As Jesus engages with His disciples in this last, long conversation before His death, He emphasizes several themes, such as His own union with the Father, and the gift of the Spirit. But the other theme, which is emphasized right at the beginning of this section (Jn 13:1 - “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end”), - that other theme is Jesus’ love for us, and our need to be those who love Jesus.
Three times in John 14:21,23 we find this description of the true Christian: “those who love me.” We cannot imagine a real Christian who does not love Jesus, even though we often confess that our love grows cold or our hearts are distracted by other things. This set of 3, then, is designed to help us to reaffirm and put into practice our love of Jesus.
The first reference to “those who love me,” in v. 21, is linked to those “who have my commandments and keep them.” Now this will be clear to anyone who thinks about it, but let’s be clear: we do not love Jesus because we keep His commandments. Rather, we keep His commandments because we love Jesus. That is, our devotion to Jesus produces the fruit in our lives of wanting to do things His way; of seeing things from His perspective; of following in His steps. This order of things, loving Jesus and thus keeping His commandments means, then, that His commandments are not heavy and burdensome. Rather, they are a delight. Our hearts are re-fashioned to be Christ-like. How important it is for us to love Jesus!
The second reference to “those who love me” is also in v. 21, back to back with the previous reference. When we are born again and thus fall in love with Jesus, we are drawn into what I will call “a circle of love.” We know that there is an unbreakable bond of infinite love between the Father and the Son, in both directions. Now, when we, by God’s grace, believe and love Jesus, that love of the Father which Jesus enjoys is also bestowed upon us. Jesus loves the Father; He also loves us. The Father loves the Son; He also loves us. And we love Jesus, and our love for Jesus also allows us to truly love the Father, whom we could not know without knowing and loving Jesus.
The third reference to “those who love me” (v.23) follows Judas’ (not Iscariot) question about how the Father and the Son is able to distinguish between the “loving community” and the world. Jesus, reaffirming the Father’s love to us, says that it is like being adopted into a new family. The Father certainly “knows those who are His.” And this family will be united, now, in the present, through the Spirit, but also in a much higher, deeper way, when Jesus comes to bring us to the place prepared for us (cf. 14:3, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there may be also.”). Our verse says, “we will come to them (those who love Jesus) and will make our home with them.”
At home with the Jesus whom we love. At home with the Father, in His presence forevermore. Let’s affirm and practice our love for Jesus.
My Jesus I love Thee, I know Thou art mine
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign
My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art Thou
If ever I loved Thee my Jesus 'tis now
I love Thee because Thou has first loved me
And purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow
If ever I loved Thee my Jesus 'tis now
If you click the link above, it should take you to a rendition of this song
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