John 15:17 “The command I give you is this, that you love one another.” (NAB)“This I command you, love one another.” (Phillips)
“…But remember the root command: Love one another.” (MSG)
“This is my command, love each other.” (NIV)
Heavenly Father,
Jesus repeats his command: “Love each other”. By repeating this command, Jesus puts emphasis on it. Throughout Jesus' teaching, love is a key word. Everything we do in Jesus’ name is to follow the commandments to love God first and foremost and completely, and then to love everyone else as well.
I like the NIV translation of “each other” rather then the “one another” in the other translations. Each means all. We aren’t to pick and choose who we love. Each person is a potential child of God. Where Jesus has loved, we too must love. Jesus talked about loving our enemies. It is easy to love our friends and family. As he pointed out…even sinners do that. Jesus’ love went beyond the natural boundaries of love and embraced the whole world.
We have all met people who are not easy to love…unkind people, people full of hatred, cruel people, crazy people, dirty people, repulsive people, people with serious problems, boring people, selfish people, mean-spirited people, ugly people, imperfect people. Like it or not we fit on that same list in someone else’s mind. It’s hard to think of ourselves in that “unacceptable” class of people, but we belong there, too.
Jesus saw beyond all that. Jesus saw the perfect children that God the Father created. Jesus sees our potential. Jesus sees us washed clean and dressed in fine clothes to be presented to the Father….redeemed.
Many times during a movie, I have shut my eyes to avoid seeing a terrible or repulsive scene. But You, Father see it all….all the dirt, all the filth, all the evil, all the misery with eyes wide open. Jesus saw it all and took it upon himself for us. Every bit of human filth went on the cross with Jesus. Every dirty sin. Every evil. What a weight to bear!
If Jesus can do this for us, how can we refuse to love “each” other. Forgive me, Father, for killing your Son with my sins! Thank you, Jesus, for your love and grace. Help me love each other person that I meet. Amen.
