Letters to the Prison - Week 158

Hello, everyone!  Last week, Jesus again unambiguously claimed to be God… worthy of glory.  This astounding claim is only the beginning of a very long conversation.  Spanning more than four chapters, this is one the most important conversations ever recorded.  Jesus, the man claiming to be God in the flesh --and backing that claim with miracle after miracle, has a lot to say to his disciples… and apparently not much time to say it:

• Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ -John 13:33

Time is short…  Jesus is going where his disciples cannot follow… and there is so much that these “little children” do not yet understand.  So, Jesus has claimed deity for himself while (lovingly) equating his disciples to little children.  Then, he makes a prediction.  We’ll examine that a bit later in our study.  More importantly for now, what follows is a command:

• A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. -John 13:34

This command is so important and so urgent that Jesus ties obeying it to the very identity of his disciples:

• By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” -John 13:35

Much is made of the Christian’s mission to evangelize the world.  It’s typically summed up in the Great Commission (you can find this in Matthew 28:16-20).  We are to proclaim the Good News about Jesus and what he has done and encourage people to be reconciled to God through him.  The fact is, however, that the world we’re trying to evangelize will not even recognize us if we aren’t following this basic commandment to love one another.  Love should be the prominent thing on display in our lives as Christians –Love for God above all, but then love for each other… and everyone else.  It should inform everything we think, everything we say, and everything we do in every interaction at every point in our lives.

Jesus has modeled this love for us.  We could (and should!) spend the rest of our lives considering just exactly how Jesus has done this and how to follow his example.  But what are some key components of this love?  Paul describes it very well in 1 Corinthians 13.  This popular and recognizable passage is often read at weddings… and husbands and wives would do exceedingly well to obey it!  But it also describes the love that Jesus is commanding us to show to one another as Christians as well as the rest of the world.

This is all so challenging to take in…  so much to wrap our heads around.  And at some point, we must wonder:  Who talks like this?  Would any sane, normal person ever speak this way and expect to be taken seriously?  There is a presumption here, in Jesus, of power and knowledge and authority…  Jesus speaks this way naturally and automatically… his deity is assumed in everything he says.  Jesus’ status as God permeates every word.  He has so many more important things to say… earnest and urgent things.  And yet, these most urgent and important words go right over the heads of his disciples.  We’ll see how next week!  We love you!

Dean A.