Love is the dis­tinc­ti­ve mark of the king­dom of God. The love of the Good Shep­herd brings forth joy. A fol­lo­wer of Je­sus Christ re­joi­ces over the gift of faith and the hope of eter­nal life. The gos­pel gi­ves us strength to be­lie­ve and to love ot­her child­ren of God.

As the Pas­so­ver was ap­p­ro­ac­hing, our Re­dee­mer sup­ped with His fol­lo­wers. He was­hed His dis­cip­les’ feet and the­re­by pro­vi­ded them with an examp­le: the dis­cip­les were to do as their Lord had done to them (John 13:1–17). The Re­dee­mer exp­lains the me­a­ning of the was­hing of feet in his fa­re­well ser­mon (John 13:31–14:31). The core con­tent of the ser­mon is exp­res­sed in the words: “A new com­mand­ment I give un­to you, that ye love one anot­her; as I have lo­ved you, that ye al­so love one anot­her.” (John 13:34). Je­sus’ love for his dis­cip­les was per­fect to the very end.

At the last sup­per the te­ac­her told his dis­cip­les a pa­rab­le of the vine and its branc­hes: “I am the true vine, and my Fat­her is the hus­band­man. Eve­ry branch in me that be­a­reth not fruit he ta­keth away: and eve­ry branch that be­a­reth fruit, he pur­geth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spo­ken un­to you. Abi­de in me, and I in you. As the branch can­not bear fruit of it­self, ex­cept it abi­de in the vine; no more can ye, ex­cept ye abi­de in me.” (John 15:1–4). The strength to be­lie­ve and to pro­du­ce good fruits flows forth from Christ.

The Holy Spi­rit te­ac­hes

The Son of God—the per­fect te­ac­her—tel­ls his fol­lo­wers about the love of God: “As the Fat­her hath lo­ved me, so have I lo­ved you: con­ti­nue ye in my love. If ye keep my com­mand­ments, ye shall abi­de in my love; even as I have kept my Fat­her’s com­mand­ments, and abi­de in his love.” (John 15:9–10).

Christ’s cong­re­ga­ti­on be­lie­ves and li­ves upon the ever­las­ting foun­da­ti­on of God’s word. Je­sus said: “But the Com­for­ter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Fat­her will send in my name, he shall te­ach you all things, and bring all things to yo­ur re­memb­ran­ce, what­so­e­ver I have said un­to you.” (John 14:26). “And this is his com­mand­ment, that we should be­lie­ve on the name of his Son Je­sus Christ, and love one anot­her, as he gave his com­mand­ment. And he that kee­peth his com­mand­ment dwel­leth in him, and he in him. And he­re­by we know that he abi­deth in us, by the Spi­rit which he hath gi­ven us.” (1 John 3:23–24).

The voi­ce of the Good Shep­herd is he­ard in the gos­pel

Je­sus says: “I am the good shep­herd, and I know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Fat­her kno­weth me, even so know I the Fat­her: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And ot­her sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them al­so must I bring, and they shall hear my voi­ce; and there shall be one fold, and one

shep­herd.” (John 10:14–16). We hear the voi­ce of the Good Shep­herd when a be­lie­ving per­son proc­laims for­gi­ve­ness of sins in Je­sus’ name and ato­ne­ment blood.

The gos­pel of for­gi­ve­ness of sins gi­ves the strength to be­lie­ve and to love ot­her child­ren of God: “– – God is light, and in him is no dark­ness at all. If we say that we have fel­lows­hip with him, and walk in dark­ness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fel­lows­hip one with anot­her, and the blood of Je­sus Christ his Son cle­an­seth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we de­cei­ve our­sel­ves, and the truth is not wit­hin us. If we con­fess our sins, he is faith­ful and just to for­gi­ve us our sins, and to cle­an­se us from all un­righ­te­ous­ness.” (1 John 1: 5–9).

Joy over the love of the Good Shep­herd

The love of the Good Shep­herd gi­ves birth to joy. Je­sus said: “These things I have spo­ken un­to you, that my joy might re­main in you, and that yo­ur joy might be full.” (John 15:11). A fol­lo­wer of Christ re­joi­ces over the gift of faith which God has pre­pa­red in His Son Je­sus Christ: “For what­so­e­ver is born of God over­co­meth the world: and this is the vic­to­ry that over­co­meth the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5:4).

A child of God al­so re­joi­ces over the hope of eter­nal life: “Be­lo­ved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet ap­pe­ar what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall ap­pe­ar, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And eve­ry man that hath this hope pu­ri­fieth him­self, even as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2–3).

Love is the dis­tinc­ti­ve mark of the king­dom of God

Love is the dis­tinc­ti­ve mark of the king­dom of God in this world. Je­sus says: “By this shall all men know that ye are my dis­cip­les, if ye have love one to anot­her.” (John 13:35). Our Re­dee­mer gent­ly com­mands his fol­lo­wers: “This is my com­mand­ment, that ye love one anot­her, as I have lo­ved you.” (John 15:12).

The mu­tu­al love of be­lie­vers and the uni­ty of the Holy Spi­rit call an un­be­lie­ving per­son to re­pen­tan­ce and be­lief in the gos­pel; in­to the fel­lows­hip of the king­dom of God. There is joy in he­a­ven and in God’s cong­re­ga­ti­on over each and eve­ry one who has re­cei­ved the grace of re­pen­tan­ce (Luke 15:3–7). There is great joy when the Good Shep­herd finds His lost lamb: “Thou hast mul­tip­lied the na­ti­on, and not inc­re­a­sed the joy; they joy be­fo­re thee ac­cor­ding to the joy in har­vest, and as men re­joi­ce when they di­vi­de the spoil.” (Isa. 9:3).

Text Kyös­ti Pie­vi­läi­nen

Trans­la­ti­on K. K.

Pub­lis­hed Sii­o­nin Lä­he­tys­leh­ti 2/2014

Teks­tis­sä kä­si­tel­lään seu­raa­via raa­ma­tun­koh­tia: John 15:9–12

Jul­kais­tu eng­lan­nin­kie­li­ses­sä kie­li­lii­tees­sä 11/2014.