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John 3:16-17
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John 3:16-17
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My friends kept inviting me to hang out with them and Sam. They were patient and kind with him, whether he was depressed or acting out. Whenever we drove home from an evening together, we shared how hard it was to be his friends. I knew they were loving him the way Jesus would, but I couldn't do it. I stopped going over to see Sam.
John 13:31-38
When he had left, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so now I tell you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' "I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." "Lord," Simon Peter said to him, "where are you going?" Jesus answered, "Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later." "Lord," Peter asked, "why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Truly I tell you, a rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times."
Jesus shows the meaning of love in the moment between Judas walking out and Peter's predicted denial. If this had never happened, I can't imagine someone inventing it. As the door closes behind Judas, Jesus explains his glory: it's his love. Jesus told Judas to go. The door closed behind him. Then Jesus told Peter he couldn't go, and Peter insisted he could. Peter couldn't. Peter heard Jesus say he would lay down his life for the sheep. Now Peter offers to do the same for his shepherd. Judas represents the outright rejection of Jesus. Peter shows us that even his most passionate determination to love is not enough. When I was 10 or 11, I would pray at night, "Jesus, if you want me to, I could take your place on the cross." But had I faced the horror of the cross, I would have run away. I think Jesus would have said to me what he said to the disciples, "Little child." It's moments after Judas has twisted the knife. He's talking to grown men. Until this moment, God's highest standard for how we love each other was the requirement from Leviticus, "Love your neighbor as yourself." As yourself. But Jesus says, "Love as I have loved you." How has he loved us? See Jesus loving both Judas and Peter. Now we understand what he's asking of us. His love humbles us. Who can say they are like him? Yet strangely, it delights us. Look again. See how Jesus loved his disciples! As his love transforms us into beloved disciples, we will love like him. Eventually, Peter did give his life for Jesus. The love Jesus commands and the love Jesus gives are identical.
Jesus gives the love command between Judas walking out and Peter being told he'll fail. What does that placement say about the kind of love he's talking about?
Is there someone in your life you've quietly given up on loving? What made you stop?
What would it look like for Jesus' love for you to become the source of your love for others?
Think of someone you've pulled away from. Send them a text this week to tell them you were thinking about them.
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