v 12. This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.
You have read it before, but it needs repeating I guess – Love is not an option, it is a commandment. Love is a commitment to seek the welfare of others whatever the cost. Jesus’ love took Him to the cross remember.
It is possible to read this section of the story and major on the theme of being fruitful for God, doing great things by way of service for Him– and that is certainly a thread running through it. When Jesus rounds off this section of the conversation however in verse 17, He simply says ‘This is my command: Love each other. ‘ It is as if to say ‘If you want your life to be really fruitful then make love your first priority’. Put that in the context of the well-known passage in 1 Corinthians 13 with verses like this ‘If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. ‘ (1 Corinthians 13:3) No amount of self-sacrifice and apparent obedience to God can make up for a lack of love. If you don’t have love you are missing the whole point of living for God! That is why, when Jesus is questioned by a lawyer in Matthew 22 about the greatest commandment, we find ‘Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” ‘
Learning to love is the most basic element of all Christian practices. And for sure, it has huge practical implications!
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