Sunday | May 5, 2024
John 15:13
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
6th Sunday of Easter
Jesus’ Love for Us
We can always discover a deeper meaning of a Scripture text when we read it within its context. These words of Jesus about loving one’s friends were spoken at the Last Supper. That was the momentous night before he would lay down his life for his friends to be nailed to the cross. These words about laying down one’s life were extremely personal to Jesus at that precise time. The statement gives a clear insight into his mind the day before his crucifixion. Jesus explains that there is no one who has more love for one’s friends than one offering one’s supreme self-sacrifice.
In this same chapter of John, Jesus explicitly says that we—all of us—are the friends he has chosen and loves beyond description. We need to bow our heads with profound humility, realizing Jesus’ intense love for us exceeds even his intense pain on the Cross.
- Fr. James McKarns
Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 • Psalm 98:1-4 • 1 John 4:7-10 • John 15:9-17
