Study Desk

Thomas said, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

Jesus answered, "Philip, I have been with you for a long time. So you should know me. Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father too. So why do you say, ‘Show us the Father'?

"I leave you peace. It is my own peace I give you. I give you peace in a different way than the world does. So don't be troubled. Don't be afraid.

But the world must know that I love the Father. So I do exactly what the Father told me to do. "Come now, let's go."

I have told you these things so that you can have the true happiness that I have. I want you to be completely happy.

If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as it loves its own people. But I have chosen you to be different from those in the world. So you don't belong to the world, and that is why the world hates you.

If I had not come and spoken to the people of the world, they would not be guilty of sin. But now I have spoken to them. So they have no excuse for their sin.

"I have told you all this so that you won't lose your faith when you face troubles.

I have told you all this now to prepare you. So when the time comes for these things to happen, you will remember that I warned you. "I did not tell you these things at the beginning, because I was with you then.

"I have so much more to tell you, but it is too much for you to accept now.

Jesus saw that the followers wanted to ask him about this. So he said to them, "Are you asking each other what I meant when I said, ‘After a short time you won't see me. Then after another short time you will see me again'?

"When a woman gives birth to a baby, she has pain, because her time has come. But when her baby is born, she forgets the pain. She forgets because she is so happy that a child has been born into the world.

Jesus said, "So now you believe?

"I have told you these things so that you can have peace in me. In this world you will have troubles. But be brave! I have defeated the world!"

After Jesus said these things, he looked toward heaven and prayed, "Father, the time has come. Give glory to your Son so that the Son can give glory to you.

You gave the Son power over all people so that he could give eternal life to all those you have given to him.

"I am coming to you now. But I pray these things while I am still in the world. I say all this so that these followers can have the true happiness that I have. I want them to be completely happy.

I am making myself completely ready to serve you. I do this for them, so that they also might be fully qualified for your service.

I have given them the glory that you gave me. I gave them this glory so that they can be one, just as you and I are one.

I will be in them, and you will be in me. So they will be completely one. Then the world will know that you sent me and that you loved them just as you loved me.