Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
When we obey secular authorities we may express a variety of things, from fear to respect, depending both on our own maturity and on the deserving (or lack thereof) of the authority in question. At an earthly level it is probably only within the context of the family that we see that obeying commands can at times be motivated by love. But in the context of his relationship with his Father obedience is the primary way by which Jesus himself expresses his love. This is possible because of a deep trust that Jesus has for the Father wherein he recognizes that all that he has and all that he is come from the Father and that the Father is perfectly worthy of trust. He has no need to insert his own agenda to achieve some independent satisfaction since the only thing he desires is the love and approval of his Father.
Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him.
It is by keeping the commandments of Jesus that we override our fallen programming tending toward distrust and doubt and commit ourselves completely to God. In doing so we say, in effect, "not my will, but thine, be done" (see Luke 22:42). It is a statement strongly opposed to the act of Adam in the Garden of Eden in which he chose his own will over that of God opening all of creation to disorder and humanity itself to spiritual death. By contrast it is a statement perfectly in keeping with that made by the Mother of God when she chose to obey the word of God spoken to her by the angel. Our own obedience is a way of saying, together with her, "be it unto me according to thy word" (see Luke 1:38).
It delights the Father that his Son be glorified. And so he has made the Son the focal point of his plan of redemption and self-revelation. By obedience to the Son we find ourselves drawn into, not merely compliance or proper performance, but relationship. Just as the Son's own obedience to the Father is always in the context of their mutual love, so too does our relationship through the Son to the Triune God gradually transform us to make us more loving, more like that which we love. In fact, love comes to define our relationship to such a degree that it can no longer be described only at a distance or in the abstract. Rather, there comes a point when it can only be represented as mutual indwelling.
Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
If one told the secular world that these are the heights to which obedience leads one suspects that he would find at best suspicion. Yet Jesus assures us that this is the way, indeed the only way, for us to draw as near to God as God desires us to come. The only alternative is in fact rejection and disobedience. Let us not be like past generations when the Gentiles wandered in their own ways. Let us recognize the ever present witness of the reality of the goodness of God and commit to living lives that respond to him in trust. Then we will find something even better than "nourishment and gladness for [our] hearts". We will find the gift of his own Spirit, dwelling within us, leading us into all truth.
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