To Love is to Follow
Does the word "commandment" seem offensive to you?
It feels like an ultimatum. And actually, it really is. But it can feel like the ultimatum of a demanding parent, exasperated by the disobedience of a child.
“If you love me, you’d do what I say.”
But it need not be read that way, especially in consideration of the totality of all else Jesus says.
If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
It could be as simple as a statement of logic. “When you love me, it’s because you’re living out what I’ve laid out for you to do.”
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If John had a writing professor or if Jesus had a speech teacher, they might ask for a transition sentence between a declaration of what loving Jesus looks like and the promise of the Holy Spirit.
But then, maybe it’s meant to be that close, with no smooth transition. Maybe the connection between living out Jesus’ commandments and the role of the Holy Spirit is simply that paper thin.
Indeed, the way the promise of the Holy Spirit is time and again interspersed throughout Jesus’ farewell discourse with the disciples is likely purposeful. It’s as if Jesus is telling the disciples about all these final things and in between each one, he feels as though he must remind them of the coming Holy Spirit.
John 14:15-26
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. I will ask the Father, and he will send another Companion, who will be with you forever. This Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world can’t receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you.
“I won’t leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
Judas (not Judas Iscariot) asked, “Lord, why are you about to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”
Jesus answered, “Whoever loves me will keep my word. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word that you hear isn’t mine. It is the word of the Father who sent me.
“I have spoken these things to you while I am with you. The Companion, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I told you.
Prayer
God,
Help me to live the commandments of Jesus. Inclusive, give me a heart to change my understanding of commandment from one of drill-sergeant-demand to loving-parent-imperative. Is it disappointing that at age 43, I still have some elements of a 15-year-old rebel?
At least I said it out loud.
So help me, God: toss me into the loving way of Jesus this day and evermore.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.