This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
This commandment given by Jesus would be impossible for anyone operating at a natural level.
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die (see Romans 5:7).
Jesus told us to do more than merely to love righteous people, those whom we deem worthy of our love. There may be great leaders or heroes who could so stir ardor within us that we could forget about ourselves for long enough to give of ourselves. But Jesus asked that we give of ourselves even without such motivation, to imitate the Father and he in showing no partiality. Without something in it for our ego such love would be impossible for us without supernatural aid.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Jesus was able to offer his life for us even though there was nothing in it for him. His joy was already complete. He was perfectly happy together with the Father and the Spirit before anything had even been created. The life Jesus received from the Father from all eternity, and the joy the shared, gave Jesus a power to love others in a way that was not possible for others.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (see Romans 5:8).
Jesus was so secure in his Father's love for him, so confident in the Father as the source of his joy, that he had the power to let his love overflow recklessly upon his creation. He was too secure in who he was to need to hold anything back out of fear. He was too satisfied in the joy of the Father to insist on some reward apart from that joy. He didn't need to demand anything for himself in the way he loved us. Rather, the demands he did make of us were for our sake, so that we could live from the some privileged place of security from which he lived.
Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.
Jesus did not insist that we remained in his love for his sake, but for ours. He did not insist that we love one another for his sake, but rather so that we could become like him, so that we could in fact become united with him, sharing in the same joy he had with the Father from all eternity.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you
and your joy might be complete.
Jesus himself never wavered in remaining in the Father's love. We waver frequently, as though we were unshielded candles in the midst of an immense storm. But if the flame of our love and our joy seems fragile it may be because we lack enough confidence in the love of God for us to let it shine. If the Spirit is truly the source of our flame we need not fear the winds.
The light we are given is never meant to be an isolated, static, thing. It is meant to be dynamic, like a candle during the Easter Vigil, used to light other candles, so that the risk of darkness which a single candle might fear is no longer a risk.
Perhaps the issue isn't any perceived storm storm of circumstance. Perhaps we have been smothering our light under a bushel basket. Maybe we have not shown due trust in the love and care of God's love for us. If this is so, let us repent and return to that love as our source. We will need to repeat that return every time we shrink back and become protective of our light. But each time we return we will receive an increased confidence in him until finally fear is no more. We will no longer operate from the motivations of slaves, but will finally be living as the friends of God which we are meant to be.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
The risk in talking about our relation to the light we are given is that it begins to sound like our effort is still more central than it is. This is not a sufficient picture. Rather, God's love for us is always primary, at the beginning, and during every step. Even our response is possible only by grace. Even our faith and our confidence in God is something which we can only have by receiving it from him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
May we let his love flow through us, transforming us, making us love as he loves, with no partiality. If we open ourselves to these words we too can feel the Holy Spirit upon us, as the deepest true, that God is love, is revealed to our hearts.
While Peter was still speaking these things,
the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word.
The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter
were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit
should have been poured out on the Gentiles also,
for they could hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God.
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