<p>15:16- see on Mk. 4:8; Jn. 14:12.</p><p><em>You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain. So that whatever you shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it to you</em>- This is alluded to in 1 Jn. 4:10,19- it is not that we loved God and He responded, but He loved us. We were out seeking for the Lord Jesus and found Him as a result of hard Biblical scholarship. He found us; indeed Paul cites the whole question of choosing, calling and predestination as the parade example of God's grace through the work of the Spirit. His choosing of us is the supreme example that it is not of works, nor intellectual ability, but of grace through the Spirit. &ldquo;You did not choose me, but I chose you&hellip; out of the world&rdquo; (:16,19) corresponds to the oft repeated theme of Moses that God has chosen Israel &ldquo;out of all peoples&rdquo; (Dt. 7:6 RVmg.), by grace (Dt. 4:37; 10:15; 14:2).</p><p>It is not as if the Lord Jesus has said to us: 'Would you like me to die for you on the cross, to gain your salvation?'. Because then we could say 'No, don't do it for me', and we would be free of obligation. But He has taken the initiative. He has already died for us, He suffered for me, He won my redemption. And He has called me to know this and respond to it. I <em>can't</em> say, with eyes even only half open to the cross, 'No, I don't want what You did for me. Take it away, no, I don't want it'. He has done it. He has called me. I can't say I don't want it. And for you too. We have not chosen Him of our own decision; He has chosen us, and asked us to bring forth fruit (Jn. 15:16). Reflected upon, this is one of the most tremendous imperatives which we have to a dedicated life of response to the principles of His cross: justifying the weak, showing a spirit of grace amidst hatred, imbibing the word, being concerned for the salvation of others amidst our own agonies, enduring apparently endless tribulation (notice, and circle in your Bible, all the occurrences of the word &quot;and&quot; in Mk. 15 A.V.)... that principle that <em>nothing else matters</em> apart from our response to His love, so great, so free. The whole horror, pain and tragedy of the cross was surely to show us that <em>He loved us far more than we have ever or will ever love Him</em>. And yet He asks us to accept His love, to respond to it, to love Him and in that love, show forth His character to others. With shame at the paucity and poverty of our own devotions, we can do little else but respond as fully and as best we can.</p><p>The twelve evidently saw Jesus of Nazareth as a Rabbi, their special, lovable, somewhat mystic teacher at whose feet they sat. But the disciples saw Jesus within the frames of Judaism. &quot;What does this mean? He tells us...&quot; (Jn. 16:17) is similar to a familiar Rabbinic formula. But of course Jesus was far more than a Rabbi, and He laboured to change their perceptions. For example, He stresses many times that <em>He </em>chose <em>them </em>to be His disciples (especially Jn. 15:16-19)- whereas in Judaism, it was always disciples who chose a Rabbi: &quot;Jesus chose the disciples, but the students of the rabbis almost always chose a teacher&quot;. The words of the Lord Jesus were the words which He had 'heard' from the Father. But this doesn't mean that He was a mere fax machine, relaying literal words which the Father whispered in His ear to a listening world. When the disciples finally grasped something of the real measure of Jesus, they gasped: &quot;You do not even need that a person ask you questions&quot; (Jn. 16:30). They had previously treated Jesus as a Rabbi, of whom questions were asked by his disciples and then cleverly answered by him. They finally perceived that here was more than a Jewish Rabbi. They came to that conclusion, they imply, not by asking Him questions comprised of words and hearing the cleverly ordered words that comprised His answers. The words He spoke and manifested were of an altogether higher quality and nature. Here was none other than the Son of God, the Word made flesh.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>The language here is very much that of ordaining to priestly service, just as in chapter 17 the Lord will talk about sanctifying His followers, as if they are Levites, and sending them out to do Divine service in the work of the great commission, calling others to His grace. We find this same theme of a new Israel being created in the usage of &ldquo;ordained Gk. <em>etheka</em> you&rdquo;. C.K. Barrett shows that <em>etheka</em> reflects the Hebrew <em>samak</em>, and that the Lord&rsquo;s phrase alludes to the ordination of a disciple as a Rabbi. Those guys must&rsquo;ve looked at each other in shock. They who were barely literate, and knew how very human they were, whose small minds were creaking under the burden of trying to understand this Man they so loved&hellip; were being ordained as Rabbis, by a man who&rsquo;d just washed their feet, which was what disciples usually did for their Rabbis. But yes, the Lord challenged them and us to have a far higher estimate of His opinion of us&hellip;&nbsp;</p><p>&ldquo;I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should <em>go forth</em> and bring forth fruit... that whatsoever you shall ask of the <em>Father </em>in <em>my name</em>, he may give it you&quot; is full of connection with the world-wide preaching commission; and in this context, <em>whatever</em> we ask to this end will be given. All will be provided for our mission; if it is indeed solely for His mission that we are making request. Lack of resources has never therefore ultimately and truthfully hindered any sincere attempt to obey the great commission. I can personally testify to that and so can many.</p><p>The fruit brought forth is therefore in converts. The 'remaining' s.w. 'abiding' of the fruit would then refer to the converts abiding in the Lord and He in them through the Spirit, which would then be alluded to by John when he writes that he has no greater joy than to know that his converts abide in the Lord (3 Jn. 4). This is the branch and fruit abiding in the vine.</p>