John 15:9-17 (NRSV)
Read John 15:9-17 on biblegateway.com
Verse 9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. Verse 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. Verse 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. Verse 12"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Verse 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. Verse 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. Verse 15I 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. Verse 16You 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. Verse 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
Devotion
In yesterday’s reflection on this week’s gospel reading, we focused on Jesus’ call to “abide” in his love and to keep his command to love one another. Any disciple worth their salt will recognize that as quite a tall order, far outstretching any power in ourselves to fulfill its heavy demands. But in the concluding portion of the reading, Jesus provides a clue that grounds both the Father’s and his own great love, and its expression in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus says the greatest model of love is to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. “And you are my friends… You did not choose me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit that abides” (vs. 16). With the promise of such abiding love comes also the power for us to model that love for one another in return.
Prayer
Jesus our Savior, we give thanks for your abiding love by which you have laid down your life for us and have called us your friends, so that we may be empowered to show that love for one another. Amen.
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