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I. PAST SATISFACTION. How Jesus here lifts up his disciples by a recognition of the good thing in them! The Father loved the Son; found in Jesus of Nazareth what he could not find in any other being of flesh and blood. And so the Son loved his disciples, finding in them a spirit of obedience and recognition of himself which promised great results in due season. To us it may seem as if Jesus must have been painfully impressed with the faults of his friends. In many things they were so ignorant and slow of heart; in many things their motives were so narrow and unworthy. But, with all their faults, they were fundamentally true; better far than Pharisees; better far than the common run, who as yet followed Jesus only when they could get the loaves and be filled. And so Jesus loved them for this. What a view this gives us of the aspect of Jesus towards men! All are sinners and need salvation; they are loved with the love of pity; they have their share in that great declaration concerning God's love to the world (John 3:16). But, so far as inclination towards God is concerned, all are not equally loveless; some are near the kingdom, like that man on whom, when Jesus looked, he loved him. These disciples still had far to go and many difficulties to overcome; but surely it was no small matter to have reached the happy stage when Jesus could say that, as the Father loved him, so he loved them. Look into the expression, and you will see it is a very strong, encouraging, appreciative one.

II. PAST MINISTRY OF JESUS TO HIS LOVED ONES. The love of the Father to the Son was not an empty sentiment. The Son being what he was, he became the Agent of a compassionating omnipotence to do good to men. The Father's love to the Son was proved by what he did for him and through him. But the Father could not have done these things for and through anybody. He could not have done through a Moses, or an Elijah, or a John the Baptist, what he did through a Jesus. And as the Father found what he wanted in the Son, so the Son found what he wanted in his disciples. As the Father loved the Son, so the Son loved the disciples; and as the Father ministered to the Son, so the Son ministered to the disciples. The Son was willing and able, to the full, to receive the fatherly ministry; and in like manner the disciples were sufficiently able to receive the ministry of Jesus, to make it possible for him to speak with such complacency of them. They listened to his teaching; they left their home and work and went about with him; and so Jesus had been able to do something for and in them, more indeed than as yet distinctly appeared to any one but himself.

III. THE CONDITION OF CONTINUED AND RICHER MINISTRY. What good the disciples would get out of Jesus in new and altogether different circumstances depended upon themselves. Jesus would be the same, in disposition and in power; the question remained, would they give him the opportunity? What a thought, that the overflowing love of Jesus, meant to direct so much power and wisdom, should be serviceable to us just as we choose to make it so! A spirit of docility, obedience, and constant expectation would open up to us treasures of heavenly loving-kindness beyond anything we at present possess. The key, so to speak, is with us, yet we notice it not; and meanwhile the lock is getting all stiff for want of frequent use. To know the full riches of Divine love, we must live as Jesus would have us study to live. - Y.

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KJV: As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

WEB: Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love.