If, then

In Sunday's Gospel reading, we heard Jesus say:

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments."

The verb translated as "will keep" is "τηρήσετε," the second-person plural future active indicative form of "τηρέωv," which I'm told means

• 1) to attend to carefully, take care of
• 1a) to guard
• 1b) metaph. to keep, one in the state in which he is
• 1c) to observe
• 1d) to reserve: to undergo something

As burdensome verbs go,  τηρήσετε falls short of πείθωv, which means

• 1) persuade 
• 1a) to persuade, i.e. to induce one by words to believe
• 1b) to make friends of, to win one's favour, gain one's good will, or to seek to win one, strive to please one
• 1c) to tranquillise
• 1d) to persuade unto i.e. move or induce one to persuasion to do something
• 2) be persuaded
• 2a) to be persuaded, to suffer one's self to be persuaded; to be induced to believe: to have faith: in a thing 
2a1) to believe
2a2) to be persuaded of a thing concerning a person
• 2b) to listen to, obey, yield to, comply with
• 3) to trust, have confidence, be confident.

and is used among other places in James 3:3:

If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide their whole bodies.

Those who love Jesus keep His commandments, they don't obey them. And those who don't love Jesus, is it any wonder they find the very idea of His commandments to be like horses' bits in their mouths?

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