As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:9-13 NRS
When I first began to read the Bible seriously, I was a little troubled by the so-called “Last Supper Discourse” (John 13-16). There it was on the last night before Jesus would be crucified, so what would you expect him to talk to his disciples about? The Cross, sin, forgiveness, and atonement, right? But he doesn’t! He talks about going away, the coming of the Holy Spirit, our abiding in the Trinity, the Trinity abiding in us, and the imperative to love. What is this? He talks about these secondary things, and not about the main thing.
I am embarrassed to say how long it took me to realize that he is talking about the main thing. Is the crucifixion important? Oh, absolutely. Without the Cross we come to a dead end (pun intended!). Without Jesus’ substitutionary death, our story ends right there – dead in trespasses and sins. But, what is the Cross for? So we can escape punishment? Yes, but, oh, so much more.
That is what Jesus was trying to get through those thick skulls that night. His “going away” – the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension – was so that the Holy Spirit could come and restore the divine image in us, and we could dwell in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and he could dwell in us, all to the end that we could manifest that same self-giving, self-denying love for others that the Trinity has in himself.*
The crucifixion is not the end – it is the beginning!
*Look at the outline of the Christian faith in Romans: None right before God (1-3); Right standing through faith in Christ crucified and resurrected (3-5); Victory over sin through the Holy Spirit (6-8); [No hope except through Christ (9-11)]; The goal of it all: self-giving, self-denying love through Christ (12-15); [Personal note and greetings (15-16)].
Called To Be Transformed 