Messiah-Like Love

15 ⁹ “Just as my Father has loved Me, I too have loved you; so stay in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commands, you will stay in My love – just as I have kept My Father’s commands and stay in His love. ¹¹ I have said this to you so that My joy may be in you, and your joy be complete.

Obedience is not all gloom and doom; rather, it’s a source of joy. The Tanakh prophets envisioned a period of great end-time rejoicing (Isaiah 25:9; 35:10; 51:3; 61:10; 66:10; Zechariah 9:9).

¹² “This is My command: that you keep on loving each other just as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than a person who lays down his life for his friends.

This refers to the supreme evidence and expression of Yeshua’s love: His sacrificial death on the cross. Believers are called to exemplify the same kind of sacrificial giving toward one another, even if such sacrifice involves the laying down of one’s own life in imitation of Yeshua’s example (cf. 1 Yochanan 3:16).

¹⁴ You are My friends, if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I no longer call you slaves, because a slave doesn’t know what his master is about; but I have called you friends, because everything I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Just as Avraham was called the “friend of God” (2 Chronicles 20:7; James 2:23) because he enjoyed extraordinary access to the mind of God through God’s revelation to him, which he believed, so also those who follow Mesiah are privileged with extraordinary revelation through the Messiah and Son of God and, believing, become “friends” of God also. It was for His “friends” that the Lord laid down His life (v. 13; 10:11, 15, 17).

¹⁶ You did not choose Me; I chose you; and I have commissioned you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last; so that whatever you ask from the Father in My name He may give you. ¹⁷ This is what I command you: keep loving each other! 

I chose you. In case any pretense might exist among the Talmidim in terms of spiritual pride because of the privileges they enjoyed, Yeshua made it clear that such privilege rested not in their own merit, but on His sovereign choice of them. God chose Isra’el (Isaiah 45:4; Amos 3:2), but not for any merit (Deuteronomy 7:7; 9:4–6). God elected angels to be forever holy (1 Timothy 5:21). He elected Believers to salvation apart from any merit (Matityahu 24:24, 31; see Romans 8:29–33; Ephesians 1:3–6; Colossians 3:12; Titus 1:1; 1 Kefa 1:2). Bear fruit. One purpose of God’s sovereign election is that the Talmidim who have been blessed with such revelation and understanding should produce spiritual fruit. The B’rit Hadashah describes fruit as godly attitudes (Galatians 5:22, 23), righteous behavior (Philippians 1:11), praise (Hebrews 13:15), and especially leading others to faith in Yeshua as Messiah and Son of God (Romans 1:13–16).

Persecutions Predicted

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, the world would have loved its own. But because you do not belong to the world – on the contrary, I have picked you out of the world—therefore the world hates you.

Since Satan is the one who dominates the evil world system in rebellion against God (14:30), the result is that the world hates not only Yeshua, but those who follow Him (2 Timothy 3:12). Hatred toward Yeshua also means hatred toward the Father who sent Him (v. 23).

²⁰ Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you too; if they kept My word, they will keep yours too.

The Greek term used here, kenos, refers to intellectual deficiency. In this context, it refers to someone who lacks understanding of spiritual truth.

²¹ But they will do all this to you on My account, because they don’t know the One who sent Me. ²² “If I had not come and spoken to them, they wouldn’t be guilty of sin; but now, they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever hates Me hates My Father also. ²⁴ If I had not done in their presence works which no one else ever did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now, they have seen them and have hated both Me and My Father. ²⁵ But this has happened in order to fulfill the words in their Torah which read, ‘They hated Me for no reason at all.’

The world’s hate for Believers and Messianic Jews stems from its hate for the Messiah. Those whom Yeshua was speaking to saw and experienced what He did and hated Him anyway because they did not want to give up their sin and live righteously (see 16:7–11).

Coming Testimony and Rejection

²⁶ “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send you from the Father – the Spirit of Truth, who keeps going out from the Father – He will testify on my behalf. ²⁷ And you testify too, because you have been with Me from the outset. 16 ¹“I have told you these things so that you won’t be caught by surprise. ² They will ban you from the synagogue; in fact, the time will come when anyone who kills you will think he is serving God!

The phrase the time will come is reminiscent of prophetic or apocalyptic expressions such as “the days are coming” (Jeremiah 7:32; 9:25; 16:14; 31:31, 38; Amos 9:13; Zechariah 14:1). When anyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God most likely refers to Jewish rather than Roman persecution. Some rabbis believed that killing heretics was an act of divine worship.

³ They will do these things because they have understood neither the Father nor Me. ⁴ But I have told you this, so that when the time comes for it to happen, you will remember that I told you. I didn’t tell you this at first, because I was with you. ⁵ But now I am going to the One who sent me. ^[1]

If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed in your public life, remember Yeshua’s promise of joy in Yochanan 15:11. Set aside some time each morning to reflect on the blessings in your life and identify three things you’re grateful for before stepping into your day. This practice can shift your mindset, allowing joy to permeate your interactions at work or in social settings. You might even share these blessings at lunch, encouraging colleagues to focus on gratitude instead of stress.

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^[1] Yochanan 15:9-16:5.