The intimate friend of Jesus.
In mentioning himself in this indirect manner, our Lord's beloved disciple displays his modesty, and at the same time gratifies his attached devotion to his Master. The friendship which existed between Jesus and John has been productive of some obvious and signal advantages to the Church and to mankind at large.
I. THIS FRIENDSHIP WAS THE MEANS BY WHICH THERE HAS BEEN PROVIDED FOR US A MEMOIR CF CHRIST DISTINGUISHED BY A REMARKABLE CONGENIALITY BETWEEN THE BIOGRAPHER AND HIS DIVINE SUBJECT. If the first three Gospels contain the popular tradition concerning Jesus, the Fourth Gospel records the impressions received during an association of the closest character, lasting throughout our Lord's public ministry. It is to this fact that we owe the record of conversations and discourses not preserved by the other evangelists, and more particularly of our Lord's wonderful revelations, promises, and prayers preceding his betrayal and crucifixion. The difference, which cannot but be noticed by every reader as distinguishing John's Gospel from the others, must be mainly attributable to John's peculiar opportunities of knowing Christ, and to that congeniality of spirit which enabled him to limn a portrait of his Friend in outlines so clear, in colors so true.
II. TO THIS FRIENDSHIP WE OWE DOCUMENTS PECULIARLY STEEPED IN THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST'S CHARACTER AND EXAMPLE. No one can study John's three Epistles and the Book of Revelation without recognizing, in the compositions of their author, the influence of the Redeemer's companionship and teaching. Not only did John (the eagle of the Christian symbolists) soar into the heavenly, the spiritual world, and discern the Deity and the eternal glory of his Master; he also, by association with him in his humanity and his humiliation, so shared his spirit, that we seem, in reading some of John's words, almost to be reading the words of Jesus himself. Especially is this apparent in the constant inculcation in the First Epistle of the incomparable virtue of Christian love.
III. THE FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THE MASTER AND HIS DISCIPLE AFFORDS US AN INSIGHT INTO THE VERY HEART OF CHRIST. Our Lord's perfect humanity is here brought very strikingly before us. There are several intimations of Christ's capacity for human love. He loved the young ruler who appealed to him for spiritual direction; he loved the family at Bethany; and he loved the disciple who was wont to recline upon his breast at their social meals. John's was not only the place of distinction and honor; it was the place of affection. We delight to remark our Lord's perfect participation in our human nature, with its sympathies, its tenderness, its personal affections. Jesus appreciated the noble, ardent, affectionate nature of the son of Zebedee; and he appreciated still more the growth and completeness of his own Divine image in the character of John. All this makes our Savior more real and more dear to his admiring people.
IV. THE FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN OUR LORD AND HIS BELOVED DISCIPLE IS AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO SEEK A CLOSE AND AFFECTIONATE INTIMACY WITH THE REDEEMER. There is nothing on Christ's side to preclude the possibility at present of such a friendship as that recorded to have existed during his earthly ministry. The conditions of hallowed fellowship with Jesus are such as all Christians should aspire to fulfill. "Ye are my friends," said our Lord, "if ye do whatsoever things I command you." There is no caprice, no favoritism, in our Lord's intimacies. The reverent, the lowly, the obedient, are encouraged to aspire to his precious friendship. His love of compassion is towards us all; that love may become towards any disciple who does his will and seeks his Spirit—a love of complacency, sympathy, and delight.—T.
Mutual love.
Upon our Savior's departure from the world, he made provision for the perpetuity of his work upon earth and among men. This he did by constituting a society of living persons, who were to be united together by bonds of peculiar strength. The ties which the Lord intended to knit his people together were three, and "a threefold cord is not quickly broken." Faith in Christ, love to one another, and benevolent effort for the world's salvation,—these were the three "notes" of Christian discipleship, the three elements by which the Church was to be cemented into a true unity. Of these the Savior, in this passage, lays stress upon the second.
I. MUTUAL LOVE IS THE COMMANDMENT OF CHRIST.
1. Who are they of whom this mutual love is required? The admonition here is not to general philanthropy, but to affection towards brethren in the spiritual family. Notwithstanding social differences, notwithstanding diverse tastes and habits, Christians are bound together by ties stronger than all forces which disunite.
2. What kind of love is this which the Savior here enjoins? It is a disposition contrary to that old nature which displays itself in coldness, suspicion, malice, and envy. It is a disposition which reveals itself in good will, confidence, and mutual helpfulness.
3. Is it reasonable for love to be commanded? Must not love ever be spontaneous and free? The answer to this question is that Christian love may be cultivated by the use of means appointed by Divine wisdom.
4. In what sense is this a new commandment? Not absolutely; for the Old Testament enjoins mutual kindliness and benevolence. But it is new as a law of Christ for the government of society at large, new in its range and scope, new in its spiritual sanction and its Divine prototype.
II. MUTUAL LOVE IS MOTIVED BY AND IS MODELLED UPON CHRIST'S LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE.
1. The motive. It is observable here, as elsewhere, that our Lord refers all duty and virtue to himself. To the Christian, Jesus is the Master in all conduct, the spiritual Power that accounts for the renewed character in all its phases. He loved us with a love in which he identifies his people with himself. We may show our devotion to him by loving his people as himself.
2. The model. Christ alone is the perfect Example; he loved his people with a constant, patient, and forbearing love; with a love active, practical, and self-sacrificing. As he loved us, so he expects us to love one another.
III. MUTUAL LOVE IS A PROOF OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. This is the test which the Master himself has chosen.
1. It is a proof to the Christian himself. "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren."
2. It is a proof recognized by fellow-Christians. Love is a means of recognition; it is the language which tells that we have met a fellow-countryman. It is a claim for sympathy, a summons to responsive kindness.
3. It is an argument which tends to convince the world. The exhibition of mutual love was, as is evident from the well-known passage in Tertullian, early recognized as distinguishing Christians from the unbelieving world. It was felt that Christianity was a new and beneficent power in human society. "Your Master made you all brethren!" Such was the exclamation forced from the beholder. Often as this ideal has been unrealized, still its life and force have not departed, and Christianity must now be acknowledged as the one only moral power which can change hatred into love, and warfare into amity.—T.