Love One Another
John 15:12-17
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 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. 16 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. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
In the midst of giving final instructions to his disciples, Jesus chooses one commandment over all others: Love one another as I have loved you. Then he goes on to say what that love looks like: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” It strikes me that Jesus does exactly that - he lays down his life, but not just for his disciples or people like his disciples. Nor does he lay down his life just for Israel. Jesus lays down his life out of great love for the world. For. The. Whole. World. This is not a new realization. The gospel writer John has alluded to this from the beginning of the gospel and is explicit about it in John 3:16.
Another thing strikes me in these verses positioned here in chapter 15. Jesus has been and will continue for a couple more chapters, speaking intimately with his disciples. For several chapters, Jesus is giving his disciples his final words, his final instructions. The end is near and Jesus knows it, and so with utmost importance he is laying everything on the line for his disciples. He calls them his friends. The disciples’ relationship to Jesus has evolved - from teacher and students to master and servants and now to friends - and this relationship is characterized by love.
This is a love that is willing to die for another. Interestingly, love lived out in relationship to others looks like service, being willing to serve the other, look out for the needs of the other, willingly and joyfully ready to make sacrifices for the other. I’ve noticed throughout my life that there are some people who have lots of friends or have strong friendships with others, but there is something that I’ve learned as I observe these relationships. It isn’t so much that one HAS lots of friends, but rather, one IS a friend.
In this time of COVID-19 isolation, mental, emotional, and relational health are challenges for many people. Perhaps you can BE a friend and check in on someone and make sure they are doing okay. As you are BEING a friend, you might come to realize that you, too, HAVE many friends. May we all be strengthened and encouraged by Jesus, who not only calls us into discipleship, but also calls us FRIEND.
Let us pray: Good and gracious God, you sent your Son Jesus to show your great love for all the world through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. May his love continue to strengthen and empower us to serve and show our love for others. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Friend, we pray. Amen.