NOTES for Joh 14:10-21

That the Lord loves us is a fact that requires no proof; He loves unconditionally, in a way none of us knows how to love. And naturally, when this love remains unanswered on our part, it brings Him no joy. He wants us to respond to His love, although everyone (both He and we) understands that by definition there can be no "worthy" response from us: our love is immeasurably less than His.

And yet He does not lower the bar. He does not say that He, God, must be respected, feared, obeyed, and so on. He says: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matt 22:37, see Deut 6:5). The question is: how is this possible? How can we reach what He expects from us?

Today Christ Himself gives the answer. An unusual answer. We are used to perceiving rules and ordinances separately, and love and personal relationships separately. For us, say, even in family life these are most often two different areas. But today Jesus shows that this is not so: the one who keeps His commandments is the one who loves Him (see John 14:21).

That is how it is. Everything turns out to be very simple and at the same time very difficult, because loving Him is also a commandment. The result is a closed circle, and only God Himself, who promised that He would reveal Himself to us, helps us understand it. In this we place our hope: He will come to us and teach us everything (see John 14:26).