Love One Another
AM Psalm 18:1-20 • PM Psalm 18:21-50
Exod. 16:10-22 • 1 Pet. 2:11-25 • John 15:12-27
We’ve hardly finished celebrating Easter, and here we are back in the days leading up to the crucifixion. Chapters 13-17 of St. John’s gospel, including our reading for today, take place the evening before Jesus was arrested by the authorities and dragged to trial by the Sanhedrin. These chapters consist almost entirely of words spoken by Jesus to his disciples. Sentence after sentence, John creates the impression that as he nears the end of his gospel he is desperate to cram in every word he remembers Jesus saying. And John charges this long scene with the urgency Jesus must have felt to tell his disciples everything they needed to know and to repeat what was most important in the hopes they would remember when he was gone.
Each of the fifteen verses for today is ripe for Morning Reflecting. I’ll discuss a few that relate closely to one another. Jesus reassures his disciples in verses 14 and 15 that they are his friends, and we may apply that loving assurance to ourselves. In verses 12 and 17 he lets us know what friendship involves: “This I command: that you love one another.” That sounds assuring, but, oops, there’s an addendum: “This I command: that you love one another, as I have loved you.” Oh, that's hard, and just in case we have doubts about what loving with God-like love requires, Jesus gives an example in verse 13: “There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
“Oh, Lord,” we whine, “that’s impossible for us” — even though we celebrated the laying down of our Lord’s life just two weeks ago during Good Friday.
But with God all things are possible. Three months ago people in Ukraine couldn’t have imagined laying down their lives for anyone, but now it's a daily occurrence for them. Thank God for them and for God’s friendship, which never ends. And let us pray for the courage and guidance we need to be friends to one another and to the Lord whatever the cost.