John 13–17

JESUS WASHES HIS DISCIPLES’ FEET

13Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father.^aw Having loved his own who were in the world,^ax he loved them to the end.

²Now when it was time for supper, the devil^ay had already put it into the heart of Judas,^az Simon Iscariot’s son,^B to betray^ba him. ³Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands,^bb that he had come from God,^bc and that he was going back to God.^{bd 4}So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing,^be took a towel, and tied it around himself.^{bf 5}Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him.

⁶He came to Simon Peter,^bg who asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t realize now, but afterward you will understand.”^a

⁸“You will never wash my feet,” Peter said.

Jesus replied, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”

⁹Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”

¹⁰“One who has bathed,” Jesus told him, “doesn’t need to wash anything except his feet, but he is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” ¹¹For he knew who would betray him. This is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

THE MEANING OF FOOT WASHING

¹²When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? ¹³You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. ¹⁴So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.^{b 15}For I have given you an example,^c that you also should do just as I have done for you.

¹⁶“Truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master,^Cd and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.^e

¹⁸“I’m not speaking about all of you; I know those I have chosen.^f But the Scripture^g must be fulfilled:^h The one who eats my bread^D has raised his heel against me.^{Ei 19}I am telling you now before it happens,^j so that when it does happen you will believe^k that I am he.^{l 20}Truly I tell you, whoever receives anyone I send receives me, and the one who receives^m me receives him who sent me.”

JUDAS’S BETRAYAL PREDICTED

²¹Whenⁿ Jesus had said this, he was troubled in his spirit^o and testified,^p “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

²²The disciples started looking at one another—uncertain which one he was speaking about. ²³One of his disciples, the one Jesus loved,^q was reclining close beside Jesus. ²⁴Simon Peter motioned to him to find out who it was he was talking about. ²⁵So he leaned back against Jesus and asked him, “Lord, who is it?”

²⁶Jesus replied, “He’s the one I give the piece of bread to after I have dipped it.”^r When he had dipped the bread,^s he gave it to Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son.^{B 27}After Judas ate the piece of bread, Satan^t entered him. So Jesus told him, “What you’re doing, do quickly.”

²⁸None of those reclining at the table knew why he said this to him. ²⁹Since Judas^u kept the money-bag, some thought that Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival,”^v or that he should give something to the poor. ³⁰After receiving the piece of bread, he immediately left. And it was night.^w

THE NEW COMMAND

³¹When^x he had left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man^y is glorified, and God is glorified^z in him.^{aa 32}If God is glorified in him,^C God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. ³³Little children, I am with you a little while longer.^ab You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so now I tell you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’^ac

³⁴“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love^ad one another.”

PETER’S DENIALS PREDICTED

³⁶“Lord,” Simon Peter said to him, “where are you going?”

Jesus answered, “Where I am going^ae you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later.”

³⁷“Lord,” Peter asked, “why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life^af for you.”^ag

³⁸Jesus replied, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly I tell you, a rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times.

THE WAY TO THE FATHER

14“Don’t let your heart be troubled.^ah Believe^D in God;^ai believe also in me. ²In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going^aj to prepare a place for you? ³If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again^ak and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.^{al 4}You know the way to where I am going.”^Eam

⁵“Lord,” Thomas^a said, “we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?”

⁶Jesus told him, “I am^b the way,^c the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you know me, you will also know^A my Father.^d From now on you do know him^e and have seen him.”

JESUS REVEALS THE FATHER

⁸“Lord,” said Philip,^f “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.”

⁹Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father.^g How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?^h The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own.ⁱ The Father who lives in me does his works.^{j 11}Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe^B because of the works themselves.^k

PRAYING IN JESUS’S NAME

¹²“Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me^l will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these,^m because I am going to the Father.^{n 13}Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified^o in the Son.^{p 14}If you ask me^C anything in my name,^q I will do it.^r

ANOTHER COUNSELOR PROMISED

¹⁵“If you love me, you will keep^E my commands.^{s 16}And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor^t to be with you forever. ¹⁷He is the Spirit^u of truth.^v The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be^G in you.^w

THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

¹⁸“I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. ¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me,^x but you will see me.^y Because I live, you will live^z too. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father,^aa you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.^ab And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father.^ac I also will love him and will reveal myself to him.”

²²Judas^ad (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it you’re going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”^ae

²³Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.^{af 24}The one who doesn’t love me will not keep my words. The word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.^ag

²⁵“I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. ²⁶But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit,^ah whom the Father will send^ai in my name, will teach you all things ^ajand remind you of everything I have told you.^ak

JESUS’S GIFT OF PEACE

²⁷“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.^{al 28}You have heard me tell you, ‘I am going away^am and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father,^an because the Father is greater than I.^{ao 29}I have told you now before it happens^ap so that when it does happen you may believe. ³⁰I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world^aq is coming. He has no power over me.^{Aar 31}On the contrary, so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do as the Father commanded me.

“Get up; let’s leave this place.

THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES

15“I am^as the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ²Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes,^at and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. ³You are already clean^au because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.^{av 5}I am the vine;^aw you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit,^ax because you can do nothing without me. ⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside^ay like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire,^az and they are burned.^{ba 7}If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.^{a 8}My Father is glorified^b by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be^B my disciples.

CHRISTLIKE LOVE

⁹“As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love.^{c 10}If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.^d

¹¹“I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.^e

¹²“This is my command: Love one another as I have loved^f you. ¹³No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life^g for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master^Ch is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you.ⁱ I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask^j the Father in my name,^k he will give you.^l

¹⁷“This is what I command you: Love one another.

PERSECUTIONS PREDICTED

¹⁸“If the world hates^m…