John 15:9-17 NRSVue
9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
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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Some thoughts on this scripture
Reflection
“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you”. Jesus assures us that he loves us with the same love as his Father loves him! Can I dare to believe that Jesus might want to bless me with this grace? What is it like for me to sit with this statement? Do I know it deep in my heart? Do I long to know it? I sit with this statement as I am, letting that be my prayer.
Reflection
Recall some time in your life when you realised that you were loved. What is that memory like? Can you recall some time in your life when you realised that you loved someone? What is that memory like?
Jesus’ ‘new’ commandment is that we love one another. He assured us that to to be like him is to live the Christian life as loving as we possibly can be. To be filled with this blessing means that I will be called to love, to love all, without any exceptions, as Jesus did.
Reflection
Jesus’ ‘new’ commandment is that we love one another. He assured us that to to be like him is to live the Christian life as loving as we possibly can be. To be filled with this blessing means that I will be called to love, to love all, without any exceptions, as Jesus did.
Reflection
My love for others must not be conditioned by how they respond. Jesus loves me totally, whether I am good or bad or indifferent. My love must have that quality too. This is costly love – it could demand my very life!
Reflection
This costly love will bear rich fruit, whether I see it or not. Just so, Jesus’ love bears fruit only after his death. I must not be discouraged when my love seems to be wasted. True love never comes to an end (1 Corinthians 13:8). Loving actions are the building blocks of eternal life.