Love as you are loved!

John 15:9-17

I have loved you just as My Father has loved Me. Stay in My love. If you obey My teaching, you will live in My love. In this way, I have obeyed My Father’s teaching and live in His love. I have told you these things so My joy may be in you and your joy may be full. “This is what I tell you to do: Love each other just as I have loved you. No one can have greater love than to give his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I tell you. I do not call you servants that I own anymore. A servant does not know what his owner is doing. I call you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from My Father. You have not chosen Me, I have chosen you. I have set you apart for the work of bringing in fruit. Your fruit should last. And whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you. “This is what I tell you to do: Love each other.

Food for thought!

The best way of looking at this text is to imagine yourself dying. What would you wish to say as your very last words to your dear ones watching you dying? This is what Jesus is doing; he is dying in a few hours, and wants to say his last words, his last advice, his last request to his disciples.

As soon as Judas left the Last Supper, Jesus began to address the eleven disciples, using the words of today's gospel. Judas has left the group, and will soon come back accompanied by the soldiers who will arrest Jesus. Before Judas comes back, Jesus has little time to say all he wants to say; every minute counts. So, he begins, «I have loved you just as my Father has loved me. Stay in my love.»

 

What are the words, the message, that you would like to say to your dear ones as you lay dying? Those words are sacred; those words are genuine. That moment is a moment of truth because no one says lies as they lay dying. You can't deceive on your death-bed. What you say is said straight from the heart. This is what Jesus is doing in today's gospel reading. This is a moment of great revelations; this is the moment we say it all; the moment we reveal our secrets. Yes, one day this moment will come to you and me.

I have loved you! Jesus confesses publicly. No one can have greater love than to give his life for his friends. Jesus continues his confession. Jesus is saying that the best gift of love is love itself; the most godly thing we can give, is love. This is what Jesus has done: «I've loved you the way my Father has loved me.» If you don't love you haven't lived; there is no life without love, and no love without life.

The problem with many people is this, they have never been loved; they have never experienced being loved. And if you have never been loved, you cannot love. Why? Because love, before it is given, it is received. And no one can give what they don't have. This is why Jesus says, «I've loved you the way my Father has loved me; love one another as I have loved you»

Do you think you are loved? And I don't mean ONLY being loved by someone; I mean ALSO being loved by God. Do you think the Lord loves you? Can you cite anything in your life as proof of the love of God for you? Do you think God loves you? Do you know that God loves? Did you know that you are a friend of Jesus?

Do you really love anyone? Do you really live?