John 15:20 (DRB)

Passage

Remember my word that I said to you: The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my word, they will keep yours also.

Nearby Context

John 15:18 If the world hate you, know ye that it hath hated me before you.

John 15:19 If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

John 15:20 Remember my word that I said to you: The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my word, they will keep yours also.

John 15:21 But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake: because they know not him that sent me.

John 15:22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "remember", "word", "said", "servant", "greater", "than", "master", and "persecuted". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "remember" and "word", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "If you had been of the world..." into verse 21's "But all these things they will do...", so "remember" and "word" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "remember" and "word" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.