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

We continue with the Eastertide readings in John's Gospel. Jesus is giving His farewell discourse to the Apostles at the Last Supper, teaching them all the things they will need to know and remember after His Passion and Crucifixion.

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." This is a repetition of what Jesus has already told them at the beginning of this discourse, just after telling them that one of them would betray Him (see John 13:34-35). We must assume that it is a repetition for emphasis. But there is also more; He will explain further His 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." He is the One who calls us His friends, and He explains to them why and how they are His friends. He leaves with them His new commandment, and He has taught of the Comforter, He has taught that He will manifest Himself to them, but not to the world. He has said, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me." He has shared all with them, He will lay His life down for them. My study bible says, "Friendship is higher than servanthood. A servant obeys his master out of fear; a friend is a servant who obeys out of love."

"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." He is entrusting them with His mission for them, as friends. He is investing Himself fully in them, so that the fruit they bear will not be passing but eternal. Beyond all this, He promises that whatever they ask the Father in His name should be given. But all of it is tied up in this friendship that obeys His commandments, a friendship of love -- and bound in the command that they love one another. It is, in effect, a Commission of love. I think that if we do not understand love, then we will never understand Christ. Perhaps to come to know Christ is also to learn love.

"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." Here is the great contrast, between the ways of the world and the ways of Christ's love. He has set them apart, taken them out of the world, as holiness is something different from "the world" and the ways of the world. As Christians, as those who seek to know and to do His love, we can expect persecution from that which does not understand this Way.

"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." Here is a paradox: the world doesn't know its Creator. A "worldly" way of thinking is outside of the connection to this love, to this Way. He promises, in this sense, persecution. A servant is not greater his master. He has led the way so that we may understand, and follow Him. The world will not understand this Way of love, because it does not know the Father who sent Him.

"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.'" Here is another powerful teaching: because He has revealed the Father among them, their sin remains. There is no ignorance here, but true rejection. A gift has been offered, revealed, made manifest. To reject this gift, this grace, is to bear responsibility for that rejection.

"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." And here is the great promise again, of the Helper, the Paraclete, in the Greek. John calls Him the Spirit of truth. He is also called Comforter, Advocate, Counselor. Parakletos, in the Greek, is one who comes close when you call, an advocate or advisor -- one who helps with discernment, especially of a legal understanding. Mingled with Christ's love, we must come to understand His justice and truth; all are inseparable. Jesus has promised that He wills that their fruit should remain; the Advocate or Paraclete is tied in to that which remains -- to testimony that is true and will stand the test of justice, that will remain standing. The truth to which which they will testify will remain -- and will be helped through the work of the Spirit of truth, the Paraclete.

Jesus' promises here are directly made to His Apostles: "You have been with me from the beginning." But they are also made implicitly for us, to us. We have the Helper, who will help us to discernment, to truth (as the Spirit of truth). And the implication is also that the Helper will guide us into His love and the fulfillment of His commandments. Over and over again in this farewell discourse, Jesus repeats for emphasis what are His commandments, and what is His new commandment that He leaves with us: that we love one another. As He has loved us, so we must love one another. How often do we live up to that? How often do we fail? If there is anything more to understand in this commandment, it is that love and truth and judgment are all wrapped up in one another. In God's love and God's law and God's truth they are inseparable. We will show that we are His by the love we show to one another. How powerful is that?

I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--the Spirit of truth

"If you love Me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.

"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives to I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here."

- John 14:15-31

In yesterday's reading, we read the beginning of Jesus' farewell discourse to His Apostles at the Last Supper. Here He embarked on the understanding of the union of His nature with the Father, though they are two separate Persons. All who wish to come to the Father must go through Him; the Father is in Him. In His Father's house, there are many mansions, and He goes to prepares a place for the faithful, so they will be with Him also. See I am the way, the truth, and the life.

"If you love Me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." And here we receive the great and tremendous news that He does not leave us alone. He will leave them with a Helper, an Advocate, a Comforter. The Greek word παράκλητος ("parakletos") can mean all of these things, including lawyer or counselor. We note the legal terms related to justice and how they are all present with Christ and His mission: He has said that He comes for a judgment. Many of the faithful will be martyrs ("witnesses") as will He Himself. We have with us a Counselor for faithful and good testimony. If you break down the parts of this word "parakletos," it literally means the one who is close by, upon whom one can call -- specifically it was used contemporarily to Jesus for "attorney." One study guide notes, "a legal advocate who makes the right judgment-call because close enough to the situation . . . paráklētos ('advocate, advisor-helper') is the regular term in NT times of an attorney (lawyer) – i.e. someone giving evidence that stands up in court." From this passage and more to follow, we learn of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. My study bible says, "The Apostles did not fully understand the teachings and works of Christ prior to their reception of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost." So, we can conclude, the Advocate, our Helper, is not only our advisor and guide, but also testifies truly of the Judge, to show us His way, and to teach us His commandments, to fulfill His love and will for us. My study bible has another note to add here: "Jesus calls us to know the Spirit of truth who is in us and helps us pray. Thus prayer in Jesus' name relates to all three Persons of the Holy Trinity. Jesus gives assurance that such prayer is answered for those who are united with Him."

"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." To be left orphaned is indeed how it would feel to be without this blessed Teacher in whom dwells the Father. But His promise is good. My study bible says "the brief separation of Jesus from the disciples, due to His arrest and Crucifixion, will lead to a deeper mystical union after the Resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. . . . At that day refers to the Resurrection of Jesus followed by the Ascension and the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, all of which, working together, make the fullness of divine life available to all believers." To love Him, to follow His commandments, is to be embraced by both Christ and the Father -- Jesus will "show" or "appear" (my study bible says "reveal," or "make Himself real") to those who are in this loving embrace, all one.

Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me." With whom will we dwell in life? Jesus makes it clear here, that just as He has lived as a human being in the world, so He will also return and dwell with us. But not Christ alone, but also the Father, because the word we hear is not His but the Father's who sent Him. We are far from orphans, living with Father and Son and Spirit, in loving embrace. When we love Christ through the keeping of the commandments which the Spirit helps us to know, all dwell within us in love. As there are many mansions in His Father's house, so they will also come and dwell within us.

"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." Again, we are taught about the Spirit and what He will reveal to us in His mission as Advocate and Spirit of truth. My study bible says, "We have confidence in the Apostles' doctrine because the Holy Spirit is their Teacher and brings Christ's words to their remembrance." And this is grace for us, what the Spirit of truth brings.

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives to I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe." We may wonder, what is peace here? My study bible says, "Peace was the customary Jewish word of both greeting and farewell. Perfect peace is brought by the Messiah, who carries out the work of salvation and reconciles humanity with God. Together with 'grace,' peace is part of the traditional greeting of Christians to each other." The Father and Son are equal but the Son was begotten of the Father, and as such is loyal always to the Father, as He has told us here. My study bible says, "the Incarnate Son receives His whole existence from the Father and carries out His mission in full obedience to the Father." Our peace and our rejoicing is in this moment of reunion and reconciliation, and the bringing of the Holy Spirit to us, so that all will dwell within us and we may be one, with Him.

"I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here." And, as He always does, He illustrates what He has just been teaching. He is loyal to the Father in all things. My study bible says, "The ruler of this world, the devil, dominates the realm of those who do not love Christ or keep His commandments. Jesus said the devil has nothing in Me because there can be no compromise between Christ--or us--and the devil. Jesus became man, but was never stained with the sin of men, nor was He under the authority of the devil." We are told the Father dwells in Christ -- but there is one who "has nothing in Him." We wish to be kept within the embrace of Father, Son and Spirit, and so we call upon the Comforter to be near and with us always, we seek His counsel, for we also wish the prince or ruler of this world to have nothing in us. But the very next most important statement He makes is the whole point of the judgment, the way to counter that "ruler of this world" -- the Father gave Him commandment, and so He does. And so we must follow -- we have our advocate, helper and guide to do so.

What does it mean to be indwelt by this Holy Trinity? to follow the Helper or Advocate, the One who is close to us and who brings us ever closer with the indwelling Father and Son? This is what we ponder today, and the peace and grace He brings us. How do you experience that in your life?