John 15:9-11
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
Back in the 1980’s (for those of you who can remember ancient history), a pop music star named Huey Lewis had a hit song entitled, “The Power of Love.” The lyrics included the line, “The power of love is a curious thing.” Now, of course, Mr. Lewis was talking about romantic love rather than a spiritual love – yet it remains true that love is a powerful and curious thing.
The parable we have been studying – the parable of the father and his two lost sons (as I like to call it) – is a story about the power of love. The father in Jesus’ story is “prodigal” in his love for his two sons. That is, he is extravagant and even prodigious in his love for his sons – despite their rejection of his love. The younger son basically treats his father as if he has already died in asking for his inheritance early. The older son accuses him of being a slave-driver as well as a fool for allowing his younger brother to come home. Both have spit in the father’s face and broken his heart, yet his love for them never changes. They can choose to accept and trust his love – to remain in his love – or to reject that love and run from it.
The younger son mistakes his father’s love for “control” – and chooses to run as far from it as he possibly can. The older brother mistakes his father’s love for a “business transaction” – as a reward for his faithful service – and he resents his father for offering love to his wayward younger brother. Both, for different reasons, have failed to remain in their father’s love.
Jesus’ choice of words in this passage from John 15 is very important. It’s easy for us to assume that obedience is how we earn God’s love – for so often, in our human experience, love is granted on the condition of obedience. But that’s not what Jesus is saying. He is saying that God’s love for him – and for us – is unconditional. God’s love is a gift that is offered to us freely. Our obedience is what allows us to remain in his love. The father never stopped loving the younger son – but the younger son rebelled against his rather and ran off to the far country – where he no longer knew his father’s love. The father never stopped loving the older brother – but the older brother grew resentful and therefore ceased to know his father’s love.
The younger son does not re-discover his father’s love until he comes home prepared to become nothing more than a servant – but then is shocked when his father gives him the finest robe, a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet – indicating that he has been reinstated as a son. And it is the power of this unconditional, unchanging and undeserved love that ultimately transforms the younger son’s life.
This is what the older son fails to understand. The love of the father comes first – and obedience second – not the other way around.
“This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loves us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins…We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:10,19
Pastor Brian Coffey
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