No Greater Love

John 15:13-14 (NET) - No one has greater love than this - that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.



I have often heard people quote verse thirteen.

Yet many people do not fully comprehend it.

That is why I chose to include verse fourteen as well.

To put things in proper context we must look at the surrounding text and determine to whom Jesus was speaking.

In this particular case, Jesus was speaking to His disciples.

Next, we next must determine at what point in time this conversation took place.

Jesus made these and additional statements before His death on the cross. This was but a part of His way of preparing them for what was to come.

Those whom He chose to follow Him had other professions first.

They began as His acquaintances.

Once they followed Him, they became His students.

As time went by, the relationship between teacher and student transformed into something deeper.

Those that followed His commands, became His friends.

And He was about to prove His love for them by laying down His life for them...

and for us.

In today’s world, there are some who willingly risk their lives in order to save others.

There is the soldier who risks his life to save a civilian on foreign soil.

There is the fire fighter who risks his life by entering a burning building in order to save someone from the inferno.

There is the police officer who risks his life by putting himself in harm’s way in order to protect a victim of crime.

Though noble, such sacrifices are made by a sense of duty and responsibility.

These professionals also willingly risk their lives when one of their own, often times a friend, is in distress.

When a soldier witnesses his brother in arms go down in an exposed area, he will willingly risk his life in order to move his friend to safety.

Fire fighters are equipped with an alarm that alerts their fellow fire fighters when they have gone down inside of a burning structure. A fellow fire fighter will enter into an even riskier situation in order to save his friend.

In law enforcement, the words a police officer never wants to hear are "Officer Down." When this occurs, all officer nearby will converge on the scene in order to render assistance to their friend on the force despite the additional personal risk.

In these situations, there is a heightened level of urgency that these professionals feel because a friend is at risk.

I believe Jesus felt a sense of urgency and devotion that far exceeded even mankind’s most noble intentions.

Jesus was not merely trying to preserve the physical lives of His friends, but their eternal lives as well.

That preservation came with a tremendous price... it required His death on the cross.

He willingly paid that price for His friends back then.

He willingly paid that same price for His friends of today.


Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, February 3, 2012.
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I’ll be back here on Friday, February 10, 2012.
Schedule subject to change.