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!