Jesus says: 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. (John 15:12)
We’re supposed to love each other. That is a nice thought. The sort of thing the Beatles sang about. The kind of thing your grandma would tell you. But it is the standard Jesus sets that makes this so crazy. The little word “as” makes this radical. Because Jesus says we’re supposed to love each other as He has loved us. That’s huge. Jesus is commanding everything from His followers.
So, the question then, is: what does Jesus’ love for us look like? How can we describe it? And what does that mean for how we are to love each other?
“Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.” Just about 12 hours after He said that Jesus was having His arms spread wide so they could be nailed to a cross. His back was ripped and torn by a Roman whip and He had a crown of thorns pressed into His head. He was being hung up so that he could slowly, and painfully, suffocate to death. Why did He do it? He did it for us. He did it out of love. He did it to so that we would know that God is available to us. Jesus sacrificed. His love was sacrificial. No one has greater love than this: that he lay down his life for his friends.
So what does that mean for how we love each other? What does this say about what Jesus is commanding of us? I would say it like this: Jesus love is sacrificial… therefore, our love will cost us.
Jesus is calling us to a sacrificial love. It is a costly love. It is a love that gives. Jesus is talking about a commitment to what is best for the other person regardless of the personal cost. It will not be easy, love never is.
Peace and love,
Sue
"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. " (1 John 4:9-10)
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