The truth is that only someone who is loved can love.[1] Jesus is the only begotten son of love who was fully loved by the Father. Jesus, with the love that he received from the Father, loved us. The reason why his love never dried up was because it was originated from the Father.
There are many kinds of love and many kinds of people who love in the world. What is this love of Jesus that never dries up? How is the love of Christians different from any other kind of love?
Love is shown in many different colors. Romantic love, family love, love of friends – all these are parts of well-rounded life. But we must be clear that, wonderful as they are, they are not “love” in the sense that Jesus is using the term here. He is talking about the kind of love that persists even though it means death.[2] The love of Jesus is the greatest love. It is the love that he lay down his life for his friends. It is the love that gives out all things and still looking if there is anything left to give more, and finally gives even the life that remains last.
Jesus regarded the ones gathered in the upper room as his friends and was determined to give his life for them. But one of the little band was Judas, who even as Jesus spoke had gone out to betray him. Others had spent time in the upper room quarreling about who would be the greatest (Luke 22:24). In Gethsemane, when Jesus would ask the three who were closest to him to watch with him in the hour of his greatest agony, they would simply fall asleep (Mark 14:33f., 37). And when soldiers came “they call forsook him and fled” (Mark 14:50).[3]
Jesus gave his precious life for these sinners. Despite all their iniquities and weakness, the love of Jesus was unconditional, loving the sinners.
Love in the Christian sense is not sentimentality; it is not a gushing emotional indulgence of some loved one. Love is what we see in the cross. It is what Christ showed when he laid down his perfect life for sinners.[4]
Jews, Moslems, pagans, even the so-called godless, not only can but often do love with utmost generosity and utter selflessness, even to the laying down of their lives. What distinguishes Christians is merely this: when they love, they love as Christ loved them and because he loved them. What makes their love “Christian” is neither its quantity nor its quality. What makes “Christian” is their faith in the love of Jesus for them, their abiding in his love (v. 9), and nothing else.[5]
Augustine said: “Love, and do what you like.” But we must understand Augustine carefully. He was not saying that if we love we can go happily through life doing good or ill as we choose. He was saying that if we understand what love in the Christian sense is, if we really understand it, then we need no other guide to Christian living.[6]
If we can love just as Jesus loved us, the true of joy of the Lord, that sings out delight in the pitch-black darkness before the shadow of the cross, will overflow in our lives.
[1] Marrow, The Gospel of John, 275.
[2] Morris, Reflections on the Gospel of John, 524.
[3] Morris, Reflections on the Gospel of John, 524.
[4] Morris, Reflections on the Gospel of John, 523.
[5] Marrow, The Gospel of John, 279.
[6] Morris, Reflections on the Gospel of John, 523.