I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me; 31but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go hence.

Obedience is the human form of filial love.28 Christ's return to the Father through his death on the Cross and resurrection is the visible manifestation of love for the Father. It is the apex of a life characterized by doing at all times and circumstances what is pleasing to the Father (John 8:29). "Rise, let us go hence" is the practical conclusion of Christ's declaration that his death would not be the result of external forces, but of his own volition (10:18)

Christ's offering fulfills the law of love of neighbor that constitutes the Second Table of the Decalogue. Christ has loved his brethren perfectly, and will love them "to the end," probably intentionally carrying the double meaning of "to the last moment of his life" and "to the greatest extent" (John 15:13). Ephesians 5:2 explicitly links the love of neighbor and the offering of Christ's life as a pleasing sacrifice: "Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."29

Christ's act of obedience, his offering to the Father in perfect, loving obedience (Phil 2:8) and in perfect love of neighbor, itself constitutes the greatest hymn of praise and thanksgiving.30 The song of praise with which

28 John 15:10. Against the Barthian view that obedience is also a feature of the divine Father-Son relation, see Bruce Marshall's careful and compelling case, "Personal Distinction in God and the Possibility of Kenosis," Angelicum 98, no. 1 (2021): 65-104.29 In the Gospel of John, Christ commends his mother to the care of the beloved disciple from the Cross (19:26-27). Undoubtedly, this has figural significance in relating the old covenant, represented by the "woman," the daughter of Zion, to the representative disciple, the beloved. It has a further significance for the ongoing relation of disciples of Christ to the mother of Jesus and the Church. For an exegesis along these lines, with some brief historical notes, see Ignace de la Potterie, The Hour Of Jesus: The Passion and Resurrection of Jesus according to John: Text and Spirit (Middlegreen, UK: St. Paul Publications, 1989), 132-52. The Fathers of the Church, however, characteristically read this passage as Christ's fulfillment of the commandment to honor father and mother. De la Potterie is unimpressed with the depth of this interpretation. In light of my reading of Christ's perfect fulfillment of the Second Table of the Law on the Cross, however, this is a weighty interpretation, Christ obeying the commandments and fulfilling the command to honor father and mother to the end.30 For Christ's expression of thanksgiving in his earthly life, see Matt 11:25 / Luke 10:21; John 11:41, as well as the grace over meals in Matt 15:36 and parallels, and 26:27 and parallels. For thanksgiving as the pleasing aspect of sacrifice, over against the material gift of an animal, see Ps 50:7-23.

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Tract 16: What I Did Not Steal, Must I Now Restore?

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