John 14:23 with St. Gregory the Great
“Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.’”
John 14:23 is short and sweet. St. Gregory the Great explains this sweetness in more detail: “the Holy Spirit is love, and so John says ‘God is love’ (cf. 1 Jn. 4:16). A person who desires God with his whole heart already possess the one he loves; no one could love God unless he possesses the one he loves.” Gregory expounds on the beauty of this verse by teaching us that anyone who loves Jesus will already possess the love of the Father and the Holy Spirit, because we believe that God is in himself an eternal exchange of love, that God is Trinity. We do not merely love God, therefore, but since God is love, he is also the means by which we love him. The wonderful sweetness of this verse comes not only from knowing that God loves us, but that God is love itself, dwelling within us, making our heart his home so that we may love him and others.
But this verse also helps us resist the idea that the love of God is just a good feeling or sentiment. When we hear the verse we likely respond as Gregory suggests: “if any one of you should be asked if he loved God he would answer with entire confidence and complete conviction, ‘I do.’” But is that “I do” just empty words or is it really love? The “I do” in a marriage means in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, it means doing not just feeling. The same is true of our “I do” to God. Gregory reminds us of this fact: “you heard at the beginning of the reading what Truth said: ‘if anyone loves me, he will keep my word.’ The proof of love is its manifestation in deeds.” If someone were to tell you that they loved you, but then they never talked to you, never helped you, and never spent time with you, you would say that their words were a lie. So likewise, let us not just confess the love of God with our lips but act in love as the Lord commands. [1]
