This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.

"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'

"But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning."

- John 15:12-27

In today's reading, Jesus continues the Farewell Discourse from the Last Supper. Yesterday, He taught the disciples, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser." He taught us all to "abide in Him," and in this way we should bear much fruit. We abide in His love and the love of the Father's, through the Comforter or the Helper as my study bible text translates "parakletos" from the Greek. He said, " If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." My study bible says here: "Just as God loves us unconditionally, so we are to love each other unconditionally in Christ's name--whether there is a response or not!" I wonder, when I read these words of Christ, how far we fall short on this score! The great commandment He gives us here is His own, after He has spoken of abiding in His love and so following His commandments. If anything, abiding in His love should teach us how to love!

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another." Just as in yesterday's reading, Jesus taught that we are to abide in His love and follow His commandments in relationship, so He elaborates a little here. Couched in love, following His commands remains within this bond and relatedness, in which He and the Father and the Spirit dwell in us and are our Friends. My study bible points out that friendship is higher than servanthood. "A servant obeys his master out of fear; a friend is a servant who obeys out of love. Abraham was called a 'friend of God' because he believed and obeyed God. The disciples and the saints are honored as friends of Christ and heirs of God." To love one another and to abide in His love is to live with Him in relationship, as friends, and to follow His commandments within that bond of love. As in yesterday's reading about the vine and the branches, it is by abiding in that love and relationship -- as friends -- that we will bear the fruit He asks, and glorify the Father from whom all comes.

"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you." My study bible says, "Regarding the world we learn that . . . while union with Christ brings love, joy and peace, it also brings the world's hatred and persecution." Here is the strange fruit of the world we may find hard to understand: abiding in Christ's love may bring us the hatred of those who don't know what this is within themselves. It may bring the hatred of those who don't understand nor know this love for themselves. One thing is certain: He does not promise us a world full of love in return for our love of Christ -- but rather the strife that comes from those who do not accept this for themselves, and don't know nor understand the reality of abiding in that vine, in His love. This is His promise: that the servant is not greater than the master. I believe this antipathy may come in many forms, among even those closest to us, as He has said.

"If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'" Ultimately, the First Cause of all things is the Father -- from whence Christ's love and commands come. As He has repeatedly taught that he who sees Him also sees the Father, as He is a reflection of the Father in the world and has done the Father's will and spoken the words the Father has given, He also points out here that the animosity or hatred encountered is ultimately the hatred and ignorance of the Father. The relationship goes fully all ways: to abide in His love is a complete chain: between us, the Spirit, the Son and Father. To hate without a cause is to hate indeed -- it is to be in opposition to the God who is love.

"But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning." What is it to receive this Helper, sent from the Father? It is to receive true testimony, so that we may understand as do the disciples. The disciples themselves will bear witness, because "they have been with Him from the beginning." And so we have the living word, the Gospel, which also bears witness for us from the beginning of His ministry. It is the Helper that gives us the understanding of His words, that helps us to live His life in the world, as He would ask of us, that bears witness for us as He also did for the Apostles after Jesus' death. How can we not be grateful for such a gift?

To bear fruit, then, takes so much more than the good works we can do or think of doing. It is to be in relationship, to be friends -- to abide in His love and in the vine, the true indwelling of Father, Son and Spirit. Are we living in that love? Do we seek it for ourselves? Do we let it into our hearts as deeply as it can go each day, teaching us what we need and how to serve? What is it to love one another as He has loved the disciples, and loves us? To know this love is to live indeed -- and it also may mean one experiences hatred without a cause. The servant is not greater than the master. In this, we share all things, a sign of true love and friendship indeed.