Letters From Timothy

There’s a whole lotta love in today’s gospel reading. God’s love for Jesus, Jesus’s love for humanity, humanity’s love for God and Jesus, and, of course, our love for one another.

Because of all that love, this is one of my favorite passages in the Gospel according to John. At the end of the day, my convictions are firm, Christianity is a religion of love. Or, at the very least, it is supposed to be. There are a lot of  priests and preachers who will go on and on about what God hates or what is sinful in the eyes of God and thus punishable. They are nearly as old as the Church herself. While I of course believe in sin and that crimes can certainly be committed against God, I don’t think that was what Jesus was trying to primarily convey. This entire passage, really, I think is what Jesus is trying to primarily convey. Since I figure it’s so important, I’ll break it down for you into an attractive numbered list:

1. God loved Jesus because he lived by God’s word
2. Jesus loves us, and he expressed that love by laying down his life for us and by revealing God’s word
3. God’s word is this: love each other as Jesus has loved you, and so therefore:
4. God loves us and we show our love to God by loving each other

I’ve “derived” this”formula” before, but I think it’s impossible to overstate its significance. Everything else aside, we must, as Christians, love every one of our fellow human beings, just as Jesus loved every one of us. The rest is just details. I’ll take a moment to muse over these details.

An interesting detail is this: Jesus says “I no longer call you slaves…I have called you friends.” This has always grabbed me when I heard it. What?! I didn’t even know I was supposed to be a slave. Yet, in the Old Testament, Moses, his successor Joshua, and even King David are all called “servants” or “slaves” of Yahweh, depending on the translation (Deuteronomy 34:5, Joshua 24:29, and Psalm 89:21, respectively). It is only the father and ancestor Abraham that was called a “friend” of God (Isaiah 4:18). As insulting as it may sound, it is not so derogatory. If God is truly far greater than man, than we would be far more diminished in his eyes than we are in our own; certainly more than fellow human beings are. Humans were never meant to be slaves of other humans, but if God created us, he likely created us to serve him in some way. The great mystery, of course, is in what way (what is the meaning of life?).

But, perhaps God just wants to love us as we love our own children, as Jesus seems to indicate in this gospel passage. Or, if we take this passage even further, perhaps God simply wants us only to love each other. And truly, what could be more loving than to lay down your one and only life on earth for the sake of someone else? Could you have that love for every human being? Jesus did.

Peace,

Timothy