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 to 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 

 

Currently we are reading through Christ's Farewell Discourse at the Last Supper.  In yesterday's reading, Christ told the disciples, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.  As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  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.  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."  My study Bible remarks that many religions and philosophies teach people to love one another.  But what makes Christ's commandment new and distinctive is the measure required of our love (see John 13:34).  We must love as Christ has loved us.  Christ will lay down His life not only for His friends, but also even for His enemies.

 

"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."  My study Bible notes here that friendship is higher than servanthood.  Servants obey their masters out of fear or a sense of duty.  But friends obey out of love and an internal desire to do what is good and right.  Abraham was called a "friend of God" (James 2:23) because he obeyed God out of the belief of his heart.  The disciples, and all the saints for that matter, are honored as friends of Christ because they freely obey His commandments out of love.  My study Bible adds that those who have this spirit of loving obedience are open to receive and understand the revelations of the Father.

"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 to 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.'"  My study Bible explains that the term world (Greek κόσμος/cosmos) is used in several distinct ways in Scripture.  In some cases, it says, "world" refers to all that is glorious, beautiful, and redeemable in God's creation (John 3:16).  Other times, it refers to that which is finite in contrast to that which is eternal (John 11:9; 18:36).  In still other instances, as here, my study Bible says, this word indicates all that is in rebellion against God (see also John 8:23).    My study Bible adds that the rebellion against God reveals several things.  First, while union with Christ brings love, truth, and peace, it also brings persecution, because the world hates love and truth.  Second, the world hated Christ, and therefore it will hate all those who try to be Christlike.  Additionally, the world hates Christ because it neither knows nor desires to know the Father (verses 21-24 in this passage).  Finally, hatred for Jesus Christ is irrational and unreasonable, for Christ brings love and mercy; therefore Christ is hated 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."  With respect to God's working salvation in the world, here we see that the Son sends the Holy Spirit from the Father.  With respect to the divine nature, my study Bible explains, the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father alone.  In other words, it explains, the Holy Spirit receives His eternal existence only from the Father.  In conformity with the words of Jesus, the Nicene-Constantopolitan Creed confesses belief "in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father."  While the Son is begotten of the Father alone, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone in the understanding of the Orthodox.  That is, the source, the Fountainhead, of both Persons is the Father.

 

Jesus says, "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."  In a modern secular context, it might seem hard to reconcile some of Christ's statements.  He speaks of love, and commands His disciples to "love one another as I have loved you."  The extent of that love is all-inclusive in terms of what He gives, He will lay down His life for His friends.  But those friends are the ones who will "do whatever I command you."  For many people this rankles, but let us understand Jesus, and the depth of shared relationship.  He says, "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."  In this relationship, everything is brought to the table by the One who gives the commandments.  He holds nothing back from them.  Whatever is given by the Father is made known to the disciples.  This is a kind of open-ended giving that effectively renders servants friends, as they are those who receive everything given to the Master.  Lest we forget, this is a Master who will lay down His life, and truly give all, for His friends -- even, moreover, for His enemies, for Christ's salvation is offered to everyone who can accept it and live it in the discipleship He asks.  The commandment to "love one another as I have loved you" is given in this context, and is the cementing of the fullness of community with Father, Son, and Spirit at the center, and inclusive of all of those who would be disciples.  That is because love is the bedrock of this community, it is the stuff of which this Kingdom is made, its ground of being, for its center and Source is love (1 John 4:8).  His commandments, therefore, are love, and teach us how to love ("We love because He first loved us" - 1 John 4:19).  For we should consider that it is this communion, its working in us, God's presence within us and among us (Luke 17:21), that forms the Kingdom of God, is the Kingdom.  We understand its beauty, goodness, and truth in its fruits, in its love, in Christ's compassion, in God's creativity, and all the things that spring and grow from that.  For this is how He wants us to love one another, and the love He asks us to share to build that Kingdom among us.  Let us remember that it comes into a world that will hate and persecute it, a light that shines in the darkness that cannot comprehend nor take it in.  But He sends us the gift of the Helper, the One who testifies of Christ, so that His presence and His word remains always with us -- and in this is also testimony that His Kingdom is love.