Why Jesus?…

In his own words (part 8)

It was hugely important to Jesus that his disciples “Now remain in my love,” John 15:9. Because it was knowing he loved them, and what being loved at that level of love was like, that would set the stage for them spreading that love by loving each other with the same love he had for them. 

And Jesus knew what that love would do. It would do “even greater things” than he himself had been doing, because many people spreading his love would influence and impact many more people than he was able to. Such love would “bear much fruit,” therefore. It would change people’s lives, make people feel very comfortable in a Christian’s presence, and inspire an example that others would follow. 

I remember the first time I attended church as a teenager. I was nervous, totally out of my comfort zone, wishing I was somewhere else, and thinking I’d be left standing or sitting alone with no one to talk to, and no one wanting to talk to me. Instead, a man came up to me, shook my hand, and got me talking, and I found myself happily blathering away as if we’d been friends for years. 

It was the genuineness of the man that struck me, because I was a hard-nosed, cynical teenager with a chip on my shoulder about humanity in general. The rest of what happened in church that day didn’t interest me much, but the way that man listened and got me talking and feeling comfortable opened my eyes to something wonderful.

Well, Jesus came to make that “something wonderful” happen all over the place through his disciples. And all to the glory of the Father who created this to happen. Because he started it. It was his idea to show his love through Jesus, who would show his love to a group of disciples, who would then spread out all over the world showing what God’s love in humans does in all sorts of ways that people really appreciate. I know I did, because I haven’t forgotten to this day, fifty six years later, what that man in church did for me and how comfortable he made me feel. 

And such a small thing too, but for me it did the trick. It bore fruit. Which according to Jesus is what God’s love is meant to do…(continues Friday)