Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-april-13-2023
John 15:12-17
12 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down their life for their friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.”
We English-speaking people are at a little bit of a disadvantage because of the wide variety of meanings of our word love. We hear the word, and our minds first think of powerful affection. So ‘loving’ people winds up seeming like a non-threatening part of following Jesus. But the word for ‘love’ that’s usually used in the New Testament – the Greek word agape – that word really means taking responsibility for the welfare of another, even if that person is your enemy. So the commandment to love other followers of Jesus can sometimes be one of the more challenging of all his commandments.
When it comes to the other followers of Jesus that we see and interact with most often – mostly, our friends from our home church – it’s not that hard to love those people. Sure, there might be a few people who occasionally get on our nerves, but we can put up with them for an hour a week because we know them, and because we know about the things that might make them troublesome.
But it’s harder to love people from other parts of the greater church. Some of those people regularly criticize us as “false believers.” Some criticize us bitterly over the hot-button issues of the day. A few years ago, I was reading an article in Christianity Today magazine, and the author declared that members of mainline churches like us are like atheists and members of other religions – we’re all “enemies of the faith.”
Unless I miss my guess, that’s not exactly what Jesus had in mind when he said the world would know his followers by their love for one another. So how are we supposed to love people who call themselves Christians but seem to base so much of their life of faith on condemning other followers of Jesus who disagree with them?
For one thing, when we’re around people who are not practicing followers of Jesus, we should be very careful about how we talk about those who criticize and condemn us. We should resist getting defensive and criticizing them back. That just continues the kind of bitter rhetoric non-believers have come to expect of Christians. We shouldn’t be shy about expressing what we believe on important issues when we disagree with other followers of Jesus. But we shouldn’t engage in name-calling like saying those who disagree with us are ‘bigots’ or ‘fanatics.’ For the most part, those who disagree with us are trying to understand God’s will for their lives and to serve him faithfully – just as we are.
And it seems to me that we should pray regularly for those who disagree with us. We should resist the urge to pray that God will straighten out their mistaken ideas, and instead pray that God will heal the wounds that separate us from them. We can also pray that God will prosper them in their ministries and lead them in their lives of faith.
Of course, loving other believers also means working toward reconciliation with them – looking for chances to build bridges with those who are alienated from us. Paul wrote that, “We have been given a ministry of reconciliation.” So when we work for reconciliation with brothers and sisters in Jesus, we are doing the work our master entrusted to us. And maybe just as importantly, we are modeling the love Jesus commands us to exercise.
Many unchurched people are hungry to be part of something authentic. When we talk about love but show bitterness and anger, we seem about as inauthentic as it’s possible to be. But when we take seriously this commandment to love other believers, even those who curse and despise us, that stands out in an angry world.
Today’s reading also includes what Jesus said about his disciples being friends rather than servants. We understand that the things Jesus says to his first disciples are meant for us, as well.
It’s a little overwhelming to think that Jesus would actually regard us as his friends. (With friends like us, we might think, who needs enemies?) But Jesus says that those who do what he commands are his friends. So to claim his friendship, we have to be comparing our lives to the teachings of Jesus. That means asking ourselves whether we’re demonstrating sacrificial love for others – even those who might condemn us and hate us.
But there’s a lot more clarity about being a servant than about being a friend. Servants are told exactly what to do. Friends are supposed to think about the best interests of their friend and act in those best interests. So the invitation to be a friend of Jesus carries with it a call to be thoughtful about our lives of faith.
Of course, nobody wants to see his friends fighting and arguing. So if we truly want to be friends of Jesus, then we’re obligated to show patience and tolerance for others who consider themselves his friends, too. I guess it’s all part of the agape ‘loving one another’ thing.
Let’s pray. Lord, help us to love one another – not just those who smile at us on Sunday morning and serve side-by-side with us, but also those who disagree with us and even criticize and condemn us. Help us to remember that it is to be by our love for one another that we are known as your followers – and your friends. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
(The other readings for today are Psalms 47 and 147:12-20; Ezekiel 37:1-14; and Acts 3:11-26. Our readings come from the NIV Bible, as posted on Biblica.com, the website of the International Bible Society.)
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