Commanded to Love
Scripture: John 15:9-17
The verse that may sound the most familiar to you in today’s reading from the Gospel of John is when Jesus says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” It has a nice sound, doesn’t it, and a pleasant message. Yes, yes, love each other as I have loved you. Wait a minute, what? Jesus says in today’s Gospel that, basically, we’re supposed to love each other the way he loves us. That is a pretty tall order. Jesus was an awfully nice guy, you know. And the next verse isn’t much more encouraging, “No-one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Okay, sure Jesus. Sounds great.
The truth is, if I’m honest about it, being like Jesus is something more of an aspiration than a day to day reality. It is helpful to remember that Jesus didn’t always show his love in nice, polite ways. Sometimes he got angry in defense of God. Sometimes he was playful and obscure in his teaching. But still, here is a person who dedicates his whole life to the people he loves, lays down his life for his friends, even to the point of a humiliating death. That is a pretty tall order, and for me at least, there is the potential for a side-serving of guilt, because there’s no way, really, to live up to that. So it can feel a little heavy to hear these words from Scripture: “love one another as I have loved you.”
And yet, reading through the whole passage, Jesus seems to be so sweet and sincere in giving this commandment, that it’s hard to hold onto the heaviness. “I’m giving you this command,” he says, “because I want you to have the joy that I have. I want your joy to be complete.” “I’m giving you this command,” he says, “So that you’ll be able to love each other. I love you, and I want you to love each other.” It’s like even this command is part of Jesus’ love for his disciples.
Our passage today comes from one of John’s farewell discourses, which is to say, one of the many speeches Jesus gives on his way to the cross. He is hoping to impart the most important parts of his wisdom to his disciples. One of Jesus’ key teachings was about the kingdom, or the sovereign realm of God. This is a new reality that God is bringing about – a social, political, cultural, and religious transformation to a world reigned, not by fear or greed, but by love, the deep and abiding love of God. And so, in a way, what Jesus seems to be saying is, here is a picture of what life in the realm of God looks like. You’ll be like branches, woven together, chosen by God, cared for and pruned by God, and bearing fruit that lasts. I’ve chosen you, you didn’t choose me. And this is the life I have for you – one marked by love, by joy, and by friendship with God.
You might be interested to know that in the Greek, even when Jesus is talking about the disciples as his friends, he is still talking about love. He uses the word “philos” to talk about friends, which basically means “one who is loved,” and has the same root as Philadelphia – the city of brotherly love, or philosophy – the love of wisdom.
Many years, someone I know – I’ll call him Paul – was having a difficult time, financially. He had enough to live on, but just barely, and sometimes there was food in the fridge, and sometimes, there wasn’t much. His friends decided, during this difficult time, that it would be a good idea to have a potluck party, and they invited themselves over to Paul’s house to enjoy their casseroles and salads, and the side dishes and whatever else you think of at a potluck. At the end of the meal, there were a lot of leftovers, and the friends left them behind for Paul to finish, which he was glad to do. Only years later, looking back, did he realize his friends’ hidden intention to make sure that he had enough to eat, at least for that week. Paul’s friends loved him, and they loved him in such a way that he wasn’t even aware of what they were really doing at the time.
I think sometimes, it’s easy to imagine our love as being like a bucket full of water – something to be carefully stewarded. To love with abandon, without boundaries is akin to throwing the bucket all at once. It makes a big splash, but then it’s over. By contrast, a slow trickle of love makes the bucket last longer, but in the meantime it’s not very life-giving.
I think what Jesus is calling us to in this passage is to fill our buckets, again and again, in the deep well of God’s love – the overflowing spring of Jesus’ love – the constantly renewed aquifers of the Holy Spirit. Instead of holding onto our bucket, and portioning out its contents carefully and precisely, let’s find a way, instead to keep drawing from God’s deep and infinite well, and distributing the cool, refreshing life we find there – wells and springs springing up to eternal life.
How do we do this? Abide in me, Jesus says. I am the vine, you are the branches. Live in my love, make it your home, just as I make my home in God, my loving Parent. Live in my love, and love each other. Don’t hold onto your little bucket, but pour and draw and pour again, and live in the joy of being the vessel of God’s light, the Christ-bearer, the source and receiver of love passing through you, the joy of bearing rich fruit, fruit that lasts.
In Reasons of the Heart, John S. Dunne writes, “Our minds’ desire is to know, to understand; but our hearts desire is intimacy, to be known, to be understood. To see God with our mind would be to know God, to understand God; but to see God with our heart would be to have a sense of being known by God, of being understood by God.”
God knows you, God understands you, God chooses you, God loves you. Abide in that love, now and always, that you may bear much fruit. Thanks be to God, Amen.
The verse that may sound the most familiar to you in today’s reading from the Gospel of John is when Jesus says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” It has a nice sound, doesn’t it, and a pleasant message. Yes, yes, love each other as I have loved you. Wait a minute, what? Jesus says in today’s Gospel that, basically, we’re supposed to love each other the way he loves us. That is a pretty tall order. Jesus was an awfully nice guy, you know. And the next verse isn’t much more encouraging, “No-one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Okay, sure Jesus. Sounds great.
The truth is, if I’m honest about it, being like Jesus is something more of an aspiration than a day to day reality. It is helpful to remember that Jesus didn’t always show his love in nice, polite ways. Sometimes he got angry in defense of God. Sometimes he was playful and obscure in his teaching. But still, here is a person who dedicates his whole life to the people he loves, lays down his life for his friends, even to the point of a humiliating death. That is a pretty tall order, and for me at least, there is the potential for a side-serving of guilt, because there’s no way, really, to live up to that. So it can feel a little heavy to hear these words from Scripture: “love one another as I have loved you.”
And yet, reading through the whole passage, Jesus seems to be so sweet and sincere in giving this commandment, that it’s hard to hold onto the heaviness. “I’m giving you this command,” he says, “because I want you to have the joy that I have. I want your joy to be complete.” “I’m giving you this command,” he says, “So that you’ll be able to love each other. I love you, and I want you to love each other.” It’s like even this command is part of Jesus’ love for his disciples.
Our passage today comes from one of John’s farewell discourses, which is to say, one of the many speeches Jesus gives on his way to the cross. He is hoping to impart the most important parts of his wisdom to his disciples. One of Jesus’ key teachings was about the kingdom, or the sovereign realm of God. This is a new reality that God is bringing about – a social, political, cultural, and religious transformation to a world reigned, not by fear or greed, but by love, the deep and abiding love of God. And so, in a way, what Jesus seems to be saying is, here is a picture of what life in the realm of God looks like. You’ll be like branches, woven together, chosen by God, cared for and pruned by God, and bearing fruit that lasts. I’ve chosen you, you didn’t choose me. And this is the life I have for you – one marked by love, by joy, and by friendship with God.
You might be interested to know that in the Greek, even when Jesus is talking about the disciples as his friends, he is still talking about love. He uses the word “philos” to talk about friends, which basically means “one who is loved,” and has the same root as Philadelphia – the city of brotherly love, or philosophy – the love of wisdom.
Many years, someone I know – I’ll call him Paul – was having a difficult time, financially. He had enough to live on, but just barely, and sometimes there was food in the fridge, and sometimes, there wasn’t much. His friends decided, during this difficult time, that it would be a good idea to have a potluck party, and they invited themselves over to Paul’s house to enjoy their casseroles and salads, and the side dishes and whatever else you think of at a potluck. At the end of the meal, there were a lot of leftovers, and the friends left them behind for Paul to finish, which he was glad to do. Only years later, looking back, did he realize his friends’ hidden intention to make sure that he had enough to eat, at least for that week. Paul’s friends loved him, and they loved him in such a way that he wasn’t even aware of what they were really doing at the time.
I think sometimes, it’s easy to imagine our love as being like a bucket full of water – something to be carefully stewarded. To love with abandon, without boundaries is akin to throwing the bucket all at once. It makes a big splash, but then it’s over. By contrast, a slow trickle of love makes the bucket last longer, but in the meantime it’s not very life-giving.
I think what Jesus is calling us to in this passage is to fill our buckets, again and again, in the deep well of God’s love – the overflowing spring of Jesus’ love – the constantly renewed aquifers of the Holy Spirit. Instead of holding onto our bucket, and portioning out its contents carefully and precisely, let’s find a way, instead to keep drawing from God’s deep and infinite well, and distributing the cool, refreshing life we find there – wells and springs springing up to eternal life.
How do we do this? Abide in me, Jesus says. I am the vine, you are the branches. Live in my love, make it your home, just as I make my home in God, my loving Parent. Live in my love, and love each other. Don’t hold onto your little bucket, but pour and draw and pour again, and live in the joy of being the vessel of God’s light, the Christ-bearer, the source and receiver of love passing through you, the joy of bearing rich fruit, fruit that lasts.
In Reasons of the Heart, John S. Dunne writes, “Our minds’ desire is to know, to understand; but our hearts desire is intimacy, to be known, to be understood. To see God with our mind would be to know God, to understand God; but to see God with our heart would be to have a sense of being known by God, of being understood by God.”
God knows you, God understands you, God chooses you, God loves you. Abide in that love, now and always, that you may bear much fruit. Thanks be to God, Amen.
posted by Amy Sens at 3:23 PM
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