JOHN 15:9-17 LOVE’S REFLECTION

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. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You 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. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

In the writings of the New Testament, love is both a gift and a fruit of the Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 13, St. Paul states that love is the greatest of the gifts that come to us through the Spirit (v.13). Then in Galatians 5, he lists love as one of the characteristics of a person who lives “by the Spirit” (vv. 22-25). In addition, he exhorts us to live constantly in love (1 Corinthians 14:1, 16:14). It is clear that the life of a Christian is to be characterized by an uncommon love. But what does this love have to do with obedience?

If we are to reveal God’s nature to the world, we must live lives that reflect his love for the world, which is the motivation for his relationship to the created order (from creation to redemption to future re-creation). As such, God is the source of love and provides us with the pattern for our love. As the “radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3), Jesus incarnates Divine love. In order to do so faithfully, he does what he receives from the Father, which is the essence of obedience. To remain in Jesus’ love, we likewise must do what we have received from him. By obeying we literally live in Jesus’ love, but we also we live lives that are informed by his love. We both experience and express his love.

The result of living a life of Divine love is an intimate relationship with God (friend) and a fruitful present life in his Kingdom. This is real joy, because it is the fulfillment of what we were created to be. It completes Jesus’ joy, because it is precisely what the Son became incarnate to achieve.

In this fallen world, obedience is bearing the weight of oppression. In the Kingdom of God (even in this world), obedience is opening the door to everlasting joy.

Father, in your perfect love you have offered me the opportunity for a relationship with you. Enlighten my darkened understanding so that I might come to know that obedience is the attitude and action through which I recognize and experience your love. Through your Spirit transform me into the person I was created to be – the reflected image of your love. Amen.