Reflection on Jn 14:21
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.
And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father,
and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Jesus highlights this truth in verse 23 too. True love for Him is connected not only with the receiving of the Word but there is also one condition: the keeping of His commandments. In fact, it means the following of Christ, which involves the loss of our soul for His sake: “Whoever loses his soul for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it.” (Mk 8:35) If a disciple keeps Christ’s commandments, he will be loved by the Father and by Jesus, and Jesus will manifest Himself to him (see v.21). “We will come to him and make Our home with him.” (v.23) We thus become a living tabernacle like the Blessed Virgin. So the knowledge of Christ cannot be acquired through theological, philosophical or psychological studies but only through love – agape – which becomes manifest not in phrases but in the following of Christ, i.e. in the keeping of Christ’s commandments.
The difference between the Decalogue and Christ’s commandments lies in the fact that one can keep the Ten Commandments formally and be a Sadducee (i.e. adherent of liberal theology) or ritualist, scribe or Pharisee in heart, as we can see it on the deterrent example of the clergy – contemporaries of Christ. In the name of God they rejected Christ and crucified Him!
He who keeps Christ’s commandments has the Spirit of Christ. “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” (Rom 8:9) Christ’s commandments are expressed especially in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Mt 5-7). In essence, it’s about the attitude of heart. Jesus manifests Himself in prayer, not always in the same way. Similarly, in suffering and various trials the disciple recognizes that it did not happen by chance but everything was astonishingly guided by Jesus. In the hour of death, He will manifest Himself to us in a special way.
Jesus emphasizes many times the necessity of keeping His commandments: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (Jn 14:15) “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.” (Jn 15:10) “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (Jn 15:12-13) Love in the Greek original is expressed by the term “agape”. It means self-less, self-sacrificing love, without a trace of egoism or impurity. Here the Scripture does not use the term “philia” which denotes the love for the family or nation.
When a certain woman from the crowd called the Mother of God blessed, Jesus emphasized: “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” (Lk 11:27) Let us strive to live and keep the word of God and do His will like the Blessed Virgin.
Download: Reflection on Jn 14:21
