Thought for the day – Thursday 7th May 2020
John 15: 12- 17
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
They say that you are what you eat – they also say that you love as you have been loved. That a child who has been shown affection and self-giving love, will pass that love on, in the way in which they treat others, as they grow up. It is not just said, but it is written, that ‘we love, because God first loved us’.
But how do we know that love, how is it expressed, and how is that expressed love, passed on?
I think the key is in this reading from John’s gospel – ‘laying down one’s life’.
Of course, Jesus knew what was coming for him – that he was going to lay down his life for us – his friends, but do we have to physically die in order to show our love for others? I don’t think we can wait that long! – nor did Jesus expect us to – he commands us to love while we live! So this ‘laying down one’s life, means giving up ourselves for others, as we live our life.
And we have seen many people over the past few weeks doing just that. Doctors, nurses and carers losing their lives in the fight to save others from Covid-19. Staff at care homes living in tents, so that they can stay on site, so as not to risk spreading the virus to their vulnerable residents, or indeed to their own families. People volunteering to shop and care for others in greater need than themselves, never mind the millions whose jobs are on the line, and the parents who have become teachers, whilst we all wait for release from the grip of this disease, and sacrifice our individual freedom for the greater good of the whole nation.
Love is never easy, it always demands us to think of the other before ourselves, but when it is reciprocated, or passed on, – then it shines.
When we receive love, we feel special and blessed, so we know how others feel when we show love to them.When we experience the love of God comforting and consoling us as we are going through tough times, that, in turn, helps us to comfort and console others who are going through a tough time, and that is what Jesus calls us to do today, and every day, whilst we live.
‘We love and care and console, because God loves and cares, and consoles us’.
In our prayers we remember with thanks, those who ‘lay down their lives’. We remember and give thanks for those who ‘walk the extra mile’ of sacrifice. We remember, and give thanks for those who love us, care for us, and console us. We remember and give thanks, that we love, because God first loved us.
Prompt us, Lord, to pick up the phone, write that letter, or send that email, to express our love, care and consolation to someone, today.