Version

Jesus Is the Way to the Father

14 Jesus said to his disciples, “Don't be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me.^{[a] 2} There are many rooms in my Father's house. I wouldn't tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you. ³ After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me. Then we will be together. ⁴ You know the way to where I am going.”

⁵ Thomas said, “Lord, we don't even know where you are going! How can we know the way?”

^6 (A) “I am the way, the truth, and the life!” Jesus answered. “Without me, no one can go to the Father. ⁷ If you had really known me, you would have known the Father. But from now on, you do know him, and you have seen him.”

⁸ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need.”

⁹ Jesus replied:

Philip, I have been with you for a long time. Don't you know who I am? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. How can you ask me to show you the Father? ¹⁰ Don't you believe that I am one with the Father and that the Father is one with me? What I say isn't said on my own. The Father who lives in me does these things.

¹¹ Have faith in me when I say that the Father is one with me and that I am one with the Father. Or else have faith in me simply because of the things I do. ¹² I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things I am doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father. ¹³ Ask me, and I will do whatever you ask. This way the Son will bring honor to the Father. ¹⁴ I will do whatever you ask me to do.

The Holy Spirit Is Promised

^15 (B) Jesus said to his disciples:

If you love me, you will do as I command. ¹⁶ Then I will ask the Father to send you the Holy Spirit who will help^[b] you and always be with you. ¹⁷ The Spirit will show you what is true. The people of this world cannot accept the Spirit, because they don't see or know him. But you know the Spirit, who is with you and will keep on living in you.

¹⁸ I won't leave you like orphans. I will come back to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the people of this world won't be able to see me, but you will see me. And because I live, you will live. ²⁰ Then you will know I am one with the Father. You will know you are one with me, and I am one with you. ^21 (C) If you love me, you will do what I have said, and my Father will love you. I will also love you and show you what I am like.

²² The other Judas, not Judas Iscariot,^[c] then spoke up and asked, “Lord, what do you mean by saying that you will show us what you are like, but you will not show the people of this world?”

²³ Jesus replied:

If anyone loves me, they will obey me. Then my Father will love them, and we will come to them and live in them. ²⁴ But anyone who doesn't love me, won't obey me. What they have heard me say doesn't really come from me, but from the Father who sent me.

²⁵ I have told you these things while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Holy Spirit will come and help^[d] you, because the Father will send the Spirit to take my place. The Spirit will teach you everything and will remind you of what I said while I was with you.

²⁷ I give you peace, the kind of peace only I can give. It isn't like the peace this world can give. So don't be worried or afraid.

²⁸ You have already heard me say I am going and I will also come back to you. If you really love me, you should be glad I am going back to the Father, because he is greater than I am.

²⁹ I am telling you this before I leave, so when it does happen, you will have faith in me. ³⁰ I cannot speak with you much longer, because the ruler of this world is coming. But he has no power over me. ³¹ I obey my Father, so everyone in the world might know that I love him.

It is time for us to go now.

Jesus Is the True Vine

15 Jesus said to his disciples:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts away every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit. But he trims clean every branch that does produce fruit, so that it will produce even more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of what I have said to you.

⁴ Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me. ⁵ I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me. ⁶ If you don't stay joined to me, you will be thrown away. You will be like dry branches that are gathered up and burned in a fire.

⁷ Stay joined to me and let my teachings become part of you. Then you can pray for whatever you want, and your prayer will be answered. ⁸ When you become fruitful disciples of mine, my Father will be honored. ⁹ I have loved you, just as my Father has loved me. So remain faithful to my love for you. ¹⁰ If you obey me, I will keep loving you, just as my Father keeps loving me, because I have obeyed him.

¹¹ I have told you this to make you as completely happy as I am. ^12 (D) Now I tell you to love each other, as I have loved you. ¹³ The greatest way to show love for friends is to die for them. ¹⁴ And you are my friends, if you obey me. ¹⁵ Servants don't know what their master is doing, and so I don't speak to you as my servants. I speak to you as my friends, and I have told you everything my Father has told me.

¹⁶ You did not choose me. I chose you and sent you out to produce fruit, the kind of fruit that will last. Then my Father will give you whatever you ask for in my name.^{[e] 17} So I command you to love each other.

The World's Hatred

¹⁸ If the people of this world^[f] hate you, just remember that they hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, its people would love you. But you don't belong to the world. I have chosen you to leave the world behind, and this is why its people hate you. ^20 (E) Remember how I told you that servants are not greater than their master. So if people mistreat me, they will mistreat you. If they do what I say, they will do what you say.

²¹ People will do to you exactly what they did to me. They will do it because you belong to me, and they don't know the one who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin.

²³ Everyone who hates me also hates my Father. ²⁴ I have done things no one else has ever done. If they had not seen me do these things, they would not be guilty. But they did see me do these things, and they still hate me and my Father too. ^25 (F) This is why the Scriptures are true when they say, “People hated me for no reason.”

²⁶ I will send you the Spirit who comes from the Father and shows what is true. The Spirit will help^[g] you and will tell you about me. ²⁷ Then you will also tell others about me, because you have been with me from the beginning.

16 I am telling you these things, so that you will not turn away. ² You will be chased out of the synagogues. And the time will come when people will kill you and think they are doing God a favor. ³ They will do these things because they don't know either the Father or me. ⁴ I am saying this to you now, so that when the time comes, you will remember what I have said.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

I was with you at the first, and so I didn't tell you these things. ⁵ But now I am going back to the Father who sent me, and none of you asks me where I am going. ⁶ You are very sad from hearing all of this. ⁷ But I tell you I am going to do what is best for you. This is why I am going away. The Holy Spirit cannot come to help^[h] you until I leave. But after I am gone, I will send the Spirit to you.

⁸ The Spirit will come and show the people of this world the truth about sin and God's justice and the judgment. ⁹ The Spirit will show them that they are wrong about sin, because they didn't have faith in me. ¹⁰ They are wrong about God's justice, because I am going to the Father, and you won't see me again. ¹¹ And they are wrong about the judgment, because God has already judged the ruler of this world.

¹² I have much more to say to you, but right now it would be more than you could understand. ^13 (G) The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn't speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen. ¹⁴ The Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you. ¹⁵ Everything the Father has is mine. This is why I have said that the Spirit takes my message and tells it to you.

Sorrow Will Turn into Joy

¹⁶ Jesus told his disciples, “For a little while you won't see me, but after a while you will see me.”

¹⁷ They said to each other, “What does Jesus mean by saying that for a little while we won't see him, but after a while we will see him? What does he mean by saying he is going to the Father? ¹⁸ What is this ‘little while’ that he is talking about? We don't know what he means.”

¹⁹ Jesus knew they had some questions, so he said:

You are wondering what I meant when I said that for a little while you won't see me, but after a while you will see me. ²⁰ I tell you for certain that you will cry and be sad, but the world will be happy. You will be sad, but later you will be happy.

²¹ When a woman is about to give birth, she is in great pain. But after it is all over, she forgets the pain and is happy, because she has brought a child into the world. ²² You are now very sad. But later I will see you, and you will be so happy that no one will be able to change the way you feel. ²³ When that time comes, you won't have to ask me about anything. I tell you for certain the Father will give you whatever you ask for in my name. ²⁴ You have not asked for anything in this way before, but now you must ask in my name.^[i] Then it will be given to you, so you will be completely happy.

²⁵ I have used examples to explain to you what I have been talking about. But the time will come when I will speak to you plainly about the Father and will no longer use examples like these. ²⁶ You will ask the Father in my name,^[j] and I won't have to ask him for you. ²⁷ God the Father loves you because you love me, and you believe I have come from him. ²⁸ I came from the Father into the world, but I am leaving the world and returning to the Father.

²⁹ The disciples said, “Now you are speaking plainly to us! You are not using examples. ³⁰ At last we know that you understand everything, and we don't have any more questions. Now we believe you truly have come from God.”

³¹ Jesus replied:

Do you really believe me? ³² The time will come and is already here when all of you will be scattered. Each of you will go back home and leave me by myself. But the Father will be with me, and I won't be alone. ³³ I have told you this, so that you might have peace in your hearts because of me. While you are in the world, you will have to suffer. But cheer up! I have defeated the world.^[k]

Jesus Prays

17 After Jesus had finished speaking to his disciples, he looked up toward heaven and prayed:

Father, the time has come for you to bring glory to your Son, in order that he may bring glory to you. ² And you gave him power over all people, so he would give eternal life to everyone you give him. ^3 (H) Eternal life is to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, the one you sent. ⁴ I have brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you gave me to do. ⁵ Now, Father, give me back the glory I had with you before the world was created.

⁶ You have given me some followers from this world, and I have shown them what you are like. They were yours, but you gave them to me, and they have obeyed you. ⁷ They know that you gave me everything I have. ⁸ I told my followers what you told me, and they accepted it. They know I came from you, and they believe you are the one who sent me. ⁹ I am praying for them, but not for those who belong to this world.^[l] My followers belong to you, and I am praying for them. ¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine, and they will bring glory to me.

¹¹ Holy Father, I am no longer in the world. I am coming to you, but my followers are still in the world. So keep them safe by the power of the name you have given me. Then they will be one with each other, just as you and I are one. ^12 (I) While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost, except the one who had to be lost. This happened so that what the Scriptures say would come true.

¹³ I am on my way to you. But I say these things while I am still in the world, so my followers will have the same complete joy that I do. ¹⁴ I have told them your message. But the people of this world hate them, because they don't belong to this world, just as I don't.

¹⁵ Father, I don't ask you to take my followers out of the world, but keep them safe from the evil one. ¹⁶ They don't belong to this world, and neither do I. ¹⁷ Your word is the truth. So let this truth make them completely yours. ¹⁸ I am sending them into the world, just as you sent me. ¹⁹ I have given myself completely for their sake, so they may belong completely to the truth.

²⁰ I am not praying just for these followers. I am also praying for everyone else who will have faith because of what my followers will say about me. ²¹ I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us. Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me.

²² I have honored my followers in the same way you honored me, in order that they may be one with each other, just as we are one. ²³ I am one with them, and you are one with me, so they may become completely one. Then this world's people will know that you sent me. They will know that you love my followers as much as you love me.

²⁴ Father, I want everyone you have given me to be with me, wherever I am. Then they will see the glory you have given me, because you loved me before the world was created. ²⁵ Good Father, the people of this world don't know you. But I know you, and my followers know that you sent me. ²⁶ I told them what you are like, and I will tell them even more. Then the love you have for me will become part of them, and I will be one with them.