Jesus Promises to Send the Holy Spirit

14 “Don’t be troubled. Believe in God, and believe in me. ² My Father’s house has many rooms. If that were not true, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? ³ If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again. Then I will bring you into my presence so that you will be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you’re going. So how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you have known me, you will also know my Father. From now on you know him ⌞through me⌟ and have seen him ⌞in me⌟.”

⁸ Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will satisfy us.”

⁹ Jesus replied, “I have been with all of you for a long time. Don’t you know me yet, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? What I’m telling you doesn’t come from me. The Father, who lives in me, does what he wants. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe me because of the things I do.

¹² “I can guarantee this truth: Those who believe in me will do the things that I am doing. They will do even greater things because I am going to the Father. ¹³ I will do anything you ask ⌞the Father⌟ in my name so that the Father will be given glory because of the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me to do something, I will do it.

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will obey my commandments. ¹⁶ I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever. ¹⁷ That helper is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it doesn’t see or know him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you all alone. I will come back to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. You will live because I live. ²⁰ On that day you will know that I am in my Father and that you are in me and that I am in you. ²¹ Whoever knows and obeys my commandments is the person who loves me. Those who love me will have my Father’s love, and I, too, will love them and show myself to them.”

²² Judas (not Iscariot) asked Jesus, “Lord, what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”

²³ Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will go to them and make our home with them. ²⁴ A person who doesn’t love me doesn’t do what I say. I don’t make up what you hear me say. What I say comes from the Father who sent me.

²⁵ “I have told you this while I’m still with you. ²⁶ However, the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything. He will remind you of everything that I have ever told you.

²⁷ “I’m leaving you peace. I’m giving you my peace. I don’t give you the kind of peace that the world gives. So don’t be troubled or cowardly. ²⁸ You heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, but I’m coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I’m going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am.

²⁹ “I’m telling you this now before it happens. When it does happen, you will believe. ³⁰ The ruler of this world has no power over me. But he’s coming, so I won’t talk with you much longer. ³¹ However, I want the world to know that I love the Father and that I am doing exactly what the Father has commanded me to do. Get up! We have to leave.”

Jesus, the True Vine

15 ⌞Then Jesus said,⌟ “I am the true vine, and my Father takes care of the vineyard. ² He removes every one of my branches that doesn’t produce fruit. He also prunes every branch that does produce fruit to make it produce more fruit.

³ “You are already clean ^[a] because of what I have told you. ⁴ Live in me, and I will live in you. A branch cannot produce any fruit by itself. It has to stay attached to the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit unless you live in me.

⁵ “I am the vine. You are the branches. Those who live in me while I live in them will produce a lot of fruit. But you can’t produce anything without me. ⁶ Whoever doesn’t live in me is thrown away like a branch and dries up. Branches like this are gathered, thrown into a fire, and burned. ⁷ If you live in me and what I say lives in you, then ask for anything you want, and it will be yours. ⁸ You give glory to my Father when you produce a lot of fruit and therefore show that you are my disciples.

⁹ “I have loved you the same way the Father has loved me. So live in my love. ¹⁰ If you obey my commandments, you will live in my love. I have obeyed my Father’s commandments, and in that way I live in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that you will be as joyful as I am, and your joy will be complete. ¹² Love each other as I have loved you. This is what I’m commanding you to do. ¹³ The greatest love you can show is to give your life for your friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you obey my commandments. ¹⁵ I don’t call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. But I’ve called you friends because I’ve made known to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father. ¹⁶ You didn’t choose me, but I chose you. I have appointed you to go, to produce fruit that will last, and to ask the Father in my name to give you whatever you ask for. ¹⁷ Love each other. This is what I’m commanding you to do.

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you had anything in common with the world, the world would love you as one of its own. But you don’t have anything in common with the world. I chose you from the world, and that’s why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I told you: ‘A servant isn’t greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they did what I said, they will also do what you say. ²¹ Indeed, they will do all this to you because you are committed to me, since they don’t know the one who sent me. ²² If I hadn’t come and spoken to them, they wouldn’t have any sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ The person who hates me also hates my Father. ²⁴ If I hadn’t done among them what no one else has done, they wouldn’t have any sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ In this way what is written in their Scriptures has come true: ‘They hate me for no reason.’

²⁶ “The helper whom I will send to you from the Father will come. This helper, the Spirit of Truth who comes from the Father, will declare the truth about me. ²⁷ You will declare the truth, too, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

Sadness Will Turn to Joy

16 ⌞Jesus continued,⌟ “I have said these things to you so that you won’t lose your faith. ² You will be thrown out of synagogues. Certainly, the time is coming when people who murder you will think that they are serving God. ³ They will do these things to you because they haven’t known the Father or me. ⁴ But I’ve told you this so that when it happens you’ll remember what I’ve told you. I didn’t tell you this at first, because I was with you.

⁵ “Now I’m going to the one who sent me. Yet, none of you asks me where I’m going. ⁶ But because I’ve told you this, you’re filled with sadness. ⁷ However, I am telling you the truth: It’s good for you that I’m going away. If I don’t go away, the helper won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ He will come to convict the world of sin, to show the world what has God’s approval, and to convince the world that God judges it. ⁹ He will convict the world of sin, because people don’t believe in me. ¹⁰ He will show the world what has God’s approval, because I’m going to the Father and you won’t see me anymore. ¹¹ He will convince the world that God judges it, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

¹² “I have a lot more to tell you, but that would be too much for you now. ¹³ When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into the full truth. He won’t speak on his own. He will speak what he hears and will tell you about things to come. ¹⁴ He will give me glory, because he will tell you what I say. ¹⁵ Everything the Father says is also what I say. That is why I said, ‘He will take what I say and tell it to you.’

¹⁶ “In a little while you won’t see me anymore. Then in a little while you will see me again.”

¹⁷ Some of his disciples said to each other, “What does he mean? He tells us that in a little while we won’t see him. Then he tells us that in a little while we will see him again and that he’s going to the Father.” ¹⁸ So they were asking each other, “What does he mean when he says, ‘In a little while’? We don’t understand what he’s talking about.”

¹⁹ Jesus knew they wanted to ask him something. So he said to them, “Are you trying to figure out among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you won’t see me, and in a little while you will see me again’? ²⁰ I can guarantee this truth: You will cry because you are sad, but the world will be happy. You will feel pain, but your pain will turn to happiness. ²¹ A woman has pain when her time to give birth comes. But after the child is born, she doesn’t remember the pain anymore because she’s happy that a child has been brought into the world.

²² “Now you’re in a painful situation. But I will see you again. Then you will be happy, and no one will take that happiness away from you. ²³ When that day comes, you won’t ask me any more questions. I can guarantee this truth: If you ask the Father for anything in my name, he will give it to you. ²⁴ So far you haven’t asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive so that you can be completely happy.

²⁵ “I have used examples to illustrate these things. The time is coming when I won’t use examples to speak to you. Rather, I will speak to you about the Father in plain words. ²⁶ When that day comes, you will ask for what you want in my name. I’m telling you that I won’t have to ask the Father for you. ²⁷ The Father loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸ I left the Father and came into the world. Again, ⌞as I’ve said,⌟ I’m going to leave the world and go back to the Father.”

²⁹ His disciples said, “Now you’re talking in plain words and not using examples. ³⁰ Now we know that you know everything. You don’t need to wait for questions to be asked. Because of this, we believe that you have come from God.”

³¹ Jesus replied to them, “Now you believe. ³² The time is coming, and is already here, when all of you will be scattered. Each of you will go your own way and leave me all alone. Yet, I’m not all alone, because the Father is with me. ³³ I’ve told you this so that my peace will be with you. In the world you’ll have trouble. But cheer up! I have overcome the world.”

Jesus Prays for Himself, His Disciples, and His Church

17 After saying this, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the time is here. Give your Son glory so that your Son can give you glory. ² After all, you’ve given him authority over all humanity so that he can give eternal life to all those you gave to him. ³ This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. ⁴ On earth I have given you glory by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ Now, Father, give me glory in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world existed.

⁶ “I made your name known to the people you gave me. They are from this world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me. They did what you told them. ⁷ Now they know that everything you gave me comes from you, ⁸ because I gave them the message that you gave me. They have accepted this message, and they know for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.

⁹ “I pray for them. I’m not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours. ¹⁰ Everything I have is yours, and everything you have is mine. I have been given glory by the people you have given me. ¹¹ I won’t be in the world much longer, but they are in the world, and I’m coming back to you. Holy Father, keep them safe by the power of your name, the name that you gave me, so that their unity may be like ours. ¹² While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power of your name, the name that you gave me. I watched over them, and none of them, except one person, became lost. So Scripture came true.

¹³ “But now, ⌞Father,⌟ I’m coming back to you. I say these things while I’m still in the world so that they will have the same joy that I have. ¹⁴ I have given them your message. But the world has hated them because they don’t belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. ¹⁵ I’m not asking you to take them out of the world but to protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They don’t belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.

¹⁷ “Use the truth to make them holy. Your words are truth. ¹⁸ I have sent them into the world the same way you sent me into the world. ¹⁹ I’m dedicating myself to this holy work I’m doing for them so that they, too, will use the truth to be holy.

²⁰ “I’m not praying only for them. I’m also praying for those who will believe in me through their message. ²¹ I pray that all of these people continue to have unity in the way that you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they may be united with us so that the world will believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me. I did this so that they are united in the same way we are. ²³ I am in them, and you are in me. So they are completely united. In this way the world knows that you have sent me and that you have loved them in the same way you have loved me.

²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given to me to be with me, to be where I am. I want them to see my glory, which you gave me because you loved me before the world was made. ²⁵ Father, you have done what is right and the world didn’t know you. Yet, I knew you, and these ⌞disciples⌟ have known that you sent me. ²⁶ I have made your name known to them, and I will make it known so that the love you have for me will be in them and I will be in them.”