If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. II have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete (John 15 1-11).

One of my wife’s favorite Christmas movies is “Love Actually”.  In the opening monologue, the Prime Minister of England, played by Hugh Grant, speaks about how often the world can be very gloomy, and seem like a place that’s very angry and selfish.  This monologue plays over the background of people meeting at an airport terminal.  People are meeting friends, embracing loved ones, and celebrating reuniting with each other. He ends by saying that if you look, you’ll find, “that love actually is all around.”  

In John 15, we find Jesus using a metaphor to show us not only how much he loves us, but how intimately connected we all are though Jesus. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches.  Jesus tells us that we were not meant to live apart from Him. Jesus doesn’t separate himself from us, either. He is with us and in us, as much of a part of us as the vine and its branches.    

But what is love, actually? It is greater than a feeling or emotional expression, more than just a hug or embrace at an airport. In His metaphor of the vine and the branches, Jesus is telling us that love is not passive, but active. This love actually gets its hands dirty. It’s active and involved. Jesus is the perfect example of love actually. He loved us so much that he came as both human and divine to live with us, to teach us, guide us, and died so that our sins could be cleansed.

If we are to remain in Jesus’s love, we must be obedient to his commands.  And that means believing that this type of active love Jesus is modeling actually is all around.  When we share the wonderful news of our Church growing into a new building, or invite someone to join us on Sunday, love is actually all around. When we’re not afraid to talk about our faith being the center of our Christmas celebrations, love is actually all around.  When we move from telling someone in need, “I hope it gets better” to “Let me help you!”, love is actually all around!

Jesus is with us and a part of us, and is the perfect example of actual, active love.  Where can you take a step to model the love of Jesus, and show someone that love actually is all around?

To read or re-read the overview/summary of this week’s passage, you can click here.