“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” (John 15:12-17).

Good morning, Saints! For those of us who march to the beat of the high school academic year’s schedule, we have the blessing of having Monday off to celebrate and honor United States veterans and Veterans Day. Enjoy your extended weekend!  

When I think of our honorable veterans who have served our country, the United States of America, I immediately think of the section of scripture at the beginning of today’s devotion, specifically John 15:13. I have great respect for our veterans; several of my dear uncles served in the military, and my late beloved father-in-law served in the Korean War. I’ve often regretted not taking the opportunity to serve in the military myself. Today’s devotion concerns Christ’s commandment to love one another and His great and saving love for us undeserving sinners.

I admire and deeply respect our veterans who have done so much to allow us to remain the land of the free and home of the brave, even paying the ultimate sacrifice, laying down their lives for their country and friends. According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, we’ve lost over 1.1 million veterans, roughly one of every thirty-five, who served during wartime. This doesn’t take into account the 17.9 million in our midst today, many of whom were disabled and ravaged by their service, returning as different people and attempting to successfully reunite and reintegrate into civilian life. Nor does it consider those veterans who are tragically overwhelmed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or those veterans who have taken their own life, which sadly is a National Public Health issue in need of prayer today.     

In this section of John in the New Testament, Jesus is pressed up against time, and these are some final directions He is giving to His disciples. He first builds a case in the section prior to this, talking about the joy He hopes is in His disciples, the full joy of Christ. He describes this in an anecdote they would understand as a vine and vinedresser. He is the vine, and the Father is the vinedresser. He also reminds them that He is obedient to God the Father and abides in Him and that they (the disciples) are to abide in Him [Christ]. With the lesson of obedience and discipline in mind, Jesus continues to teach by directly making a point using a commandment; some would say the commandment. 

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you,” Jesus said. Getting directly to the point, Jesus reminded the disciples that He commanded them to love one another just as He loved them. Then, foreshadowing His own death on the cross, He next describes the greatest act of love, His own death on the cross, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”They may have wondered, “Who is He talking about?”  Yet, they didn’t wonder long; Jesus immediately clarified by defining who His friends are: YOU! He said. “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” 

Interestingly, the only place in the entire Bible where Jesus calls His disciples “friends” is John 15:14, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” All friendships come at a cost. The price of loyalty, sacrifice, time, comfort, involvement, investment, intimacy, care, prayer, love, and many other costs may not be mentioned here. Jesus boils it down for us: being friends with Him requires us to follow what He commanded, “love one another as I have loved you.”  Obedience to Christ is accepting and obeying His commandments, and obeying His commandments bears the fruit of loving one another. Having a friend in Jesus reminds me of a poem written by Joseph M. Scriven in 1855. You may recognize it as it was later modified a bit and composed as a Hymn, and still sung today: 

What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Oh, what peace we often forfeit,

Oh, what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged—

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful,

Who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness;

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy-laden,

Cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Savior, still our refuge—

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?

Take it to the Lord in prayer!

In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,

Thou wilt find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised.

Thou wilt all our burdens bear;

May we ever, Lord, be bringing

All to Thee in earnest prayer.

Soon in glory bright, unclouded,

There will be no need for prayer—

Rapture, praise, and endless worship

Will be our sweet portion there.

Today, we don’t often use the language and titles of master and servant. Jesus used this language to express more deeply what it means to be a friend for the disciples to understand.  He said, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” A master would not tell his servant the intimate details of his life nor deeper meaning, values, or beliefs about the deeper secrets of life. Yet, here, Jesus reminds His disciples that He had not kept the Father’s identity and love away from their knowing, nor had He hidden what it means to abide in the Father's love and in Christ’s love. He loves them. He loves us and wants us to know the Father intimately, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples,” John 15:7-8.

The concept of laying down our life for a friend seems daunting. Sacrificing our life for family makes it a lot more understandable, yet still very profound. I think this piece of scripture comes to mind when I think about our veterans because that is one vocation (along with first responders) that understands that laying down one’s life is a real possibility, a sincere and profound commitment. While we can’t know if everyone who has made that sacrifice is a Christian and knows Christ, their behavior and actions for their country are truly Christlike. May God bless our veterans and their families, and may we take time this Veterans Day to pray for and celebrate the courage, service, sacrifice, and love our veterans have demonstrated for the love of their country. Most importantly, may we share the love of Christ with our veterans and their families and live as friends of Jesus, living out the commandment He gave us to love one another, Saints! Amen!

May you have a blessed weekend and Veterans Day! 

In Christ’s love,

Dr. Jeffrey S. Beavers, CEO

Crean Lutheran High School 

dr.beavers@creanlutheran.org

Dr. Beavers is a husband and father of three. He is a Minister of Religion, Commissioned in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and serves as the Executive Director |CEO of Crean Lutheran High School. He has served there since the school’s founding for the past eighteen years and is a lifelong follower of Jesus Christ and a sinner and a saint by God’s grace. He and his family worship at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Orange, CA.