Abiding in each other
We could describe the overall theme for this week as being “Abiding”. Abiding is a central theme in John’s gospel. It is introduced in the first chapter. We heard it last week in Jesus response to Philip’s request to see the Father, “‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” This week we are reminded that Jesus is in the Father, and that we are in Jesus and Jesus is in us. So much abiding! What does it all mean? In Jesus we see the Father who abides in Jesus. We see the character of the Father: love, compassion, mercy, justice, inclusiveness, passion, goodness and peace. For John the chief character is love. We are to live in this love, dig roots deeply into this love, and base our identities in this love. When we do this we cannot help but love. That is the commandment – to love one ...