In our gospel reading for today, Jesus has a new commandment for his disciples. And unlike the commandments that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai, commandments four through ten that set the MINIMUM requirements for living together in peace, Jesus gives a next-level commandment. Jesus commands his disciples to LOVE ONE ANOTHER. And if he had stopped there, it would be a very difficult challenge to fulfil that commandment. But then Jesus added, “Just as I HAVE LOVED YOU, you also should love one another.” That commandment is ONLY fulfilled by those who are filled with the love of Jesus, and ONLY that commandment can make all things new....
Love for your spouse....love for your children....love for your parents....love for your grandchildren...for most people, these are a given almost at the level of genetics – love, hardwired into us via biology. Love for your community ....love for your province....love for your country....love for your planet...for most people, these have been portrayed as virtuous as we were growing up – love, drummed into us via indoctrination.
But there's something about COMMANDING LOVE that just doesn't sound right. Doesn't love still have to be a CHOICE, to be meaningful? Isn't that the whole point of the story of Adam and Eve, that they were given the CHOICE to love God, and chose not to? And yet, Jesus in our gospel reading says this, “I give you a new commandment...Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” The TIMING of this commandment is critical. Jesus, immediately before this gospel reading, has declared Judas Iscariot to be his future betrayer, and Judas has just left the supper table to carry out the plans for Jesus' death. Jesus is aware that Judas is no longer on the team, and yet Jesus loves Judas and shares food with him right to the end. The love Jesus wants his disciples to emulate is the love Jesus has for Judas, a love that loves enemies.
And just before that in the gospel of John, Jesus was busy washing his disciples' feet, a task that usually fell to the lowest servant in the household. Peter, as you recall from the story, freaked out at the thought of the LORD OF THE UNIVERSE kneeling at his feet to wash them. But the love Jesus wants his disciples to emulate is the love Jesus has for Peter, a love that repudiates power.
And although Jesus gave plenty of examples while he was alive, like when he interacted with the Samaritan woman at the well, Peter didn't get the next point about Jesus' love until his vision in our first reading today. Peter had been trained from birth by his rabbi not to associate with or eat with uncircumcised men – in other words, non-Jews. But the love Jesus wants his disciples to emulate is the love Jesus has for Gentiles, a love that does not make distinctions. Jesus gives the COMMANDMENT to love one another, to reinforce that he is talking about not the ORDINARY love of family and nation shown by the world, but the NEXT-LEVEL love that Jesus showed to them. And Jesus gives the COMMANDMENT to love one another, so that any PREVIOUS commandments are superseded, like the commandment to segregate. The NEW commandment is now in force – love for one another, regardless of distinctions, oblivious to power, and even for one's enemies.
No wonder Jesus told his disciples, “by this everyone will know that you are my disciples” - this kind of love is NOT normal! Especially these days, we are supposed to FOCUS on the distinctions, not love people in SPITE of them. Especially these days, we are supposed to IDOLIZE the powerful, not love the POWERLESS just as much. Especially these days, we are supposed to love only OUR team, OUR tribe, OUR kind – the people who agree with US, and NOT love those who DISAGREE. Loving just as Jesus has loved us – that is an incredible challenge in these days of terrorism, social media, and political correctness. It WAS an incredible challenge in the day Jesus issued it – a day of oppression and racism and religious elitism. In fact, it has been an impossible challenge each and every day in between...