What is the mark of
love for your neighbor? Not to seek what is for your own benefit, but what is
for the benefit of the one loved, both in body and in soul. - --St. Basil the Great:
330 379 was an influential theologian who supported the Nicene Creed and
opposed the heresies of the early Christian church)
Gospel
Text: (JN 13:31-33A, 34-35)
When Judas had left them, Jesus said,
“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is
glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him,
God will also glorify him in himself,
and God will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little
while longer.
I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love
one another.
This is how all will know that you are my
disciples,
if you have love for one another.”
Today’s gospel from John strikes me due to its
simplicity. Jesus gives us one commandment: love one another.
There it is. There is no need for multiple tabs and reference
books. No need for strategy sessions. Or perhaps there is a need
for a certain kind of strategy, which is to be ever aware of God’s love for us
so we can love one another. Such a simple and such a demanding
commandment.
Jesus goes on to say that having love for one
another is how he will know who his disciples are.
However, Jesus' idea of love was very different
from how we sometimes define “love. For him, love is the love and care of
the good Samaritan for the traveler waylaid on his way, of the good shepherd
seeking his lost sheep, of the father welcoming his lost and wayward son, of
the public sinner pouring costly ointment on his feet: for Jesus, "greater
love than this no man has, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
To a world of betraying Judas-es, lying Peters, lying Caiphas-es,
gambling soldiers, and a whole spectrum of evil at his crucifixion, Jesus
declared, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.."
This is love which is entirely new. This is love as St. Stephen gave his life,
""Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. . . . Lord, do not hold this sin
against them." (Acts 7: 59b – 60)
Why did Jesus love people the way he did?
Certainly not for what he could get from them. His was a love which fulfilled
itself in the well-being of others, a love which helped others, which rejoiced
in the success of others, which applauded the triumph of the good and wept with
those in sorrow. Such is the love of Christ which he left as a new
commandment to his disciples and to all his followers. Such is the love
of Christ at work in each of us. In this love the purpose of his kingdom is
realized and fulfilled.
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