JESUS DEMONSTRATED GOD'S LOVE -- Part One . . .Friday of the First Full Week of Lent

Today I had lunch with my good friend Jack who I have known since high school. We didn't see one another for 39 years. But when I was the chairperson of our Reunion Committee, someone forwarded him an e-mail from me about our 40th reunion and it had my phone number on it. He saw that we were living in the same area code and we reconnected. Not long after that he felt led to be baptized on his birthday, which was the Fourth of July, and I was delighted to be able to be there for that.

On the way home from lunch, I was thinking about how good it is to spend time with a friend I have known since I was young. We have friends, teachers, places and events in common. We both went to our 40th reunion and caught up folks we hadn't seen in 20-40 years. (I went to our 20th Reunion, but our 40th was the first one Jack had been to.) As I was driving back from lunch, I was also thinking about the friend I have in Jesus and how long I have known Him and how I know Him.

I was raised in the church by faith-filled parents who were also raised in the church. There is a saying that God doesn't have any grandchildren -- each one of us is a child of God and siblings of God's only begotten Son, Jesus. And one of the reasons that God became incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ/Messiah was to demonstrate God's love for people in a new way.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob each had a personal relationship with the Creator who called them into a special relationship with Him. Even before their era, the Hebrew Bible chronicles the relationship between God and many people beginning with Adam and Eve. The narrations about these relationships between God and individuals; and between God and ethnic groups all help us to understand how God has interacted with individuals and groups of people. When we read the Bible we can understand a little about God, but we can't really know Him.

Second hand information is fine in its place, and we certainly can have faith because of what we learn, but that is not the same thing as knowing a person and having a relationship with him or her. We can't get to know God in Jesus Christ the same way we can know a family member or friend, but those who knew Jesus in person did know Him that way. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can come to know God in Christ, too.

This is a different kind of experience than that of a relationship with a friend, spouse or family member, but we when we come to know God personally we can find a wonderful and special relationship.

In John 13:34b-35, it is recorded that Jesus said, "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Those statements beg the questions, "What did Jesus mean when He told His disciples to love each other the way He loved them?" "How did Jesus love the people closest to Him?" and "How did Jesus demonstrate God's love?"

In the Gospels we find a lot of answers to these questions. When we first read about Jesus encountering His disciples, it is evident in some cases that Jesus has chosen them carefully. He has observed them, and knows about them. That is probably true for all of them, but we read about the original encounters that Jesus had with several of His disciples including Peter and his brother Andrew; James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee; Matthew, Philip and Nathanael.

As told in the Gospel of John 1:35-42, one example of Jesus’ discernment about the men He chose to be His disciples is the narration about Philip and Nathanael coming to be His disciples. The day after Jesus’ baptism, John the Baptist and two of his disciples see Jesus walking nearby. John the Baptist proclaims,” Behold the Lamb of God,” indicating to his disciples that he means Jesus, so the two disciples follow Him. One of these men was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.

Then as related in (John 1:43-51), on the next day Jesus goes to the Galilee and encounters Philip from Bethsaida, which is also the hometown of Peter and Andrew. Jesus calls Philip to follow Him, and then Philip tells his friend Nathanael, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (John1:43-45) Nathanael is skeptical and answers, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip tells him to come and see. And when they are approaching him, Jesus declares about him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael wants to know what Jesus means by this comment, and Jesus tells him that he noticed Nathanael when he was speaking with Philip under a fig tree. Nathanael thinks that this is amazing, and says, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”(John 1:49) In reply Jesus asserts, Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

This is all a bit preliminary to answering the questions I posed above:

"What did Jesus mean when He told His disciples to love each other the way He loved them?"

"How did Jesus love the people closest to Him?"

"How did Jesus demonstrate God's love?”

So, I will come back to the topic tomorrow. I wanted to start by writing about how Jesus met and got to know His disciples. As is obvious from John’s narration, Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip and Nathanael all followed Jesus because they believed that Jesus could be the Messiah. But this was only their introduction to Him. As time when on, as we have mentioned previously, the disciples were witnesses to the signs and wonders that Jesus performed in His ministry. But let’s look more at how Jesus demonstrated God’s love tomorrow, okay?

Meanwhile, Beloved, I hope you have a peaceful night’s sleep remembering, as ever, that angels guard your rest.

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours.