Year A: Easter 6 | John 14:15-21
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
May 10, 2026
the Rev. Jonathan Hanneman
To watch the full service, please visit this page (available for three weeks after the date of streaming).
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” – John 14:15[1]
If you have any background with classical music or singing in a choir, when you hear the opening of today’s Gospel reading, your mind immediately jumps to Thomas Tallis’ famous setting of this text: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” Composed back in the 1500’s, it’s a beautiful piece with a soaring melody and harmonious layering of voices. Unfortunately, that famous line isn’t quite what Jesus is actually saying.
Although Jesus does talk about commandments here, this statement is neither an injunction nor a subtle threat, as I grew up hearing it. (“If you loved me, you’d keep my commandments.” Or “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”) He’s making a factual statement: “If you love me, you’ll keep my commandments”—or as I would translate it, “If you’re devoted to me, you’ll pay attention to the commandments—my commandments.”[2] There’s no passive-aggressive tone here, no sense of demand or subtle manipulation—just a simple observation: people committed to following a particular teacher practice and internalize that teacher’s instructions. Jesus makes this more clear in verse 24 by stating the inverse: that those who don’t pay attention to his words refuse him their devotion.[3] Someone who says they’re an adherent of a particular public figure but chooses not live in line with that person’s teaching and character doesn’t actually care about their supposed model; they just hope to appropriate some of their reputation.
This reflects back to the end of last week’s Gospel reading, the verses immediately preceding today’ passage: “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”[4] These two sentences are why many of us end our prayers, “in Jesus’ name, amen.” But just as we misread the statement about having devotion for Jesus, we tend to try to turn this line into a sort of magical incantation. However, to ask something in someone’s name didn’t mean to just tack it on at the end of a request. The concept is more along the lines of “for Jesus’ fame.” It’s about increasing the named person’s reputation or renown. When we pray, how often are we thinking about our own comfort or desire compared with how our request might resound for Jesus’ glory? The same way genuine devotion requires commitment to a teacher, evidenced through following their guidance, perhaps the answers to our prayers revolve around just who we’re truly hoping will benefit from the response.
But going back to today’s reading, if following Jesus’ commandments are a means of showing our love for him, what, then, are those commandments he tells us to follow?
Looking at the broader speech here, we do find a few commands nearby. The closest three are about committing ourselves—pledging our loyalty—to Jesus and to God.[5] Immediately before the first two of those is an injunction not to agitate the collective heart of our community.[6] Those ones we can recognize from grammatical structure, but shortly before that, Jesus is explicit: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”[7] He reiterates that statement in the next chapter shortly after he and the disciples leave for Gethsemane: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”[8]
The word for “love” here is somewhat rare outside the New Testament. It appears to be a verb form of the Greek word for “good” or “useful.” This kind of love isn’t just emotional fondness; nor is it simply the “unconditional love” we so often hear about in regard to religion. Saying things doesn’t make them true, and this love requires more than imagination or lip service; if we hold it only in our minds or hearts, it never actually exists—we’re once again deluding ourselves, basking in reputation rather than following our example. The love Jesus calls for—the same love that John, in his epistles, tells us that God “is”[9]—is goodness manifesting itself in the real world through action. The closest everyday English equivalent I’ve been able to find for it is “showing devotion.”[10] That’s the love we’re supposed to have for God, the love Jesus here calls us to have for one another as Christians and, elsewhere, for our other neighbors. It’s the love we reveal to those who oppose us. We show our devotion to God by acting for the best good or advantage of other people.
I hear a lot of people today talking about loving Jesus or serving God’s will through aggression, cruelty, and violence. They talk about “preserving a righteous nation” by attacking those with whom they disagree and restricting or removing the rights of those they don’t respect. No matter how someone may try to frame it, that isn’t love, nor will it ever be. If we want to be godly people—if we truly wish to be Christian—we cannot act out of greed or belligerence or a desire for domination. We cannot place ourselves first and demand that others give way to our whims or interests. Oppression has no role in Christian practice. No matter what anyone tries to call it, those who impose adversity on others are, in truth, acting in league with what the Bible refers to as Satan.[11]
So, then, how do we actually show devotion to God? By caring for and submitting ourselves before one another. We demonstrate our love for God through devotion to our neighbors—something important both in- and outside the Church. We walk in harmony with one another, allowing our differences to create an eye-catching tapestry, a song simple to sing yet complex in its beauty. If someone lovingly brings a gift before God, we don’t reject it or demean it, even if it doesn’t quite mean our preferences, standards, or expectations. Rather, we celebrate the kindness and generosity, honoring God’s work in the person by displaying our gratitude to the one offering the gift. We do what many of our parishioners will be participating in tonight and other days throughout this week at the Community of Hope: we feed the hungry and offer comfort and support to the downtrodden or afflicted.
God doesn’t play favorites, ranking people according to who deserves what. God provides bountifully; that joyous generosity and giving are, in fact, the base nature of the God we as Christians long to know and worship. Out of gratitude for all that God offers us, we share our own time and resources. Out of respect for our model and teacher, the one whose name we bear, Christians care for and uplift those around us. Because of the devotion—the active goodness, the living kindness—that God offers us, we, too, are able to respond to one another with devotion.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
[1] All Bible quotations are from the NRSVue unless otherwise noted.
[2] Lit. “…the commandments—my ones”
[3] “One who won’t show devotion to me doesn’t pay attention to my words.” | My translation
[4] John 14:13-14
[5] John 14:1, 11
[6] John 14:1 (also vs. 25)
[7] John 13:34
[8] John 15:12
[9] I John 4:8
[10] Hence my use of that term so frequently earlier in this sermon.
[11] Satan is an ancient Hebrew embodiment of adversity or oppression, much like Arese embodies the war or Pax embodies peace.