1 John 4:8
God is Love
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Mark 3:13-19
13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. 16 These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
John 20:29
Following Jesus
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Mark 6:5-6
Faith and Love
5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 And he was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village.
John 15:13
Jesus Describes One Attribute of LOVE
13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
1 Corinthians 13:11-13
Faith, Hope, and Love
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
It would be the most understated thing ever said, saying that the Son of God did not know LOVE or what LOVE was about...His Father is LOVE...And the more I think about my faith, the more I see this connection of faith and LOVE, and LOVE and faith...
Most people do not like changes in their life and their lifestyle...Some people get upset, even when their daily routine is changed...Why would you follow someone around?...Why would you leave what you are doing and change The Way your life is?...What would make you drop what you are doing and follow just one person around, who has no money, no reputation, no job, and was born very poor?...
Why would anyone follow Jesus?...His first followers were His Twelve Disciples...Why would they decide to follow Him?...He did not come out and tell them when He met them that God was His Father...He did not quickly tell Him He was the Messiah that was to come...He did not at first tell them He could do miracles...
Some of the His disciples probably did not know each other, and they did not get together one day and said let's follow Him -yet they followed Him...They must have been able to relate to Him and being poor and somewhat of an outcast...There is something about Jesus that is quite unique...No doubt that He has this charisma, this Divine-Charisma that first attracted the Twelve and His other followers...In His Divine-Charisma, I am sure the Twelve felt like that He liked them very much and people in general...They could look Jesus in the eye and see something special...The Twelve could listen to His Words and hear something special...They could use all their senses and feel and somehow know that something about Him, and the things about Him are utterly an Only One of His Kind...
I think that since God is Love, His Son would be full of LOVE, and His Father's LOVE...Jesus would have full knowledge about LOVE and what LOVE can do...So in Him not only does He make the Twelve feel like they are well-liked and friends, they feel in Him this something else, this something more -and it comes from the knowledge of knowing about His Father's LOVE...So the Disciples would follow Him after feeling His LOVE for people and for them...
Jesus is also full of mercy...He is always forgiving...He has full knowledge of mercy and forgiveness...He knows that forgiveness is much about love...
But. I think, they also they realized very quickly that they had a faith in Him, that maybe they could not at first understand or explain at first...And I think they wanted to follow Him and see why they had this feeling of faith for Him -and why they wanted to become fishers of men...And with this faith that somehow aura-ed around Him, He gave them hope that there is something better out there...There are these things that are sacred, mysterious, holy and great...
Jesus is incomparable to other men, because He is all about LOVE...This is One of the things that makes Him unique...Sometimes I think one of the verses that He says gets maybe a little overlooked...The verse is "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."...First (He is saying) we are His friends...He would die for all of us, but also for each of us individually...He does die for us...And when He was on the cross, that is what my sins did to Him...This statement about death is an astonishing statement to say and then do...Jesus carries out this statement and goes on to die for His friends and His friend's sins...
One advantage I wrote about earlier was the Twelve's ability to see and feel Him...They were eyewitnesses to His Majesty...Today we are two thousand years removed from Him and without His physical presence, which is a disadvantage...Yet, some people around Him, when He was on earth, especially the Pharisee's, failed to see who He was...Somehow they had a barrier to His LOVE...And this barrier might have been their lack of faith...
St. Paul teaches us the three great virtues in life...They are faith, hope, and love...Jesus gives His followers these three most important things in their lives...I think this is why we follow Him...He gives us faith, hope, and LOVE...And the greatest of these is LOVE...