Abide in Love

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The Reading

The Gospel
John 15:9-17


Jesus said to his disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I 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. You 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. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

The Sermon

We had a very thoughtful discussion last Tuesday at bible study. A lot of the discussion centered around the passage, “if you keep my commandments you will abide in my love.” At face value it sounds like Jesus might be saying 'as long as you do what I tell you I will love you. Otherwise, no. I will not love you.” Put in this light it sounds very conditional, even unloving!

I have spent a lot of time thinking about this and I would like to look at it from a different perspective.

What does it look like when we do not keep God's commandments? If we steal. If we kill. If we show hatred toward God's creatures.

If we do these things it seems to me that we are making the decision to live outside of God's love. If I steal from someone, I am not showing love to the person I am stealing from. If I kill I am definitely not being loving. If I hate rather than love someone, I am putting my own intentions first.

God's world is love and if I choose to live outside of that world I am not being rejected by God, I am the one doing the rejecting. God is not pushing away from me. I am pushing away from God.

During our discussion the word empathy came up. Someone mentioned that empathy is important in being able to love something. I looked up a definition of the word and here is the best one I could find. It came from Psychology Today.

Empathy is the experience of understanding another person's thoughts, feelings, and condition from their point of view, rather than from your own

I agree that empathy is an important first step in love. I can never truly experience what each of you goes through in life. I will probably never understand the emotional stress that my friend Sam Felderman is experiencing as he struggles with his cancer treatment.

But I can try. God has given us that capacity.

Near the end of this reading Jesus told his disciples that they were no longer his servants but his friends. So what changed? He said, “I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” We have heard through the gospel what the Father's wishes are as well. Jesus is our friend. He committed the ultimate act of friendship by laying down his life for us.

Our friend Jesus gives us one last message and that is to go out and bear fruit. We do that by our love for one another.

God Bless

Fr. Fred