Not servants but friends

‘I love you just as the Father loves me; remain in my love. 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.
‘l have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you.’ (verses 9-12)

Read John 15:9-17

Twice in the longer Bible reading Jesus commands his followers to love one another. I’m sure we are tempted to ask whether love can be commanded. Either we love people for who they are and what they mean to us or we don’t. And if we don’t love them, there’s no point in someone commanding us to love them.

Jesus knows that. That’s why he assures us of his love for us. That’s why he tells us that he calls us his friends, not his servants. He knows that friends want to and love to do things for their friends.

So when he says ‘Love one another’, we should hear that not as a stern order but as a loving encouragement to do something for him. That’s probably why he adds the gentle reminder ‘just as I love you’.

What a loving friend you are to me, Lord Jesus! Help me to show such understanding and forgiving love to others as you have shown me. Amen.

by John Vitale, in ‘Guidance for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2002)

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