What would you say to your friends on the night before their world turned upside down? If you knew that they would soon feel confusion and fear, would you warn them? How would you comfort them? How would you explain to them that you were always working for their good, even when everything was crashing down?

If you were Jesus, this is what you would say: (from John 14-17)

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.”

“If you love me, obey my commandments.”

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.”

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you... For apart from me you can do nothing.”

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love.”

"I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.”

“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.”

“But I will send you the Advocate —the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.”

“I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith.”

“So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.”

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.”

Photo by Calwaen Liew on Unsplash