Posts Tagged ‘John 15:9-11’
Making Our Home in Jesus – Br. Todd Blackham
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John 15:9-11
“Make yourself at home.” It’s a nice thing to say to someone when they come over. It’s meant to put them at ease. It’s warm and inviting. I remember being told this a lot when I was asked to house-sit for people. And, as kind as it was. I knew it was only conditional. It was a temporary offer. I was welcome to eat some food from the fridge or lay down on the couch but painting a bedroom or organizing the kitchen cabinets the way I wanted to was never part of the bargain.
When Jesus invites us to abide, to dwell, to make our home, he’s offering more than a conditional bargain. He’s offering us eternity at home in God.
When John writes in his gospel that the “Word was made flesh” he chooses a word the resembles something more like “tented,” “tabernacled,” set up a temporary dwelling. The Word was made flesh and camped out among us. But, when Jesus talks about the relationship he’s offering with his disciples it has a more long-term, if not permanent ring. Make your home with me. Read More
Sermon for Thursday after Easter 5A – Br. David Allen
Jn 15:9-11
Today’s Gospel Reading comes immediately after Jesus’ parable of the Vine and the Branches. The meaning of the parable carries forward wherever the word “abide” appears.
If we read through the 3 verses of our Gospel we can see how each verse builds on the one before. (Jn 15:9-11)
“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.” (v,9)
“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments andabide in his love.” (v.10)
Jesus adds one further expansion to this, saying, “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and thatyour joy may be complete.” (v.11)
The word “abide” means to “dwell”, to sojourn, or to wait patiently. Jesus is telling us that when we accept his love, and that of God the Father, we are living clothed in love, surrounded by the Spirit of God’s love. As the branches draw life from the vine we draw life and love from God’s love.
In this Gospel Reading Jesus tells us, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.” In these words he shows us how to abide in his love. It is by keeping his commandments. If you ask, “Which Commandment?” the answer is given in the next sentence, just beyond the end of today’s Gospel reading; “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (v.12)
Keeping the commandment means obeying the commandment. In loving God and loving one another our obedience rounds out the full meaning of the word love. We do this in loving relationship with one another within the whole body of Christ.
True obedience includes “listening to” and “being attentive to” the needs and desires both of those who are loved and the one to whom obedience is given.
If you have ever been in love, or experienced love, I think you can begin to see how each of us as we try to do our part to abide in God’s love can find our joy becoming complete. Isn’t that what Jesus meant?
The Essence of Belief – Br. David Allen
Jn 15:9-11
“What is the essence of Christian belief?” That is a question we who are in the Church are sometimes asked. I think that today’s Gospel reading gives us as good an answer to that question as we might hope to find anywhere else.
At the Last Supper before his Passion and Crucifixion, Jesus said to his disciples “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” (Jn 15:9-11) Read More
Abiding in Jesus’ Love – Br. Curtis Almquist
John 15:9-11: As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
This verb we’ve just heard – to abide, Jesus’ saying to “abide in my love” – appears many times in the New Testament, well more than 100 times, and especially here in the Gospel according to John and in the First Letter of John. The word’s repetition – abide, abide, abide – signals something of its importance, and yet the sheer repetition can blunt how radical and demanding Jesus’ words are, here: As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”
First, Jesus is saying here, “if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.” Jesus here is not speaking to individuals, individually. He’s speaking to us, 2nd person plural: “If you-all keep my commandments, you-all will abide in my love.” Jesus here is talking about life together: we are to abide in love. The New Testament says virtually nothing about personal spirituality or personal salvation; all its emphasis is on the Body of Christ, the Kingdom of God, the New Humanity in Christ. [i] Jesus here is speaking to us.
And then this much-repeated verb, to abide. The Greek root, meno, means to remain, endure, be steadfast, wait, stay, continue… which goes without saying if we weren’t tempted to flee, abandon, disregard, vacate, denounce. The poignancy of the verb “to abide” is to remain steadfast when everything inside of you says, “I’m out of here.” “You’ve offended me or disappointed one time too many, and I will now, justifiably shun, or abandon, or punish, or get even with you. However many times I’m supposed to forgive, this is over the line. I’m done with you.” The verb “to abide” redresses that temptation to leave people.
And then, what Jesus is saying here is even more radical. This is not just about flight; it’s also not about fight. Jesus says, “abide in love.” There’s several Greek New Testament words we translate in English as “love.” This is the most radical of loves. This is self-sacrificial love, laying down our lives for another. The love here is not about mutual attraction or brotherly/sisterly affection. This is the kind of love Jesus demonstrates at the cross. Self-sacrificial love.
“You all: abide in love,” which are very strong words. Those who know us the best and love us the most can hurt us the worst. And we them. Jesus here is speaking to us collectively, not individually, and he presumes life together: that we need one another; see love, show love, God’s love in and through one another; and because we must be reminded so many times “to abide,” we know that this is not always easy. Necessary, exceedingly challenging, possible. Only made possible by Jesus who calls us to this high mark. Our living into Jesus command “to abide in love,” requires practice. And it requires prayer: Gracious Jesus: supply what you command.
[i] Insight drawn from the writings of Archbishop Michael Ramsey.