John 15:12-17 NRSVue
12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
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Reflection on John 15:12-17
Inspiration from 2025-05-23 Daily Prayer
In our call to love one another, we are invited by the words and example of Jesus to be willing to give up even our lives for our brothers and sisters. In human history, there are countless men and women who have done this, the greatest act of love. I am not thinking primarily of the multitude of martyrs but of the unknown men and women who died for the sake of others. Let us pray for the courage to love as they did.
Further reflection
My focus now is not on my faith, on what I think or believe. Jesus invites me to accept what he believes about me, how he sees me to be. I am sent to bear fruit. I am trusted. I am loved.