Jesus said to his disciples:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love 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 no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.”
Gospel Trivia:
This gospel passage contains some of the most beautiful and perhaps sweetest verses that Jesus said. However, these verses are more than beautiful and sweet words, but also reflects what a personal relationship with Jesus entails:
- John 15:10 – “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” Love of God is not just a “feel good” thing. It requires action, keeping his commandments.
- John 15: 12 – “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
This is the second time that Jesus says this, but with a slight twist. The first time was during the last supper but at that time he referred to this as a “NEW” commandment. This time, Jesus refers to it as “MY” commandment. It is a personal commandment of Jesus himself. We must love one another “AS I LOVED YOU.” Jesus’ love is the new standard, which means a personal relationship based on sacrificial love and forgiveness; and NOT the legalistic approach of the Pharisees who equate righteousness before God in terms simply of obeying the laws of Moses
- John 15:13 – “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Jesus’ standards includes sacrificing one’s life for others, perhaps not in terms of actual physical death, but love based on “dying” to one’s self.
- John 15:15 – “I no longer call you slaves. I have called you friends.”
Jesus love is also not just a decision or commitment, but has the character of intimacy, reciprocity, and heart to heart, which are elements of true friendship.
- John 15:11 – “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you.”
Joy was considered in the Old Testament as the characteristic of the time of salvation and everlasting peace. It is the ultimate reward of a relationship based on love and friendship.
Loving God is serious business. It entails a certain kind of “dying” to one’s self such as loving the unlovable, taking the initiative to repair a relationship even though it is not your fault, choosing the difficult right instead of the easy wrong.
Doesn’t a part of ourselves “die” when we humble ourselves and do these things?
God loves us seriously. How serious do you love God? What expressions of God’s love can you do that entails a “dying” to one’s self?
Reference:
- Nil Guillemette, SJ, Hungry No More (Makati: St. Paul's Publications, 1989), 210-212
No comments:
Post a Comment