Keeping — or better — Treasuring
Jesus’ Commandments



εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo)
“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”

“If you love me, you will keep (τηρήσετε teresete)
my commandments. (John 14:15) ...
Whoever has my commandments and
observes (τηρῶν teron) them
is the one who loves me. (John 14:21)


θεωρέω (theoreo)
(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)

Jesus’ words this Sunday form a bookend for Christian living and the episode hinges on the action of ‘keeping my commandments.’ Jesus begins catechizing the disciples about ‘keeping my commandments’ and closes with the same imperative. Even more significant is that Jesus definitively links loving Him to ‘keeping my commandments.’ To be clear, to love (ἀγαπάω, agapaō) as lived by Jesus and employed in the Gospels is not primarily a feeling or emotion. Agapaō is not a ‘good feeling’ and certainly not a license to do whatever I/we want in the name of ‘let’s all get along.’
Agapaō is an act of the intellect that wills the good of the other and actively follows the Holy Spirit’s initiative to work sacrificially and generously to provide the other with whatever she or he genuinely needs for authentic spiritual and physical living. This meaning of agapaō is timely as Scripture reveres motherhood as a way to describe, from a human perspective, the experience of agapaō. Our moms have done so much for us, not the least of which is their lived example of faith in Jesus Christ. They have birthed us to life. They have formed us in the ways of prayer after the heart of Jesus. They have shaped us in the ways of selfless living, often at a great cost to themselves. In short, our moms have provided us with concrete, in-the-flesh examples of what it means to be a person of agapaō. While our moms formed our lives first and foremost by their own example, their words to us - and - our keeping of their words have become constitutive elements of our beings. But what does it mean to keep their words and for this Sunday, what does it mean to keep Jesus’ commandments?

To keep is the translation of the Greek verb τηρέω (tēreō). While the translation to keep appears in the New American Bible, Revised Edition and other English translations of the Sacred Scripture, the word has a rich significance in the Greco-Roman world. Often, tēreō conveyed a sense of guarding, protecting, watching over, and treasuring to name only a few meanings from antiquity. The point is that the object of tēreō is valuable and so precious that one takes extraordinary steps to protect and guard that which has been received. Hence when Jesus asks His disciples ‘to keep my commandments,’ He is asking more than just an assent of the mind. Knowing Jesus’ commandments is only 1 part of the equation. Permitting Jesus’ commandments to alter behavior in thought, word and deed is key. Once again, the Gospel imperative of metanoia that Jesus sounded at the beginning of His Public Ministry (see Mark 1:14-15) is a sine qua non, an absolute and a non-negotiable when it comes to being a true believer and intentional disciple of Jesus Christ.

For the believer, a first point to consider when it comes to ‘keeping my [Jesus] commandments’ may not be the commandment itself, but Who sounds the commandment. True believing is relational living. Christian living is not defined by gnostic memorizing of do’s and don’ts and heady, abstract dogma and doctrine. It is responding to the graced-offer of an encounter with the Person Jesus (see 1 John 1:1-4 and Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 426). On His part, Jesus has given the world His precious and valuable Word which His Church has sounded through generations in the Sacred Liturgy and Magisterium. He asks that we, His disciples, receive these as valuable and do our part to guard, protect - and above all, live His Words of life through daily conversion.

Humanly, this approach reminds me of a precious life moment years ago at a family gathering. My sister had to offer a gentle correction to her daughters and when she came back to us a few minutes later, she remarked, “Oh ... I've become Mom!” At that moment, my sister’s eyes locked eyes with our Mom. She went over and gave my Mom a big hug and tearfully thanked her for everything that has enabled her to be a Mom to her daughters. Maybe not in all the moments of life, but overall, my sister treasured, guarded and held precious the model of Mom’s life and her words of wisdom that has made her the mother that she is today. Analogously, Jesus has given all humanity the path to full life by treasuring His commandments coupled with the requisite responding yes to His Word so that each day may be one of becoming more and more life Him Who sacrificed so much that we may live.