16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you could go and produce fruit and so that your fruit could last. As a result, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. 17 I give you these commandments so that you can love each other.
Reflection
Our scripture reading comes near the end of the portion of John’s Gospel where the Disciples are being prepared by Jesus. In verse 16 Jesus wants the disciples to know that they should not be prideful because they were chosen as it was through Jesus’ sovereign choice. One purpose of God’s sovereign election is that the disciples are blessed with revelation and understanding for the purpose of producing spiritual fruit. Fruit would include Godly attitudes, righteous behavior, giving praise, and leading others to faith in Jesus.
In verse 17 Jesus speaks as if he were about to give them many things to have and care about, but he names this only, that the disciples love one another; not only because this includes many duties, but because it will have a good influence upon all. That the disciples love one another is evidence of their love of Christ, and a grateful return for his love to them. This commandment, to us, that we love one another, is accepting Christ’s love and then being motivated by that to love each other.
Have you ever pondered the difference between being chosen because of who you are, or who you know, or your great credentials and work effort instead of being chosen to be someone you had not yet become?
We have been talking about courage for a few weeks now and I do think that when you look at the lives of the disciples they are examples of extraordinary courage, post resurrection, after Christ revealed himself to them. Jesus chose Saul, a sinner, on the road to Damascus before he became an apostle.
We know that God wants us to have attitudes that reflect Jesus, to be righteous in our behavior, to give thanks and praise, and love others as Jesus loves us. These actions and attributes sound like extraordinary effort for us mere mortals. After all, the disciples lived with Jesus for three years and witnessed his walking among them after the resurrection and heard his final instruction. Paul was spoken to directly before by Jesus before he was changed.
How can we possibly be the changed and exemplary people God and Christ wish us to be through the power of the Spirit? After all, Psalm 52:3, says, “You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking the truth.” This psalm was written by David in a specific situation, referring to a specific person. As we look at some of the things people do in our society in recent days, we feel that some people actually love evil more than good and lying more than speaking the truth. How can we possibly try to love others when we are distracted by what is happening in our time?
Being imperfect is described in these words from the Apostle Paul: “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me…Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.” (Romans 7:20-23)
Paul is basically saying there is an internal battle within us. We have a desire to live a good Christian life. We want to be holy, to love God and others, and to be faithful to the Lord but as humans we can be thwarted by the presence of sin in and around us.
So yes, the disciples, Paul, and every human, has faced the same dilemma, how do we we overcome and be as strong as Jesus wants us to be? How do we free ourselves? By turning to the Lord. By letting the power and authority of Christ into our lives.
by Clarence Beverage
For Pondering and Prayer
When you think of the way that the disciples, Paul and others, close in time to the power of Jesus, had power to do great things, does it make you wish you could have been in that time?
What are the resources we enjoy today that can empower us just as much as those in Jesus time?
What has Christ elected you to do?
Prayer: I would like to ask, through your Spirit Lord, to continually find places and times in my life where I will feel challenged to pray for strengthening, for a sense of your presence and to search your word, for truth resulting in greater love. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen