Do They Exist?

In John 15, Jesus is teaching his disciples and letting them know that he would soon be separated from them as he is moving towards the cross. In some of his clearest teaching about who he is, Jesus gives them instructions on what is going to happen and what they should do next. He is preparing them to do the ministry he interrupted their lives to do. Above all, he is reminding them (and us) to remember the call he has put on our lives, to remember the relationship we have with him, and most of all to show the love we have received to the people around us.

Jesus in John 15:12-16 says, 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends…15 No longer do I call you servants,…but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide…”

To love others as Christ has loved us is a monumental task. There is no such thing as a half measure with Christ’s love. Jesus loves people wholly and completely without conditions or qualifications.

Jesus asks one question, “do they exist?” If the answer is yes, then they are loved. While this comes easy for Jesus it takes effort for us to live this way on our part. Drive in New Jersey for 30 minutes and you’re bound to encounter someone that you kinda start hating. However, that is just the person you need to start doing the work of love.

You don’t need to lay down your life for them right away. But maybe you could think of any reason you could tolerate them as they to drive that way. Maybe there’s a medical emergency, maybe there’s a bathroom emergency, whatever can move your lifelong ire into a more equitable disdain, or maybe even into forgiveness. And this is just one small area where else are there people in your life that are hard to love?

We are called to be small versions of Christ for people to experience. How can we do that in small ways to the friends and strangers we encounter?