Picked to be Fruitful, Part 2

The passage we’ll be focusing on today is part of the Final Discourse in the Gospel of John. Beginning in Chapter 13, the disciples are gathered for a meal with Jesus – the final one before his arrest. The section begins with the foot washing, when he sets before them an example of love and servanthood. Chapters 14-16 are Jesus’ farewell message to the disciples, and the passage we will share today is right in the middle of that speech. In the verses leading up to this passage, Jesus tells the Disciples that if they have seen him, they have seen God. He promises them that even though he must leave, he does not leave them alone; the Spirit of God will be with them. He explains to them that they must stay connected to God through him. That setting is important to remember as we hear the words.

It’s also important to know that the words were written down during a period of history in the early church when the community was beginning to experience conflict and persecution at the end of the first century. Today we hear words spoken by Jesus to his disciples right before he died and written down for Christians facing arrest and torture because of their faith.

Read these words from the Gospel of John, chapter 15, verses 9-17:

As the Father has loved me, so I have 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. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

A couple of weekends ago I attended a District training class called Preaching from the Gospel of Mark. The teacher asked one of us to read a passage to the class. He didn’t want the rest of us to follow along in the bible, but to just listen. After the reader finished, he started asking us questions about the text – and none of us could answer them. I think that we get so used to hearing the words of the Bible that we don’t listen anymore. Either we think we already know what is going to be read (because we’ve heard it so many times before) or our mind simply wanders during the reading.

Today, though, I want us to stop and really listen to these words. These words that we will explore today have the potential to be life changing. To be transformational. To change not only our understanding of ourselves, but of God. To change not only our relationship with God but with each other. These words are radical and amazing. If we heard them and believed them and obeyed them, everything would change.

Continued tomorrow ...