This Is My Command
This is my command: Love each other.
John 15:17 (NIV)
On farewell night, Jesus sums up everything in a few words: this is my command — love each other. Not a suggestion, not a self-help tip: a command. And it comes right after the image of the vine: no one produces love alone, cut off from the trunk. Christian love is not born of effort; it is born of remaining. Whoever remains in him loves; it is consequence, not performance.
Notice the scope: loving “each other” includes the others at the table — including the one who would betray him that very night. Jesus does not command loving only the lovable; he commands loving as those first loved. The command depends not on your neighbor's merit but on your connection to the vine. Cut off from it, even affection turns into heavy duty; joined to it, even hard forgiveness flows.
Today, instead of asking whether someone deserves your love, ask whether you are remaining in the vine. The command still stands on Monday morning, in traffic, in the hard meeting, at home. Love one at a time, start with the nearest — and let the sap do the rest. The vine demands no fruit from whoever remains; it bears fruit through whoever remains.