Chosen, loved, sent
by Tim Castle-Schmidt
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You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last (John 15:16a).
Read John 15:9–17
Jesus does not begin with, ‘Try harder to love me.’ He begins with, ‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.’ That is the order of Christian life. Before there is command, there is gift. Before there is fruit, there is vine. Before we love, we are loved.
That makes all the difference. Jesus does command us to love one another. He is not vague about it. But his command comes wrapped in friendship: ‘I no longer call you servants … Instead, I have called you friends.’ We are not hired hands nervously waiting for the boss’ approval. We are friends of Christ because Christ has chosen us, drawn us close and shared the Father’s heart with us.
And what does his love look like? ‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’ Jesus is already pointing us to the cross. He does not simply define love. He becomes love in action. He gives himself for people who are slow, proud, fearful, confused and sinful. People like us.
So when Jesus says, ‘Remain in my love’, he is not saying, ‘Stay worthy.’ He is saying, ‘Stay where I have put you. Live from my love. Abide in the mercy that has already claimed you.’ Christian love grows as we keep returning to the place where Christ first meets us: his word, his promises, his forgiveness, his table, his body given and blood shed for us.
Vindicated by Christ, God’s people are freed and formed to love. You are not loved because you are fruitful. You bear fruit because you are loved. Relax into that today. Christ has chosen you, called you friend and sent you to love with the love you have already received.
Jesus, keep us resting in your love. Make your joy complete in us, and send us to love others with the love we have received from you. Amen.
By his own admission, Tim Castle-Schmidt is a broken man. Broken in body, mind and spirit, he says he is learning that God is at work in and through human brokenness. He says that while God has not ‘fixed’ him, God continues to work through his brokenness to connect with the world. Tim is the pastor of Nunawading–Waverley Lutheran Church in Melbourne. After spending many years as a teacher in Lutheran schools, he finally listened to God’s call to the pastoral ministry. Tim is passionate about social justice and engaging the church with contemporary society. Tim shares his life with Fiona, Miranda, and a Jack Russell called Otto.
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