John
13
– 15
Verse 13:34 has Jesus giving his disciples new marching
orders:
So I give
you a new command: Love each other deeply and fully. Remember the
ways that I have loved you, and demonstrate your love for others in those same
ways.
Jesus’ teachings were actually quite simple, love God and
love one and other. All His stories stemmed from this concept. Unlike the
Jewish Pharisees of His time, we have overly complicated a very simple message.
Just love each other as Jesus loves us, how simple can it be and how messed up
we have made it. I think of wars in the name of God and how absurd that
actually is when applied to Jesus’ teachings.
Verses 14:6 & 7 are some of the most critical verses in
Christianity:
Jesus: 6 I
am the path, the truth, and the energy of life. No one comes
to the Father except through Me. 7 If you know Me,
you know the Father. Rest assured now; you know Him and have seen Him.
How much more can be said? The path to God is not righteous
acts or attaining some enlightened state, but rather just believing in Jesus.
It’s that simple! New Age religions and cults tends to twist past this and
believe God is everything and somehow we are a god because of this with the
same power and will. This is so far from the truth. I love the way The Voice
adds “energy of” to the first verse since it’s a critical concept to understand
and would take some time to explain.
Verse 14:12 is one of those verses I ponder quite often:
I tell you the truth: whoever believes
in Me will be able to do what I have done, but they will do even greater
things, because I will return to be with the Father.
How many of us believe and wonder why we do not have the
power to heal or raise the dead? Heck Jesus’ own words here and He specifically
says we “will do even greater things!” So when? Over 2000 years do we have
another person who has raised the dead? Was I raised from the dead by prayer?
What is “greater things” anyway? Jesus healed the lame, made the blind see and
raised the dead, so what have (and I will make this personal since I can’t
answer it either) you done “greater” than Jesus?
We need to know it’s not us but God doing these “greater”
things!!
Verse 15:5 is one that we need to understand:
I am the vine, and you are the
branches. If you abide in Me and I in you, you will bear great fruit. Without
Me, you will accomplish nothing.
Jesus spends time with the vine and branch analogy to ensure
we understand that we need to get off our butts and GO DO! But do so in Him and
not to gain status with Him. See Jesus will provide all we need if we remain in
Him. We will get pruned if we do not remain in Him, so keep it simple and
follow His lead and not YOURS!
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