Bible Study: Acts 14, 21 to 27.
Revelation 21, 1 to 5 and John 13, 34 to 35.
When I first glanced at today’s Gospel passage, I almost thought
I was looking at the wrong reading. This is the fifth Sunday of Easter and guess
what our Gospel passage takes us back again to that scene in the upper room and
not just that, it mentions the fact that Judas Iscariot had just gone out to betray
Jesus.
With pain in his heart at the realization of what was about to
happen to him, one would have expected Jesus to become angry with Judas and
think of a way to destroy him before he succeeds in his plan. Instead, Jesus
went on to tell his disciples, “I give you a new commandment: love one
another.” John 13, 34. As Jesus was saying this, he had Judas in his mind and he
was basically saying to them: “love everybody including the very persons who
betray you. Love that brother or yours who would stab you in the back. Love that
man or that woman who you know to be planning your death.”
As ridiculous as this may sound, this was exactly what Jesus was
saying and this is exactly what he expects of us today. And because knew that
this kind of love is so different from what we are used to, he made it clear that
he was giving us a NEW commandment. While the Old commandment says: “You shall
love your neighbor as yourself,” Leviticus 19, 18, this new commandment says: “You
shall love your very enemies and give yourself out for them just as Jesus did
on the cross.”
While the Old commandment is based on oneself, treating people
as you want to be treated, being nice to people so that they too can be nice to
you, this NEW commandment says the opposite. It is not based on how you feel
but on what Christ did. This new commandment says we should be nice to the
people who hurt us deliberately, that even when we are not getting anything
from them, we should continue to shower them with care and warmth, that when
they give us one dirty slap, we should turn the other cheek, that when they
forcefully take our cloak, we should let them have our tunic as well, that when
they oppress us, insult us and make us feel less of ourselves, we should
continue to love them and never retaliate evil with evil.
In fact, this is revolutionary. The kind of love we are used to,
the kind of love we see everywhere is according to P-Square: “Do me, I do you.”
It is a business love. You treat me right, I treat you right, you scratch my
back, I scratch your back. The day I no longer get from you, know that is the
day I will stop giving to you. If you don’t allow me benefit from you, then I will
make sure life is miserable for you. This is the kind of love we see every day
and at best this love is not Christ-like.
One does not need to be a Christian to love in a do-me I-do-you
fashion and if that is the only love we are capable of, then there is no need
for us to be in church. Even pagans treat with kindness those who are kind to
them. As Christians, our love for one another should go beyond this; our love should
accommodate those who hurt us, our love should be selfless, our love should not
expect anything back from the people who benefit from us, our love must involve
sacrifice and we should never complain even when we are not being paid or compensated
or complimented for what we give out.
Jesus’ idea of love is so different, that is why humanity is yet
to understand it even after two thousand years.
For Jesus, love is the love and care of the good Samaritan for the traveller
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, 59 to 60.
The early Christians lived this love preached by Christ such
that those around them saw this love as their living trademark, “See how these
Christians love one another.” Their love
transcended race, culture and language and created a new society, the Christian
Church. This love is the fire that
propelled the Apostles to abandon their personal interests and their families
and move out from place to place to preach. It was not convenient to them, they
faced serious persecution and suffered so many things, yet they did not give up
on the mission. In today’s first reading, a mention is made of several towns
Paul and Barnabas visited and their message was one of courage “that it is
through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God.”
Dear friends in Christ, love is fake if it keeps demanding it
get back what it gives out to the other person, love is fake if it is only
about emotional or sensual feelings, love is fake if it is just about the looks
or the shape and size of one’s body, love is fake if it is not Christlike, love
is fake if one has to pay back for it, love is fake if it is not as Christ
exemplified for us or against the commandment of God that demands respect of
the body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. In the name of love, many plunge
themselves into sin today and we know how such ends.
Dear friends, let us be Christians and love as Christ did that
we may eventually be part of the new heaven and new earth that John speaks
about in the second reading. Any love that is not oriented to heaven, any love
that contradicts God’s commandments and is not selfless like that of Christ is
devilish.
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, may we learn to love as you loved and
not as the world loves. Amen
God bless you. Good morning. Be
Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. Happy Sunday.
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