THE NEWNESS OF JESUS’ COMMANDMENT TO LOVE

 

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another” (Jn 13:34). ‘Love’ is the core of Christianity. The entire Christianity is summarised in this one word: LOVE. Without love, the world would not have got Christianity and without love there would not have been a creation. Love is the source of all things. All religions insist on devotions, penances, mortifications, charity towards others and many other things but Christianity insists on only one thing and that is; LOVE. In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives the commandment to love one another in the context of Greco-Roman religious settings where fear of God is the basis for God’s blessing toward his subjects. At the same time we need to note that Jesus gives this commandment at the Last Supper to His disciples who were all basically Jews. For Jews, love for God and love for neighbours are indispensable. And so, we may ask what is new in this commandment? - Because Jesus Himself is saying, “I give you a new commandment” (Jn 13:34). The newness in this commandment is the ‘model of love’ which we need to imitate in our love towards others. Jesus’ love towards his disciples is the model for the disciples’ love towards others. Their love towards others should reveal how Jesus has loved them (His disciples) – love as I have loved you (Jn 13:34). In another place, Jesus says that the model for His love towards His disciples is Father’s love towards Himself – I have loved you just as the Father has loved me (Jn 15:9). In the Old Testament, the commandment to love was limited to God and one’s neighbour. In the New Testament, Jesus removes the barricade of neighbour by giving different understanding of who the neighbour is? In the parable of Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37) Jesus presents the person who is in need of the other as one’s neighbour. Therefore, the commandment of love in the New Testament has no limitations and reservations; love includes all and encloses everyone as one’s neighbour.

In the Gospel of today Jesus also tells that the love is the distinct mark of His disciples (Jn 13:35). It is through their love for one another that others would recognize their identity as disciples of Jesus. To understand the purpose that lies behind one’s love for another we need to comprehend the uniqueness and the richness of love of Jesus and love of God, the Father. In the Gospel of John, Jesus foretells the denial of peter after giving this commandment. Although Jesus knows the future reckless act of peter still He does not reject him, nor does He command him to do something contrary to the freewill of peter. The love of Jesus toward peter could not be blocked by peter’s faithlessness. Even the wretchedness of Sanhedrin and Pilate could not block the love of Jesus towards them. The risen Jesus could only forgive and embrace peter (the denier) and Jewish leaders and Pilate (the culprits) with love. The love of Jesus has no vengeance nor rejection. This is the kind of love to which we are called to imitate. The love of Jesus is the manifestation of the love of God, the Father towards His creatures. The rebellion of Adam and Eve could not trigger the vengeance of God, the Father. If God were to rebel against the rebelliousness of Adam and Eve, He would have destroyed the whole creation but He did not because He loved the creation very much that He could not afford to lose it on the account of creatures’ failures. Love desires life with all its pitfalls, whereas the contract desires perfection without any excuses. Our God is love who desires life rather than punishing us for our misbehaviours. His love is a covenant, not a contract. As the prophet says there is no God in the world “who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance; who does not persist in anger forever, but instead delights in mercy” (Mic 7:18). The new heaven and new earth (heavenly Jerusalem) which we read in the second reading is the life in love. In the heavenly Jerusalem there is no place for enemy, the devil (the sea was no more – Rev 21:1). In the heavenly Jerusalem, God and His subjects live together, in other words God is in intimate relationship with His subjects. This is the newness and the uniqueness of Christianity: God and His subjects are in intimate relationship, a love which has no vengeance and no rejection.

We are living in a time where love is used for self-gratification. War and violence are used in the name of one’s love for nation and religion. War and violence in the name of nationalism, patriotism and security are aimed at the destruction of the other in view of benefit of one’s own country. We are called to live the commandment of Jesus in this war-torn world. The Cross of Jesus was the consequence of utter dysfunctions (sin/height of immorality) of humanity. But the resurrection of Jesus is the transformation of those dysfunctions into love. The love of risen Jesus forgives the enemy and accepts the disciples with all their failures. The goal of love is life. When there is love for one another there is no room for destruction. Thus, love sets the entire creation in order; no more rupture, no more illusion. Let us love one another as Jesus has loved us to show the world that we are Christians and we are the Disciples of Christ. 

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