What Jesus holds out to his disciples in Jn.15:7 simply staggers the mind: "Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." Whatever I wish? Really? Come on. How can that be?
Now I do not in the least desire to downplay the sweep of Jesus' promise here in John 15. However, if you have ever wondered how this texts works in real life, only to find yourself more than a little puzzled and perplexed, ponder first long and hard (before throwing up your hands in defeat because the Bible is too hard to get) the flow of thought that starts in v. 1.
The subject of vv. 1-7 is bearing fruit by abiding in Jesus, and Jesus' words abiding in us. "Bearing fruit" language occurs five times in the first five verses. And then following Jesus mind-bending word in v. 7, we read: " By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples" (v. 8). The "by this" of v. 8 shows us the topic and scope of "whatever you wish" and "it will be done for you." Jesus' wants fruit bearing in his disciples, fruit bearing that brings glory to the Father. And as the following verses reveal (vv. 9-17), the pre-eminent and all-embracing fruit is love (see also Jn. 13:34-35).
So abide in Jesus. Let his word abide in you. Ask for whatever fruit you want. Any fruit whatever. Let every request be one flowing from and aiming at love. It will be given to you and prove you are Jesus' disciples. By this God the Father is glorified—"the chief end of man"—showing no narrowly self-serving requests fit into the mind-bending sweep of Jn. 15:7.
No comments:
Post a Comment