Homily: Kaylee Hibbard

"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.” - John 15:9-17

The main point Jesus wanted to get across to us in these few verses is simply to love one another as Jesus has so graciously loved us. But the longer I pondered on this, the more unsure I felt on how to truly do this. How can I ever possibly love in the same way our Father does? What spoke to me most while reading this was when Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” After reading that my mind instantly wanted to look for rationalizations for why I “couldn’t” possibly think that way about any of my acquaintances or friends. I thought things like, “Oh, well, I don’t really know them THAT well” or “Well, I don’t think I even know their favorite color, so surely we aren’t close enough to die for one another.” That is where the difference between Jesus and me lies: Jesus has never once needed a rationalization to do what He did, to love us in a way that is so all-consuming that He would die for our sake. Jesus calls us His friends because He chose to make known the truth about our Father to us. I have no idea what the reasoning behind choosing me was; all I know is that Jesus made a way for me and for all of us to bear fruit that is lasting by remaining in Him and in His love for us.

So, circling back to what I said originally, we are called to love one another as Jesus has loved us, but how do we do this? How do we live up to that kind of love? My takeaway was a sort of road map on how to love in a way that is sufficient. This scripture starts with Jesus telling us to keep His commands and saying that if we do this, we remain in Jesus’ love. Then, He goes on to tell us that we should love one another as He loves us. So, my takeaway is that you cannot truly love like Jesus if you do not know His love yourself, and you cannot know His love for yourself without keeping His commands and living your life for Him. The way to love others as Jesus loves us is to simply live our lives in coherency with our Savior, to follow His commands and to bear the everlasting fruit He is offering to us.

Kaylee Hibbard joined our community as a freshman at Louisiana Tech this past school year. She has quickly and beautifully flourished as a leader at Wesley, helping lead in areas such as her small group and worship at The Well on Tuesday nights. Kaylee is always down for a hangout, especially if it’s a girls trip to get yummy treats!