John 15:1-17
Love One Another
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
One of Jesus' last commands to His Disciples was to love each other...One might think that this lesson is almost presupposed and that all the Disciples got along and loved one another...But we are not told that in the gospels...So Jesus teaches His Disciples on this, as well as us...He says to love each other as He has LOVED them...
So we must believe and remain in Jesus so that we might bear fruit...This fruit of love...And this fruit of loving others...
So it is one of God's Natural Laws to be kind and good and to love one another...We all know that we are not to hate our neighbors...And maybe we need to be told this as Jesus does His Disciples (and us)...We read about this love in the Bible and gospels and we see it in the Ten Commandments...But it almost seems unnatural to love everyone (and sometimes it seems hard to love each and everyone on the planet) as Jesus teaches His Disciples, yet at the same time we know that it is the right thing to do...When we can empty our hearts of the things of the earth and the obstacles earth brings to us the easier it is to follow Jesus and love others as He intended and taught His Disciples...