Teachings of Jesus — John 15:9-17

We could easily weary ourselves spewing forth poetic blather about this one overused word in English — “love” — and never quite get to the point Jesus is making here. It gets worse if we can’t be bothered with putting that word in the context of what Jesus taught, which in turn must stand in the context of the ancient Hebrew culture.

This is all about pulling people into your family household. Jehovah consistently portrayed Himself as a feudal nomadic sheikh, the type of Ancient Near Eastern potentate Abraham would have easily recognized, since it was a fair description of Abraham himself, once he settled in Canaan Land. Jesus kept calling His people back to that image of His Father and the life it portrayed. The Covenant Nation was supposed to be Jehovah’s adopted family household.

Such is the meaning behind this teaching on love. Jesus kept trying to portray serving God in the Kingdom of Heaven as a restoration of that feudal nomadic sheikdom. He kept calling people to return to that covenant communion with their Lord as their Father. It was supposed to be full of warmth and sacrifice both ways, but always under the lordship of that Father. This is the context for Jesus reminding them that the Father loved His Son, and in that same way, the Son loved His chosen ministers. They should keep their hearts focused on that kind of communion, and make it the center of their existence.

As we should naturally expect, warm communion with their Teacher was the same thing as the Teacher’s communion with His Father. How could one claim to love like that and not observe everything He says is right? It’s no different than how they should love the Father, as well. This is the only joy we can have in this life. Obeying revelation is its own reward; it’s the discovery of the divine purpose in all of Creation as a whole.

Jesus was about to demonstrate the depth of that warm communion on the Cross. The whole of revelation could be summed up in that willing sacrifice. Thus, if they simply grasp that kind of commitment to each other and to revelation itself, all the details would work themselves out. So Jesus said that this kind of love was the substance of all His commandments to them.

Where are the boundaries of that love? They go beyond death in this world. The greatest love is a willingness to pay the ultimate price of flesh for the welfare of those who were closest to Him. To Jesus, they were worth that kind of sacrifice, but only if His love was born in their hearts. That’s what marked them as family.

And to make sure they noticed, He pointed out that they weren’t just servant disciples, but actual friends — the same as covenant neighbors, close associates, His loyal royal counselors. Unlike slaves and hired servants in a sheikh’s household, He shared with them the divine counsel reserved for family. Servants and slaves were never privy to such information, but these disciples had been fully briefed on what God intended.

They didn’t come to Jesus looking for a job. They were chosen from among all the Covenant Nation. The choice was made from the viewpoint of their God, who knew exactly what they were made of, and all their human imperfections. They were elevated and granted the most private counsel, so that they could bear an abundant crop of divine glory. That glory would be eternal, not something that was forgotten by the next sunrise. With that kind of insider viewpoint, they were in a position to ask God for some of the most outlandish miracles, and Jesus would see to it they were granted.

Once more He repeated the whole summary of His personal law for them: Love each other with the Father’s kind of love.