EASTER V - C - 19 JOHN 13. 31-35
“I give you a new commandment that you love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples.”
The scene of today’s gospel reading is the upper room. The time is just prior to Jesus’ arrest in the garden. Jesus has instituted the Holy Eucharist, the sacrament of His own Body and Blood. At table, he predicted his being betrayed by one who ate with him. He has given his disciples an example of humility and servant hood by washing their feet. Yes, he washed Judas’ feet.
Afterwards Judas, the betrayer, goes out into the darkness to carry out his ghastly deed. With Judas’ departure, Jesus begins the final teaching of his earthly ministry referring to his impending death as his “glorification.” What follows is his “new” commandment to love.
Many religions and philosophies teach people to “love one another.” What makes this commandment new is the measure required of our love: we must love as Christ loved us. Therein lies the difficulty in our carrying out Christ’ commandment.
To love one another as Christ loves us is to love even those we deem as our enemies. To love as Christ loves us is to love with a sacrificial love even if it means we are to lay down our life for another, whether friend or stranger. To love as Christ loves us is to forgive those who persecute us, hate us, disagree with us, and even ridicule us. To love as Christ loves us is to love unconditionally with no strings attached.
This new commandment of Jesus is simple, clear, and yet the hardest of all to put into practice. It is a mutual love Jesus is proposing that reflects the mutual love existing between the Father and the Son, the existence of such a love will be the distinguishing mark of the Christian community.
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The first reading from Acts is an example from the early church of an initial failure to do so. Paul was the first to break with tradition and preach to the Gentiles who were deemed as unworthy of God’s love. Peter followed and had to defend himself against the purists in
However, Peter knew otherwise. God had given him a revelation that He was doing a new thing and that any and all, Gentile and Jew alike, who believed in the Lord, Jesus Christ, had been given the repentance that leads to life. Peter’s revelation was the same, as
Jesus’ commandment to love was “new” only in the mode of operation. Love of course is central in many parts of the Old Testament, not the least of which is found in Leviticus 19.18 where God’s people are commanded to love their neighbors as themselves.
The newness of Jesus’ commandment, then, isn’t so much a matter of having heard words like this before. Rather it has to do with the depth and type of love: love one another in the same way that I have loved you. Just a few weeks ago, our gospel reading was that of the third resurrection appearance of Jesus to his disciples.
Some of the disciples had gone fishing, remember? They had caught nothing. Jesus stood on the beach next to a charcoal fire and instructed them to cast their net once more. To their surprise a great shoal of fish was caught.
Then one of the disciples recognized the risen Lord and let it be known that it was Christ. Peter jumps into the waters clothes and all and wades ashore. Jesus greets him and the others with breakfast. Afterwards, Christ takes Peter aside and asks him if he loves him more than the other disciples. Peter says yes.
In the Greek, there are several words for love. The first two times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him, Christ uses the Greek word “agape” which means “divine love,” or love as the Father has for the Son and Christ has for us. Peter responds with the Greek word for “brotherly love,” or a kind of friendship love as it were. That is, more or less of what passes for love in the world as we know it today.
The third time Jesus asks him if he loves him, more than the others Jesus comes down to Peter’s level and uses the same word for love as Peter has been using. Peter says, yes Lord, you know that I love you. By illustration this scene points to our difficulty in carrying out Christ’ new commandment.
We say that we love someone but most often, it is not with a divine love. Our love for one another usually has strings attached. As human beings, we find it easy to fall out of love with another person for whatever reason, and move on to a new relationship. That is not the kind of love Jesus is commanding. Thankfully God does not fall out of love for us.
On the beach Jesus accepted Peter where he was for the time being in his understanding of what Jesus was asking. Peter would eventually rise to the level of Christ’s love for him for Jesus knew what was in Peter’s heart. Peter rested his case on that knowledge as do we.
At the Last Supper, Christ instituted the sacrament of His own Body and Blood with the words: “Do this in remembrance of me.” The new commandment refers to the institution of the Eucharist.
That is why the Eucharist is the central act of Christian worship. In our receiving the sacrament, we are reminded week in and week out that we are to love one another as Christ loves us - unconditionally. Christ loves us where we are with a divine love, even when we don’t understand it.
He accepted Peter’s love for Him at that moment in time knowing that one day Peter would understand and express the love Christ had for him in his love for others. One who is loved generates love. Christ’ love lifts us to a deeper understanding of what it is to love and to be loved and the means to express it.
Love is all about the other person. It overflows into service, not in order to show off how hard working it is, but because that is its natural form. This love, the love Christ has for each of us, was manifested for all the world to see on the cross.
It is the same love that the Father has for the Son; it is the love that raised Jesus from the dead, and by doing so has opened to all who believe in Him, the way to everlasting life. This is the love that you and I, and all who call themselves Christians, are to witness to a watching world.
It is a love meant to be lived in a life of self-denial, humility and servant hood, in other words, putting the other person first no matter who they are. “By this,” Jesus says, “everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” AMEN+
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