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JOHN 15:20 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
John 15:19John 15:21
“Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”
Remember the word that I said to you, 'Servants are not greater than their master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also — Jesus reminds the disciples of the principle established earlier: disciples are not above their teacher. Persecution is not a betrayal of the promise but an confirmation of it; to be persecuted is to be truly following Jesus. Yet the promise is double-edged: as the world persecuted Jesus, some will also hear and keep his word, and thus some will hear and keep the disciples' word. The harvest comes through faithful witness even when the response is hostility.

Church Fathers on John 15:20

Our Lord had said, I have ordained that you should walk and bring forth fruit. Love is this fruit. Wherefore, He proceeds: These things I command you, that you love one another. Hence the Apostle said, The fruit of the Spirit is love(Gal 5:22), and enumerates all other graces as springing from this source. Well then does our Lord commend love, as if it were the only thing commanded: seeing that without it nothing can profit, with it nothing be wanting, whereby a man is made…

Augustine · 4th century

I have said that I lay down My life for you, and that I first chose you. I have said this not by way of reproach, but to induce you to love one another. Then as they were about to suffer persecution and reproach, He bids them not to grieve, but rejoice on that account: If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you: as if to say, I know it is a hard trial, but you will endure it for My sake.

Chrysostom · 4th century · Or thus

For the dispraise of the perverse, is our praise. There is nothing wrong in not pleasing those who do not please God. For no one can by one and the same act please God, and the enemies of God. He proves himself no friend to God, who pleases His enemy; and he whose soul is in subjection to the Truth, will have to contend with the enemies of that Truth.

Gregory the Great · 6th century
Read all 13 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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John 15:20 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy