It's one of Jesus's best-known sayings: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). But we tend to miss his drift.
The mention of "commandments" may send our minds racing to the Sermon on the Mount and the various moral-behavioral demands Jesus makes elsewhere in the Gospels. That's not all bad. Jesus has the right to command certain conduct, and he issues such charges at times.
But it's worth asking, What does Jesus mean here in John 14? Let the larger context of this Gospel answer the question.
Surprisingly, we find very few specific moral-behavior commandments in John's Gospel. However, we discover loads of commandments like: “Receive me” (1:12). “Follow me” (1:43). Get up, crippled man (5:8). Rise from the dead, Lazarus! (11:43). “Believe in the light” (12:36). “Believe in God” (14:1). “Believe me” (14:11). “Abide in me” (15:4). “Ask whatever you wish” (15:7). “Abide in my love” (15:9). “Receive the Holy Spirit” (20:22).
The kind of obedience Jesus repeatedly demands in this Gospel is the kind of heart-orientation toward him that only new birth can produce.
When Jesus tells us to love him, he wants us to want him, not just perform external deeds of obedience. He wants us to desire him. To treasure him. To prefer him. Crave him. Enjoy him.
This kind of heart — overflowingly satisfied in Jesus — is the kind that inevitably overflows into acts of love for others, and the kind of heart that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are eager to take up their home in, and even in the midst of suffering and pain, turn our lives this side of eternity into a veritable heaven on earth.
