THE BURSTED LOVE

 

The commandment “to love” is the theme of this sixth Sunday of Easter. As we are in a time, where love to care, love to heal, love to restore, love to revive, love to recover, love to... are in desperate need that is being aggravated so much by covid-19 pandemic, the readings of today becomes relevant. The whole of Christianity and the mystery about God in Christianity can be summarized just in this 4 letter word LOVE. Jesus before departing from this world gave us the new commandment to follow. The new commandment is to love; to love God and love one another. In the second reading (1Jn 4:7-10) of today St. John helps us to understand the first love; love for God. St. John in his epistles describes God as love (1Jn 4:8). Thus, he urges each one of us to love one another. When we love, we are being born in love, who is God Himself. When we eat food, as the food stuff gets inside of us, the food becomes part of our being. It is no longer a thing outside us but a thing that has become part of us that gives life and energy to our very being. We and food become one. On the one hand the food is being born in us and on the other hand our life and energy gets renovated and revitalized by the food. We continue to live because of the intake of the food. Consequently, we continue to be born. Love is such that when we love another person, we are entering into a state where in, the other becomes part of our life; the other is being born in us. The space for others is created in us. In this communion there is a harmony between two beings; I and He – The harmony that existed prior to original sin. In this state we bring back the life of the Garden of Eden, where God is seen and dialogued face to face. In love, in communion with the other, we are being born in the Garden of Eden, in the Garden of God, where we can ask anything from God without any hesitations.

Jesus before giving this commandment tells the disciples that it is the commandment given by the Father to Him. God the Father loved the Son Jesus and commanded Him to love the humanity to be in His love – to remain or abide in His love. For Jesus to remain in God’s love, He had to love others. We are also loved by God, for us to remain in this love we have to love others. The commandment to love God and one another are tied together. It is in loving the other, we love God and realize ourselves being born in His love. God being loved the humanity so much, the density of His love being high His love bursted His divinity to take the form of humanity to live with us. Yes, it is because of love, as He was loving us, He was being forced to be born in human form, the least means that God can utilize to relate with us.

Towards the end of the gospel, Jesus tells us to bear fruit. This fruit is that which we get out of our love. By loving the other, we are befriending and gaining a companion to our journey toward heaven. As our love abounds, as our companions multiply we continue to be born again and again in the Lord. Every birth in God is a fruit. As our birth in Him multiplies and becomes heavy for Him (the tree of life), He removes us from this world to be in the world that is full of love and fruit (heaven). There is no limit to love, giving life out of love is the last means available but not the last thing in love. God used even this last means to show His love for us. Whether we love God or not, we are continued to be loved by God but to remain in His love, to be born in His love, to bear fruit in Him, we have to love one another. By loving the other we remain or abide with God, in the Garden of Eden.

Let us take this commandment of Jesus to love one another seriously, especially in this time of despair and hopelessness. Let our love burst us to reach out to the other physically as God’s love for us bursted Him from heaven to reach out to us physically on this earth. Through our loving reach out to the other, may we and the other person be born in Jesus, the love.