John 15:12-17

John 15:12-17

This is my commandment, in order that you all should love one another just as I loved you all.  Nobody has greater love than this, in order that someone should set down his life for his friends.  You all are my friends if you all should do that which I commanded you to do.  No longer do I call you all slaves because the slave does not know what his lord is doing.  But I have called you all friends because all that I heard from my Father I made known to you all.  You all did not choose me, but I chose you all and I set you all up in order that you all should go away and carry fruit and your fruit should remain in order that anything for which you all should ask the Father in my name He should give to you all.  I command these things to you all in order that you all should love one another.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Jesus is once more clear when it comes to His disciples.  They are to imitate Him.  As Jesus loved His disciples, they should love one another.  Of course, Jesus knows that this is not always going to happen.  After all, Jesus says His disciples should, not that they necessarily will.  But that doesn’t change Jesus’ teaching.  Jesus loved His disciples.  We should love one another.

Who among God’s followers in your community do you have little difficulty loving?  Why?  Who do you have much difficulty loving among your community?  Why?

Second Thought:

Notice what makes the difference to Jesus in John 15:15?  Jesus calls them friends because they have heard what Jesus has heard from the Father.  The disciples have submitted to Jesus.  They have learned from Him.  They have listened and practiced and tried and failed and occasionally even succeeded.  But in all things, they have been willing to listen.  All that the Father has said to Jesus, the disciples have received as Jesus relays what the Father says.

How well do you listen?  How well do you listen to the Father?  How well does this impact your life?

Third Thought:

Also notice that Jesus tells the disciples that He chose them rather than them choosing Jesus.  This might seem to make a contradictory point to what we saw early in John when the disciples follow Him around and seem to initiate.  This is not a contradiction.  Genuine discipleship goes something like this.  The disciple-maker teaches.  The disciple listens and comes looking for more.  The disciple-maker then teaches deeper, increasing the relationship with each teaching.  So in this sense, Jesus initiates the choosing by the teaching.  His disciples were merely responding to His initial teaching.  Their response is still significant, but it is Jesus’ initial teaching to the crowd that provokes their response.

Have you ever been intrigued by the teaching of another?  How did you respond – or did you not respond?  Why is the initial teaching important?

Passage for Tomorrow: John 15:18-21