Don’t Cut Yourself Off from the Vine
1“I’m the Genuine Grapevine, [1] source of the harvest. My Father makes sure the vines grow. 2When he sees a branch that doesn’t produce fruit, he cuts it off. But when he sees a branch that produces fruit, he carefully prunes it. This keeps it clean and healthy and better able to produce even more fruit. 3My teachings have already pruned clean your branches. 4Stay connected to me and I’ll stay connected to you. You know that a branch can’t produce fruit if it’s cut from the vine. That’s true for you too. You won’t produce fruit if you don’t stay connected to me.5“I am the vine. You are the branches. When you’re connected to me and I’m connected to you, you’ll produce a lot of fruit. If we’re not connected, there’s no fruit. All your efforts are fruitless. 6If you’re not connected to me, you’re like a branch withered dry. People scoop those up and toss them in the fire, which destroys them. 7If you stay connected to me and let my words sink into you, ask me for anything you want. You’ll get it. [2]
8“When you become my disciples, following my teachings and producing fruit, my Father gets the glory. 9I love you just like the Father loves me. Stay connected to my love. 10To stay connected to my love, do what I’ve taught you. That’s how I stay connected to my Father’s love, by doing what he asks me. 11I’m telling you this because I want you to experience unlimited happiness. It’s my gift to you for staying connected.
Love Each Other
12“Here’s what I’m telling you to do. Love each other just as I’ve loved you. 13There’s no love greater than the love someone shows by dying for friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I’ve told you.15“I won’t call you servants any longer, for you’re not my servants. How could you be? Servants have no idea what their master is up to. You’re my friends. I’ve told you everything that’s going on. Whatever my Father told me, I’ve told you. 16You didn’t pick me out of a crowd. I picked you. I gave you a job. Produce fruit, the kind that will keep growing. Do that and my Father will give you whatever you ask, when you ask on my behalf. [3]
17“Here’s what I’m telling you to do. Love each other.
The World Hates Us
18“If the world hates you, remember this. It hated me first. 19If you behaved like people in this world do, they’d love you for it. But you don’t. That’s why I chose you. And that’s why they hate you.20“Remember that old saying I told you about, ‘The servant isn’t more important than the master’? Well, if they hurt me, they’re going to hurt you. But if they listen to me, they’re going to listen to you.
21“Whatever they do to you, they’re doing it because of me and because they don’t know who sent me. 22If I hadn’t come and talked to those people, they wouldn’t be guilty of any sin because they wouldn’t have known any better. But now they don’t have any excuse.
23“People who hate me hate my Father too. 24If I hadn’t done the miracles I did—right in front of their faces—they wouldn’t be guilty of any sin. But I did. And they saw it. Yet it made no difference to them; they still hated me and my Father.
25“That’s how it had to be, though. The words written into their own law had to be fulfilled. ‘They didn’t have any reason to hate me. They hated me anyhow.’ [4]
26“I’m going to send a Spiritual Guide [5] to help you. This helper will come from the Father. This Spirit—the essence of truth—will teach you about me. 27In turn, you need to teach people about me because you’ve been with me from the beginning of my ministry.”
