Love one another as I have loved you

‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

‘If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you. 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. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. It was to fulfil the word that is written in their law, “They hated me without a cause.”

‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

- John 15:12-27

In today's passage from John, Jesus speaks further about relationship and relatedness. We have heard and read through this gospel, and especially most intensely in this discourse at the Last Supper, about relationship, especially the relatedness of Father, Son and Spirit to man through faith and through the ministry of Jesus. But here Jesus elaborates on other aspects of relationship: of love and hatred.

He begins with the new commandment: Love one another as I have loved you. And he reminds them what this means: he will lay down his life for them. He calls them friends, not servants (although he is Lord and they call him "Teacher" and "Master"). He says that they will be his friends if they keep his commandments. He has made them his friends because he has shared with them everything he has heard from the Father - nothing is held back. A master doesn't share what he's doing with a servant, but Jesus has given us all a total revelation of what he has been about, and what the Father has told him.

Furthermore Jesus tells them that he is the one who chose them. He chose them to bear fruit - to abide in the vine, in the depth of relationship with the word that lives in them, so that they act in his name. Thereby, the Father will give to them what is asked in Jesus' name. These are the commands he leaves with them, so that they may love one another.

Jesus also speaks of hatred, of that which will remain an enemy and not embrace the apostles in relationship. This is the world of rejection. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. That which does not choose to remain in or to accept such a relationship will persecute them. Sin comes upon those who know and understand and yet reject: this is Judgment. But the servant is not greater than the master - therefore the rejection and hatred that is in those who cannot accept this "name" and this word and this relationship will also belong to the apostles. If the Father has been rejected through rejection of the Son - so also will that rejection carry over to those who remain in relationship, in the name.

And finally, Jesus speaks of testimony: that the Advocate who will be sent by the Father will testify in them and through them. The apostles themselves are witnesses to his physical ministry - they have been "with him from the beginning." But those of us who can receive this Spirit of truth will also, by inference, receive His testimony.

So, before his crucifixion, Jesus leaves us with an established order of relationship: mankind to Trinity, through his ministry and through the work of the Spirit that is to come. And then there is the world that rejects such relationship and seeks to persecute him (including its works and fruits) - for these Jesus uses the word "hatred" and says there will also be hatred for his followers. And finally, testimony, witnessing. He will ask the Father to send the Spirit who will testify on Jesus' behalf. Witnessing, testimony, friendship and hatred: the stage is set for a different evolution of understanding, of what it means to serve and to share in this work for the kingdom.