“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) Jesus made it a habit to say much with few words. I would imagine that His knowing the time He had here was limited was a major contributor to that. Also, human attention spans are usually pretty short. Whatever the situation, Jesus made a profound statement in today’s passage.
First, Christ alludes to His authority in giving us His “commandment”. He was a common man, although most likely an accomplished carpenter. His followers referred to Him as rabbi, meaning teacher, but certainly not Lord or King. They had some idea He was possibly their promised messiah, although He carried no weapons nor owned any armor. Had these words been heard outside His small private circle, others may have considered that as a bit beyond His station in life, too big for His britches. But His chosen twelve were so taken with Him that, hanging on His every word, the fact He commanded them probably seemed natural.
He told them to love one another. We know for ourselves that the word “love” can be used in a number of different ways. We can love football. We might love pizza. Some of us love to go to the lake. We have family we love, children and spouses that we love. We love our town. All these “loves” cannot possibly have the exact same meaning, so it’s reasonable to assume that when Jesus mentioned love, these men might be thinking about brotherly love, concern for each other’s well being.
And then Jesus lets the other shoe drop: “as I have loved you.” Whoa. How much did that truly mean to the disciples at that moment? The chances are great that they had no inkling other than the brotherly love they’d already felt. Were they open to consider something deeper? Certainly Jesus recognized that His words didn’t fall on completely deaf ears, but that a deeper, more enriched meaning would be achieved after His death and resurrection. And that was His frame of reference for that statement.
Soon He would leave them as their companion and teacher. There is strength in numbers, so they could hold each other up as needed – as long as their love was sufficiently deep and strong enough. When they witnessed Christ’s beaten body being nailed to a cross, were they thinking about love then? When they knew even His body was taken from them, was the love there then? Or was it after Jesus returned to them for a short time that they finally pieced it together? At last they really understood that Jesus was the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior, the only one who could truly release humankind from sin and eternal darkness!
Do we understand? Do we get it yet? We are to have the same kind of unconditional love for everyone, regardless of who, what, when, where, or why. We are meant to serve as a sacrifice with our time, talents, assets, prayers, calls, or anything else. We are to give love even to the vilest of human beings because that’s what Jesus did. He loved us so much He brought death to sin and resurrection to life. We have only to accept His love, say, “Yes, Lord,” and pass it on.
