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15
Jesus is like a good grape vine
1 Jesus told his followers a picture story about a plant that grapes grow on. It is called a grape vine.
Jesus said, “I am like a good grape vine, growing in a garden. And God, my father, is like the gardener. 2 And people are like the branches of that grape vine. There are some people that don’t live God’s way. They are like branches on the vine that don’t grow any fruit. They are no good, so the gardener cuts them off. But some people do live God’s way. They are like branches on the vine that do grow fruit. My father keeps on working on those people, to get them to live God’s way even better. He is like the gardener that cleans up the good branches and trims them back a little bit, so that they will grow more fruit.
3 You are like those good branches. You believed my words, so you are already clean.
4 And, you know, a branch has to stay joined to the main trunk of the vine, so it can grow fruit. A broken branch lying on the ground can’t grow any fruit. The trunk and the branch have to stay joined together. Well, just like that, you have to stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. If you don’t stay joined to me, you can’t live God’s way.
5 So I tell you, I am like the main trunk of the grape vine, and you are like the branches. If you stay joined to me, I will stay joined to you, and you will keep on doing what God wants you to do. You see, if any branches don’t stay joined to the trunk of the vine, they can’t grow any fruit. Just like that, if you are not joined to me, you can’t do anything for God.
6 Some people might not stay joined to me. They will be like branches that the gardener cuts off and throws away. They lie on the ground and dry up, and later on, he will pick them up and throw them into a fire, and it will burn them up. 7 But, if you stay joined to me, and keep on doing what I taught you, you can ask me for anything, and I will do it. 8 And when you live God’s way, other people will see the good things that you do, and they will know that you are my followers, so they will respect my father. You will be like a branch that grows a lot of fruit.
9 I loved you just as much as my father loves me. So listen, you have to stay joined to me, and I will keep on loving you. 10 I always do what my father wants me to do, and he keeps on loving me. In the same way, if you keep on doing what I told you to do, I will keep on loving you. 11 I told you all these things now, so that you can be properly happy. Yes, you can be as happy as me.
12 Yes, and I am telling you this, you have to love each other, just like I loved you.* John 13:34; 15:17; 1 John 3:23; 2 John 5 13 If somebody is ready to die to save their friends, that shows that they really love their friends a lot. 14 Well, if you do what I tell you to do, you are my friends. I love my friends a lot, and I am ready to die to save you. 15 I’m not calling you my workers any more, but I’m calling you my friends. Workers don’t know what their boss is doing, but I told you everything that my father told me. So now you know what I am doing.
16 You didn’t pick me, but I picked you. And I am sending you out to do my work. I want you to be like branches that grow the sort of fruit that stays good for ever. Then you can ask God for anything that I say is good, and he will give it to you. 17 Listen, I’m telling you again what you have to do, you have to love each other.”
The world’s people hate Jesus’s followers
18 Jesus kept on talking to his followers. He said, “Listen. When the people of this world hate you, just remember that they hated me first. 19 The people that belong to this world don’t live God’s way. And they only love other people that belong to this world. But you are not like them, so they don’t love you. You see, I picked you out from the people of this world, and now you are different, so they hate you.
20 Remember that I told you before, ‘A worker is not more important than their boss.’ Well, I am your boss, and you are my workers. And people made a lot of trouble for me, so people will make a lot of trouble for you. But some people listened properly to me, so some people will listen properly to you too.* Matthew 10:24; Luke 6:40; John 13:16
21 You are my followers, that’s the reason why some people will make trouble for you. You see, they don’t know God. He is the one that sent me here.
22 I came and talked to them, but they didn’t listen to me. So they are going against God, and he will say they are guilty. And they can’t argue with him. They can’t say they didn’t hear my message. 23 You see, if anyone hates me, they hate my father too. 24 And that mob saw me do powerful things, but they took no notice of me, so they are guilty of going against God. I did those powerful things that nobody else ever did, and they saw what I did, but they still hate me, and they hate my father too. So they are really guilty.
25 A long time ago, God told one of his men to write about this, and they have it in God’s book. He wrote,
‘I didn’t do anything bad to them, but they hated me anyway.’* Psalm 35:19; 69:4
And that mob are doing that to me now.
26 Listen, I am going back to my father, and then I will send you a helper. He is the Holy Spirit. He will come to you from the father, and everything he says is always true. He will tell you all about me. 27 And you mob will talk about me too. You were with me from the time I started teaching, so you have to tell everyone about me.”

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*15:12 John 13:34; 15:17; 1 John 3:23; 2 John 5

*15:20 Matthew 10:24; Luke 6:40; John 13:16

*15:25 Psalm 35:19; 69:4

© 2019 The Plain English Project