5/5/2024 (Sunday) Today’s gospel reading: John 15:9-17

Jesus said to his disciples:
9 “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
11 “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete.
12 This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
15 I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
16 It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
17 This I command you: love one another.”

5/5/2024 (Sunday) Today’s gospel reflection / homily / sermon: John 15:9-17

In the gospel reading above, we are drawn into the depths of Christ’s love for us, a love so profound and all-encompassing that He calls us not servants, but friends. This passage invites us into an intimate relationship with Him, rooted in the same love with which the Father has loved Him.

Jesus implores us to remain in His love, a love that calls for obedience but promises joy in its purest form. This obedience is not burdensome; it is the pathway to complete joy, the kind that fills our souls and overflows into the lives of others. It’s in keeping His commandments that we dwell in His love, just as He has kept His Father’s commandments and abides in His love.

Central to His message is the command to love each other as He has loved us. This love is sacrificial and selfless; it is a love that lays down one’s life for friends. By this, Jesus doesn’t just refer to the ultimate sacrifice, giving one’s life, but to living a life of sacrifice, day by day, in big ways and small, for the good of others.

Jesus makes a revolutionary claim: He has chosen us. We are not random wanderers who stumbled upon His grace; we are deliberately picked to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last. This is not just a call to evangelism, but to a life of transformation that deeply impacts every sphere we touch.

As we reflect on the gospel passage, let us be inspired to live out this profound love. Let it not just be a lofty ideal, but a daily, living reality. Let us love deeply, from a place of divine affection, and in doing so, bring light to the dark corners of the world. This is the essence of being Christ’s friends, and the pathway to a joyfully fulfilled life.

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