(At least I think so… considering the context. Read on before you judge the title.)
I’ve written about John 14-15 before, but I would like to revisit these chapters. The context is so important. Jesus knows that He will soon “pass the torch” to His disciples, and leave them physically alone. He is about to face the torment in the garden, and his heart is breaking for the trial He faces, and for the anguish of leaving those He loves. Think about the discussion you’d have with your spouse or kids if you knew you would be separated and die within hours (really, stop and think about it - this should take a minute or two). I know I’d pick one or two things that mattered above all else, and I’d repeat those things over and over to be sure that I did not fail to pass them along, and that I could leave this world knowing that key message was understood.
That’s the context here. So I believe that what He says is what He considered the most important summary of His message that He could express. I’m moved to tears by the tone of Jesus’ message in these chapters. I can hear and feel his desperate desire to leave those that He loved with the key to their spritiual survival and success as he repeats the same message over and over. The message: I’ve told you what to do. Do it. If the instructions didn’t register, you’ve seen my life – duplicate it in your own lives. If you do that, I will provide all that you need. Your joy will be full.
I’ve included excerpts from Jonh 14-15 (NIV). I count nine times where Jesus tells His disciples, in some form or another, that everything hinges on doing what he has told them to do – following His commands, bearing fruit, etc. Pull out your bibles and read this in its entiretly. The repetition is striking. And just in case, just in case, His disciples (or us) were really slow, and we missed what He told us to do, and we missed how He lived… He gives us one last reminder: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
There is a lot of discussion of grace vs. condemnation with respect to the role of works in our lives. I’m going to leave that aside for a time, because Jesus did here. Why did Jesus tell us that we must obey His commands nine times in one conversation? He answers that: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
One last thought related to laying our lives down for those that we love. We macho guys like to puff our chests out and say “I’d give up my life to save those I love”… picturing ourselves as heros taking a bullet, or rushing into a burning house. Jesus did that on the cross, but more applicable to us, Jesus gave up home, career, recreation, (probably TV too – at least I think he probably didn’t watch it every evening and weekend), every day of His life. That’s giving up your life for others. Not in death. But in life - giving up our lives by LIVING for others. And never forget - this is a command. Not a request, not an ideal… a command that Jesus seems to say all else hinges on.
Now the excerpts:
John 14
12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.
21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
John 15
4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business.
16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.
