June 12th, 2025
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
There is one remarkable theme that characterized Jesus' life and ministry here on earth That is, the sincere expression of His love relationship with His Father. It is truly incredible to think that although Jesus was equal to God, He still led His life in total submission to the father's will and plan. I believe that all of us ought to learn from Jesus in this way and cultivate that same love relationship with our heavenly Father.
The significance of what Jesus is saying in these verses can only be understood through the cultural lens of that time. We must remember that the Jewish people were prone to a religious lifestyle that was completely void of any pure love for God. Jesus quoting the prophet Isaiah said to them, "These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Matthew 15:8). Their relationship to the Father was one filled with hypocrisy and dead works. It was a pretend faith put on display for all to see but behind the scenes, there was no true devotion for God. Their hearts were so corrupted by their own man-made religion, they could not understand nor appreciate what Jesus was displaying before their very eyes. He was modelling for them an honest and intimate relationship with God the father.
We should consider our own hearts today and wonder if we share in the same religious faith of the Jewish people. I fear we may have learned to treat God as a distant and mysterious being that has no affiliation to our lives. Our prayers become rehearsed and routine. The songs we sing only arise from memorization and not because we mean every word we say. In reality, we are stuck in a lifeless and loveless relationship with a God we rarely know. Maybe at some point we knew of Him but the years move on and our faith has become shallow and cold. Jesus said that this sad version of Christianity is not the Father's will for us because He has something in store that is far better for His children.
What did our Lord teach us? Anyone who truly has a deep and profound love for Christ will receive in return the endless and glorious love of the Father. There is a mutual and tangible kind of love that can be experienced in the life of a believer, just as Jesus experienced it with God. We must understand this with all of our hearts today. The love of our Father is not simply an external event for us to watch from a distance. It is not a spectator sport nor is it something we all pretend to have. Jesus stated clearly "We will come to them and we will make our home with them". Consider the great initiative and action of God in these words. The Father, the Son and the Spirit have come in their fullness to dwell in us every single day. You don't have to beg for it nor do you have to travel far for it. An intimate relationship with God can be ours here and now.
The question remains, when was the last time you experienced the true love of God the Father? When was the last time you sat and received the grace of His son Jesus Christ? When was it last that you felt the kindness and peace of His Holy Spirit? You may have fallen prey to a religious spirit and lost the excitement of being His child. It is time today to return to our first love. To sit at His feet and receive the goodness and grace that He freely gives to His children. For there is no greater calling than to be called a son or daughter of the Most high God.