A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:
just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
John 13:34 (ESV)
Love is generally regarded as something of great value. It is sought after by everyone, it is sung about, and truly, it is the key to solving human problems. But love is not doing well in this world! There is not much love in the daily routine, and for many, love is a great disappointment.
I remember, I was 20 or 21 years old (1972) and did an internship in ACEC, a factory for large electrical appliances in Dok-Noord in Ghent. There was an older man there, almost of retirement age, and we probably chatted from time to time … I remember one of his sayings: “When you step into life, don’t be fooled”, he said: “Love does not exist!”
Maybe he had once believed in it, but now he seemed hardened by disappointment and frustration! That which everyone thinks so highly of, appeared to be a fable.
I also remember, years later, I must have been 24-25 years old at the time, and instead of military service I did civilian service as an able-bodied helper in a sheltered workshop. A workplace for people with physical disabilities or mental problems. I heard the stories of people who had been in psychiatry for years, but at that time they were well enough to work in a sheltered workshop as a way of spending their time and for a bit of money. A workplace for people with physical disabilities or mental problems. I heard the stories of people who had been in psychiatry for years, but at that time were well enough to work in a sheltered workshop as a way of spending their time and for a bit of money. I had by then become a conscious follower of Jesus, and was shocked by what I heard about the nuns who worked in psychiatry. What shocked me was their harshness, their unloving behaviour, the inhuman way they treated the helpless patients. I had a positive attitude towards monastics, my brother was also in a convent and his behaviour was an example for me! Hence the shock! These nuns had given up their lives to care for other people, the needy, in this case the mentally ill. They had given up everything to become nuns and had given their lives to psychiatric patients, but got nothing in return, only unsolvable problems. Officially that was idealistic, but in reality they had no life left, they had even lost their humanity. It was a catastrophe for them and for the patients they cared for!
Practical love that gives satisfaction and spreads happiness is scarce. Even in evangelical circles, and also in our own lives, we encounter lovelessness far too often. Jesus’ commandment “love one another” often seems impracticable! What do we do if we ourselves have never really experienced love? And … “Doing what the Lord says” clearly does not make us loving persons either!
At the beginning of this post, I quoted Jesus’ command to love one another from John 13, but without context. But it turns out to be very difficult to put this commandment of love into practice. I want to quote something more from John 14 and John 15 to bring some good news in this brief post.
Jesus says in John 14 among other things,
verse 23
If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
verse 25-26
These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (ESV)
As a disciple of Jesus, we have to learn a great deal! This is not learning like at school, with intellect and study books. But the Holy Spirit will teach us! He will make sure that we can experience and learn what love is in the presence of the Father and the Son. As Jesus says in verse 23 “My Father will love you and We will come to you and make our home with you”. If the Holy Spirit at that time brings to our minds the commandment “love one another”, we will know what it is about, and we will understand that “doing what the Lord says” does not make us a loving person, but because we have experienced and received God’s love, we become loving persons, and therefore we do what the Lord says!
John 15,
verse 9-10
As the Father has loved me, so have I 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.
verse 12
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (ESV)
The code for the functioning of love is in the relationship between Jesus and his Father! I have loved you as the Father has loved me (9). The commandment of love is to use that code: My commandment is that you love one another as I have loved you (12). That is, as the Father loved Jesus. Love is found in the relationship between Jesus and his Father, and in the relationship between Jesus and us! In the same way, we should love one another. These verses follow the parable of the vine and the branches. Jesus knows all too well that no human being can, on his own, produce the love he asks for. However, if we remain in the presence of the Lord, or remain in His love (that is, walk with Him or do what He says, not out of a sense of duty, but out of love for one another), then we are like a branch on the vine, and this produces the desired fruit, all of which together becomes wine, a beautiful picture of “love among one another”!
The honest and logical conclusion of a person who is separate from Jesus is that love does not exist. And whoever believes in love, but does not know the love relationship with Jesus, is faced with the bitter discovery that “giving your life for others” has catastrophic consequences, for lack of a source of life. This does not make you a loving person. But if you receive love and life by being connected to the Lord as a branch on the vine, you will discover that no sweeter fruit can grow or no greater love can arise than when you give your life for your friends. John 15:13
This will be clarified and supplemented in subsequent posts.
Marcel, Betel 25.04.2021
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