JOHN 15:12-17 (ESV)

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.¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; 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, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

Reflection Questions

John 15:12-15

• Reflect on v.13 and the great love demonstrated by Jesus on the cross.
• According to v.14, what is the appropriate response of those who Jesus claims as friends by laying down his life for them?
• What is the difference between a “friend” and a “servant”?
• What responsibility do I have since Jesus has “made known to [me]” “all that [he has] heard from [the] Father”?

John 15:12, 17

• Reflect on the repeated command to love one another.
• What is the basis on which this command is given?