Jesus loved his Father in heaven. But his love of God was not was not self-generated. It was reciprocal. In other words, Jesus loved the Father with the same love he received as a Son. We can only love God with the love he pours out on us. In John’s Gospel, we are compared to the branches of a vine. All of our life, all of our fruit, all that is good in us only comes from the vine. Jesus is the vine and God the Father is the attentive vine dresser. He pours out his love on Jesus, who then bears fruit and reaches upward in a response of love. Our only hope for knowing love, for receiving love, for giving love is bound up in abiding in that vine. We are invited to participate not only in the way Jesus loved his Father but also in the way the Father loves his Son. We are hidden in the Son. We are God’s beloved.