Reflection on Jn 15:12-13
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.
Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life /soul/ for his friends.”
Jesus emphasizes this commandment twice on the evening before His death (see Jn 13:34-35). He says: “A new commandment I give to you”, and He adds: “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one to another.” The Greek original of the Gospel uses the term “agape” for “love”. It is the love of God which is “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us” (Rom 5:5). This is the love by which Jesus has loved us. Jesus puts it more precisely what kind of love He means: “that you love one another, as I have loved you”. How has Jesus loved us? Being God, He became man; He humbled Himself, assumed human weakness, yet without sin. He was innocent and yet sentenced to death, even death on a cross. He suffered the pains of scourging, crowning with thorns, the way of the cross; He suffered dying amid mockery and in abandonment, and finally painful death. He paid the price for your sin.
Death on behalf of men can be well illustrated by an example from the Auschwitz concentration camp. It happened that one prisoner ran away. Therefore all prisoners were told to stand in a row and every tenth of them was sentenced to death. One of the prisoners was a priest Maximilian. “Tenth” fell on a man next to him. The man cried out in anguish: “Goodbye, my dear wife and my dear children!” Maximilian said to him: “Stay!” and stepped forward instead of him. Our case is something similar. Unlike the event in the concentration camp, Jesus died for real guilt which falls on you for your sin. “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom 6:23) Jesus endured suffering and paid the price instead of you. Your death could never pay the debt of justice, for the just punishment for your sins is eternal condemnation. Angels were thrown into hell forever for a single sin and have no more chance of salvation. They proudly rejected the love of God. People likewise will be condemned if they reject God’s love, the death of Jesus on the cross for their sake. This rejection is demonic pride. No one will be saved but through Christ. The righteous of the Old Testament could not enter the glory of God without the sacrifice of Christ. Neither can righteous pagans be saved without Christ and His redemptive sacrifice. We are therefore obliged to preach God’s love and God’s justice to them and to point out the reality of death as a consequence of sin.
We should love our brethren, as Jesus has loved us. He sacrificed His life for our sake, that we may have eternal life! Love – agape – involves sacrifice. The source of self-sacrificing love is the Holy Spirit. This love also involves the remission of the punishment of sin. The contrary of love is egoism – self-love. We need to grow in love – agape, to deny our self-love, egoism, to learn to sacrifice ourselves. Favourable conditions therefor are in the family formed by father, mother and children. A young woman must abandon her false ideas of a family paradise when she meets with her husband’s egoism, and vice versa. There are misunderstandings and quarrels resulting in tears and wounds. This suffering purifies the young couple and teaches them to accept not only the strong but also the weak points of the partner. Then they have children, and e.g. when the child starts to cry in the night, the parents must sacrifice themselves. How many sleepless nights! When the child becomes ill, again it requires the sacrifice of the parents, which joins them together. However, today divorces are a painful reality! The older generation still remembers the time when there was nothing like divorce. The spread of divorce has been caused by public opinion forced upon the people through the mass media and consumerism, which is antichristian. People have adopted egoism as a standard, and they falsely call it love. How much children suffer when the family breaks up! A young family today necessarily needs a sound Christian community which preaches the living Word of God. Only then can it develop healthily and grow in love – agape. One is influenced by the testimony of brothers and sisters who try to keep God’s commandments and to love God and neighbour in Christ. This community should be an objective authority which can give advice when the young couple makes a mistake in their relationship. They must learn to forgive one another and to love one another in truth. The woman must learn to obey with all subjection. The man must learn to be the head and to deal wisely with the family problems. Finally, the most important thing is personal prayer as well as prayer in common. It is not easy to repent together, to admit one’s fault in a conflict. It is a process, a way, a school of love, where the model is the cross of Christ. Amid hardest suffering or disappointment, you will receive the light and strength if you cast your burden on Christ. The Word of God says: “Come to Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and you shall find rest unto your souls.” (Mt 11:28-30)
Speaking about prayer in common and time for prayer, let us admit how much time in a week we spend in front of TV. It is really a stealer of time! Television must be reduced to the minimum! Elder women, pensioners, used to spend much time in prayer for their families, for the deceased, for mission. Today, unfortunately, they kill time in front of TV every day. Women who really want to devote their time to prayer like Anna, a prophetess, should make a promise to God and renounce television! It concerns above all widows who are no longer directly bound by family duties! The foundation of mission is prayer; then there is a mission of suffering and a mission of personal testimony. But the foundation is prayer. The love of God – agape – is given to us in prayer. One of the Greek terms for “love” is “philia”. It stands for the love of relatives or the nation. Philadelphia (brotherly love /Rom 12:10f/), philanthropy (love toward man /Tit 3:4f/). The term eros stands for sexual love, which in essence is egocentric, self-satisfying love. The English-speaking countries use only one term for the love of God – agape, for philia and for eros – this all is expressed by one word: “love”. It is necessary to introduce the term “agape” both as noun and verb, and then you can read: “Agape one another, as I have agaped you!”
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