Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.
By my count, the word, “love” shows up in some form in John’s gospel fifty-seven times. I’m thinking that many occurrences might indicate a theme.
Jesus says, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.” If I love Jesus, I would want to please Him. Obeying His commands fits in with that desire to please Him. So what did He command?
God’s command is to love God “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” The second command is like it, “… love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22: 36-40) In John 13: 34 Jesus says, “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.”
Taking all three of these commands together, Jesus says in effect: Show your love for me by loving God the Father above all else (as Jesus does), loving your neighbor as yourself, and love others who believe in me just as I have loved you.
It seems like it would be a very good idea to know what Jesus means when he uses the word, “love.”
Continue reading “A Kind of Test – John 14: 21”