Here is a wonderful passage from the Gospel where Jesus talks to us about his relationship with us, about God’s relationship with us. Of course, he knows our faults and wants to lead us beyond our imagination, beyond our human limitations. We must let go of any image we may have of God. He is not a judge, he does not give orders, he leads us with love to the greatest joy. He tells us that the greatest love we can have is to give our lives for those we love, as he will do for us. Then, the joy of loving that is his, will also be ours.
We must let go of our preconceptions about God. This is what Jesus invites us to do: we are not his slaves; God does not need slaves. We are his friends; he shares everything with us; he keeps nothing for himself. He lovingly shows us the way to the greatest joy. Often, what we imagine about God even appears in our translation of his words. In this passage, the word “commandment” often appears in translations. However, the Greek word Jesus uses is entolē (ἐντολὴ). This word in turn contains the word télos, meaning aim, fulfillment, accomplishment. Jesus shows us the way that leads to our full fulfillment, to our blossoming, to bearing fruit, a lot of fruit. It is the Father’s will that we bear fruit in abundance. So it is not a matter of commandments or orders; he shows us where our true happiness lies, he recommends that we follow the right path, that we do not err, that we do not make ourselves unhappy. He therefore gives us recommendations so that we do not lose our way; his happiness is our happiness. The problem is that the human being is still a little child who doesn’t know, who deceives himself imagining that its happiness lies in things that are fleeting, corruptible, and of little importance compared to what God has prepared for us. So, after giving us countless recommendations over the centuries, he himself comes to guide us by his example. Will we trust him?
7. ἐὰν μείνητε ἐν ἐμοὶ καὶ τὰ ῥήματά μου ἐν ὑμῖν μείνῃ, ὃ ἐὰν θέλητε αἰτήσασθε καὶ γενήσεται ὑμῖν-
7. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, whatever you want you will ask for it and it will be for you.
8 ἐν τούτῳ ἐδοξάσθη ὁ πατήρ μου ἵνα καρπὸν πολὺν φέρητε καὶ γένησθε ἐμοὶ μαθηταί.
8. In this my father is glorified: that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
9 καθὼς ἠγάπησέν με ὁ πατήρ, κἀγὼ ὑμᾶς ἠγάπησα, μείνατε ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ τῇ ἐμῇ.
9. As the father has loved me and I have loved you, abide in the love that is mine.
10 ἐὰν τὰς ἐντολάς μου τηρήσητε, μενεῖτε ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ μου, καθὼς ἐγὼ ἐντολὰς τοῦ πατρός μου τετήρηκα καὶ μένω αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ.
10 If you keep my recommandations, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father’s recommandations and abide in his love.
11 ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ἡ ἐμὴ ἐν ὑμῖν ᾖ καὶ ἡ χαρὰ ὑμῶν πληρωθῇ.
11 I have spoken these things to you so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be to the full.
12 Αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ ἐμὴ ἵνα ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους καθὼς ἠγάπησα ὑμᾶς-
12. This is my recommandation that you love one another as I have loved you.
13 μείζονα ταύτης ἀγάπην οὐδεὶς ἔχει, ἵνα τις τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ θῇ ὑπὲρ τῶν φίλων αὐτοῦ.
13. No one has a greater love than this: that someone put [at stake] his soul for his friends.
14. ὑμεῖς φίλοι μού ἐστε ἐὰν ποιῆτε ἃ ἐγὼ ἐντέλλομαι ὑμῖν.
14. You are my friends if you do what I recommend to you.
15 οὐκέτι λέγω ὑμᾶς δούλους, ὅτι ὁ δοῦλος οὐκ οἶδεν τί ποιεῖ αὐτοῦ ὁ κύριος- ὑμᾶς δὲ εἴρηκα φίλους, ὅτι πάντα ἃ ἤκουσα παρὰ τοῦ πατρός μου ἐγνώρισα ὑμῖν.
15 Now I do not call you slaves, for a slave does not know what his master is doing: you, on the other hand, I call friends, because everything I have heard from my father I have made known to you.
16 οὐχ ὑμεῖς με ἐξελέξασθε, ἀλλ’ ἐγὼ ἐξελεξάμην ὑμᾶς, καὶ ἔθηκα ὑμᾶς ἵνα ὑμεῖς ὑπάγητε καρπὸν φέρητε καὶ ὁ καρπὸς ὑμῶν μένῃ, ἵνα ὅ τι ἂν αἰτήσητε τὸν πατέρα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου δῷ ὑμῖν.
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you may go and bear fruit and that your fruit may remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.