Jesus told His disciples that He loved them just as much as the Father loves Him. That is an amazing thing to think about. Jesus’ love for all His followers is so great that He was willing to leave the glory o f heaven and dedicate His life and death for them. As Christians, we have so much in Christ for which to be thankful. Because of the great love Jesus has for us, we should be willing to keep His commandments. If we don’t have respect for His commandments He will not have respect for us. As Jesus is faithful to His Father by keeping His commandments, we too should be faithful to the commandments of Christ. We are in Christ as we keep His commandments. We are known by our fruit or testimony for Him. This shows our love for Jesus.
Jesus spoke these thing to His disciples so that His joy would remain in them. He said that this was His commandment, that they love one another as He loved them. There is no greater love than someone laying down his life for his friends. Jesus told them that they were His friends if they obeyed His commands. Jesus no longer regarded His disciples as servants because servants don’t know what their master is doing. His disciples were His friends because the things that Jesus heard from His Father He shared with them.
The disciples did not choose Jesus; He chose them. Sometimes we think we choose Jesus as our Lord and Savior. However, we chose Him only because He first chose us before the foundation of the world. (Eph. 1:4, 5) We love Jesus only because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) In choosing His disciples, He expects them to go and have fruitful lives so that their fruit will live on. He told them that whatever they would ask of the Father in Jesus’ name, the Father will give it to them. Jesus spoke these things to them so that they would love one another.