Jn 15:9-17
[Jesus said to his disciples,] 9“As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
11“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. 12This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I
no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his
master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you
everything I have heard from my Father. 16It was not you who
chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit
that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may
give you. 17This I command you: love one another.”
Reflection:
I have called you friends.
Slaves merely follow orders. Jesus’ disciples, on the other hand, are
informed not only of his commandments but also of his intentions. When
Jesus says, “I no longer call you slaves,” he does not mean that he has
called the disciples slaves. He implies that the time has come to
disclose to them the meaning of his ministry and of his impending
passion and death. One speaks to one’s friends of hopes and plans. Jesus
speaks not of his own hopes and plans, but those of the Father’s.
A loving obedience to his commandments
characterizes Jesus’ friends. In contrast, slaves are blindly obedient
to their masters out of fear of punishment. By obeying Jesus’
commandments, the disciples show their love for him and for one another.
Jesus himself is obedient to the Father because he loves the Father. He
glorifies the Father by accomplishing the work that he has given him to
do. This must now be the disciples’ concern. The love of the Father
made known by Jesus and shared with his disciples bears fruit in their
self-giving love for one another.
Do you obey God’s commandments blindlylike a slave or lovingly like a child or a friend?
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