This was one of the last pieces of wisdom Jesus gave the apostles before His crucifixion. Though they were unaware that Jesus would be taken from them that night, Jesus spoke these words to them with this in mind. How were they to remain in Jesus if He was to be taken away from them that night? Fortunately for us, this was one of the few moments that Jesus was clear:

“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love… My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” –John 15:10-12

They were to abide in Jesus by loving each other the way Christ had loved them: through self-sacrifice. This is how we abide in Christ: by laying our life down for our friends.

The timing of these words is important. Jesus could have taught them this important lesson earlier, but He did not. He chose the night of His betrayal because our natural impulse in response to chaos is to protect ourselves. Consider where the apostles were on resurrection morning. In the wake of the chaos, Judas had hung himself, Peter had betrayed Jesus, and the apostles had hidden themselves behind locked doors filled with fear (John 20:19). When their teacher was being tortured and killed, they ran. When chaos came, they did not abide, they did not remain, they did not love. They looked out for themselves.

Abiding in Christ means praying, reading Scripture, meditating on holiness, seeking wisdom and understanding, and developing spiritual disciplines. But we would miss a crucial part of what it means to abide if we do not take Jesus’ words seriously: “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love… My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

We do not abide in Christ alone. We abide in Christ together. And ‘together’ means more than proximity, it also means effort. In the wake of chaos, spiritual practices become hard, but abiding with each other becomes near impossible. But the wisdom of Christ challenges us to be steadfast in chaos: to abide in Christ by abiding with each other. In the concluding words of Victoria Wescott’s sermon: “In the chaos that is to come, will you remain in Jesus?”

Lord, may we abide in you as we abide with each other.

—Pastor Alex Portillo