Is This True?

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John 15:12-17

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

 
 

Jesus has already taught that the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep (see John 10:11). Here, He expands on that idea and tells the disciples that He is laying down His life for them, and so that they—His friends—ought to be prepared to do the same.

QUESTION OF THE DAY
Do you think what Jesus says is true? Is giving your life for another person the highest form of love?

 

Jesus Gives Them Their Mission

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John 13:31-35

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 
 

The Gospel of John is filled with Trinitarian language and theology, of which vv. 31-32 are a good example:

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once [John 13:31–32].

Jesus will be glorified on the cross, which means that the Father will also be glorified, because the glory of the one is the glory of the other.

Jesus is going away, and so He gives His disciples their mission:

33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” [John 13:33–35].

Having provided the foot washing as an example of humble service, Jesus now tells the disciples that their love for one another will be an important sign to the world of their commitment to Him.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
“To love is to will the good of the other.” That’s my favorite practical definition of love, which comes from the medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas.