A Lenten Reflection
The Binding of Love
I was skipping a bit in the Gospel reading today, looking up a passage that was quoted in another reading, when I came upon the Last Supper and "The Farewell Discourse" in the Gospel of John. (The Farewell Discourse is the talk Christ has with the Disciples after Judas Iscariot has left to betray Him.)
Take a moment to just imagine, even a little, what it must have been like. That last, drawn out meal which began with Jesus shocking His followers by washing their dusty, tired feet. The food upon the laden table, with the oils and herbs, soft bread, and wine in the cups. The men reclining, talking, enjoying each other's company, hanging on the words of their beloved Master. You can almost see it, can't you?
The Apostle John, the beloved Disciple who is thought to have been a cousin of Christ's, sets out the dialogue. We can read the words and almost hear the tones of Jesus as He instructs (with time so precious and quickly running out), and encourages, as He attempts to strengthen and prepare them for what is to come.
As I was reading, my eyes lingering over the passages, I was caught by how much Jesus used love as a binding. You can feel His abiding love pouring through the pages. These men, His Disciples, given unto Him by the Father.....He knew the turmoil and tumult they'd be thrown into...He knew they'd scatter in fear, that they'd fail Him, yet He loves them anyway. He assures them of this love, over and over again. (How both comforting and heart breaking it would be, as one of those Disciples, to remember His words of love during and after the crucifixion..to know that you had abandoned and failed the one who loved you so...the guilt would have torn me up. It did Peter.)
Words linger in the heart. The memory of the words of our loved ones shape us, they help to craft our decisions and choices. Words can build us up or destroy us; they can change our complete perspective on life. In our encounters, especially with those we love, we need to consider whether we are speaking words that bring life and encouragement to someone, or deathly wounds to their soul.
Jesus, on that last Passover, spoke words of love and life to those who had left everything to be with Him. He bound them closer to the Father, to Himself, and to each other, by speaking commandments of love, over and over again.
Three times alone, in the Gospel of John, are we told that Jesus told them to love one another.
"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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35
"This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you." John 15:12:
"These things I command you, that ye may love one another." John 15:17
Three times! Three times in such a heartfelt talk with the Apostles, He tells them....love one another. And Jesus adds, "as I have loved you."
He knew in the immediate time to come, and in the years to come of persecution, jail and death, that the Apostles, His misfit band of beloved Disciples, would need to rely upon the love they bore for one another. Just as we, in our modern age and in these troubled times, need to be able to rely upon the love and fellowship of our fellow family in Christ. Love binds....and that is so important in these days where everything is unraveling about us.
Jesus binds them with the deep bonds of true friendship, as He tells them, "Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you. No longer do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I heard from my Father, I have made known unto you." (John 15:14-15)
He binds them with the understanding that love is more than just a feeling, but that it is action. As He loves us, He went to the cross. As we love Him, we keep His commands. Love is a moving force, not immobile, not empty. He has shown His love for us by redeeming us, can we not bear Him enough love to do as He commands?
Christ uses familial titles for them, another way of conveying His love, when He calls them "Little children" (Jn 13:33)....can't you hear the tenderness pouring out of those words...as He tells them that He is going somewhere they cannot follow. And their confusion is great, for they want to follow (yet Jesus knows their frail natures, fraught with fear, will override that earnest desire), and He goes on to tell them that, in the end, it will be alright. That He is going away to prepare a place *for them*, so that where He is, there they will also be.
And I'm sure, seeing their confusion, and their fear, it must have been in gentle, loving pity that He said to them, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you {will} see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." (Jn 18-21)
I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.
He doesn't forsake those He loves, He does not leave them bereft and alone. Even now, He gives His love and peace, His promises and strength to those that love Him and call upon Him. In our storms of life, in our struggles and burdens, when we feel most alone, He is there...Jesus does not leave us as orphans either. For the love and tenderness He gave to His Disciples, He gives to each of us; for He has gathered us as a Shepherd searches and finds their wayward sheep, carefully bringing them back to the fold.
Bindings of love....Jesus etched those words unto the hearts of His Disciples, and if we love Him, He does the same for us. Binding us to Him, and to each other, with ever deepening cords of love.
And as He told the Disciples, on their way from the Last Supper, to the Garden, He tells us yet still, "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love." (Jn 15:9)
Just as God loves the Son, He loves us...abide in that love.
Abide, in the dictionary, is defined as:
: to remain stable or fixed in a state
: to continue in a place :
The definition I liked the best said, "to wait or remain patiently." Christ is telling us to remain in Him, in His love, in His Word, patiently, resting, continuing.
He is offering us a shelter and a peace in this life; this life where suffering comes and death awaits, where fear and confusion are all about, and we cannot handle it on our own. He tells us, "abide...live...in my love."
The love of Christ, which spans time and conquers death, calls us home. The love of Christ, which is peace in any storm, promises us we won't be orphans without a family. The love of Christ binds us to not only Himself, but to all those who truly love Him and seek to do His will.
May the love of Christ Jesus, who went to the Cross out of love for you and I, transform your life, not only for this season of the church year, but for now and all the time to come. May we love Him and serve Him, and love and serve one another.
On Towards the Cross,
-Beth Haynes Butler
The Binding of Love
I was skipping a bit in the Gospel reading today, looking up a passage that was quoted in another reading, when I came upon the Last Supper and "The Farewell Discourse" in the Gospel of John. (The Farewell Discourse is the talk Christ has with the Disciples after Judas Iscariot has left to betray Him.)
Take a moment to just imagine, even a little, what it must have been like. That last, drawn out meal which began with Jesus shocking His followers by washing their dusty, tired feet. The food upon the laden table, with the oils and herbs, soft bread, and wine in the cups. The men reclining, talking, enjoying each other's company, hanging on the words of their beloved Master. You can almost see it, can't you?
The Apostle John, the beloved Disciple who is thought to have been a cousin of Christ's, sets out the dialogue. We can read the words and almost hear the tones of Jesus as He instructs (with time so precious and quickly running out), and encourages, as He attempts to strengthen and prepare them for what is to come.
As I was reading, my eyes lingering over the passages, I was caught by how much Jesus used love as a binding. You can feel His abiding love pouring through the pages. These men, His Disciples, given unto Him by the Father.....He knew the turmoil and tumult they'd be thrown into...He knew they'd scatter in fear, that they'd fail Him, yet He loves them anyway. He assures them of this love, over and over again. (How both comforting and heart breaking it would be, as one of those Disciples, to remember His words of love during and after the crucifixion..to know that you had abandoned and failed the one who loved you so...the guilt would have torn me up. It did Peter.)
Words linger in the heart. The memory of the words of our loved ones shape us, they help to craft our decisions and choices. Words can build us up or destroy us; they can change our complete perspective on life. In our encounters, especially with those we love, we need to consider whether we are speaking words that bring life and encouragement to someone, or deathly wounds to their soul.
Jesus, on that last Passover, spoke words of love and life to those who had left everything to be with Him. He bound them closer to the Father, to Himself, and to each other, by speaking commandments of love, over and over again.
Three times alone, in the Gospel of John, are we told that Jesus told them to love one another.
"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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35
"This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you." John 15:12:
"These things I command you, that ye may love one another." John 15:17
Three times! Three times in such a heartfelt talk with the Apostles, He tells them....love one another. And Jesus adds, "as I have loved you."
He knew in the immediate time to come, and in the years to come of persecution, jail and death, that the Apostles, His misfit band of beloved Disciples, would need to rely upon the love they bore for one another. Just as we, in our modern age and in these troubled times, need to be able to rely upon the love and fellowship of our fellow family in Christ. Love binds....and that is so important in these days where everything is unraveling about us.
Jesus binds them with the deep bonds of true friendship, as He tells them, "Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you. No longer do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I heard from my Father, I have made known unto you." (John 15:14-15)
He binds them with the understanding that love is more than just a feeling, but that it is action. As He loves us, He went to the cross. As we love Him, we keep His commands. Love is a moving force, not immobile, not empty. He has shown His love for us by redeeming us, can we not bear Him enough love to do as He commands?
Christ uses familial titles for them, another way of conveying His love, when He calls them "Little children" (Jn 13:33)....can't you hear the tenderness pouring out of those words...as He tells them that He is going somewhere they cannot follow. And their confusion is great, for they want to follow (yet Jesus knows their frail natures, fraught with fear, will override that earnest desire), and He goes on to tell them that, in the end, it will be alright. That He is going away to prepare a place *for them*, so that where He is, there they will also be.
And I'm sure, seeing their confusion, and their fear, it must have been in gentle, loving pity that He said to them, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you {will} see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." (Jn 18-21)
I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.
He doesn't forsake those He loves, He does not leave them bereft and alone. Even now, He gives His love and peace, His promises and strength to those that love Him and call upon Him. In our storms of life, in our struggles and burdens, when we feel most alone, He is there...Jesus does not leave us as orphans either. For the love and tenderness He gave to His Disciples, He gives to each of us; for He has gathered us as a Shepherd searches and finds their wayward sheep, carefully bringing them back to the fold.
Bindings of love....Jesus etched those words unto the hearts of His Disciples, and if we love Him, He does the same for us. Binding us to Him, and to each other, with ever deepening cords of love.
And as He told the Disciples, on their way from the Last Supper, to the Garden, He tells us yet still, "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love." (Jn 15:9)
Just as God loves the Son, He loves us...abide in that love.
Abide, in the dictionary, is defined as:
: to remain stable or fixed in a state
: to continue in a place :
The definition I liked the best said, "to wait or remain patiently." Christ is telling us to remain in Him, in His love, in His Word, patiently, resting, continuing.
He is offering us a shelter and a peace in this life; this life where suffering comes and death awaits, where fear and confusion are all about, and we cannot handle it on our own. He tells us, "abide...live...in my love."
The love of Christ, which spans time and conquers death, calls us home. The love of Christ, which is peace in any storm, promises us we won't be orphans without a family. The love of Christ binds us to not only Himself, but to all those who truly love Him and seek to do His will.
May the love of Christ Jesus, who went to the Cross out of love for you and I, transform your life, not only for this season of the church year, but for now and all the time to come. May we love Him and serve Him, and love and serve one another.
On Towards the Cross,
-Beth Haynes Butler
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