“Loving” as Jesus Loves Us

HOMILY: Fifth Sunday of Easter

John 13:31-35

15 May 2022

Fr. Ricky Cañet Montañez, AA

There was a little boy who desperately wanted to own a puppy. When their neighbour’s dog gave birth, the boy’s parents allowed him to select a puppy as his birthday present. The little boy was so thrilled when he saw the litter of six baby Shih Tzus playing in their pen. He observed them for a while and picked up each and every one, inspecting them closely. He finally picked up the runt of the litter, smiled and confidently declared that it was the one he wanted. His parents encouraged him to select another from among the chubbier and more energetic puppies but he would not be dissuaded. When they asked why he wanted the smallest and weakest one, he hugged the puppy closer to his heart and said it was the one who needed his love and care the most.

Today’s gospel reading from John is a short one. The scene happened during Passover after Jesus had washed the feet of His disciples and had had His Last Supper with them. The passage clearly emphasises the singular message of Jesus to His disciples before they must be separated. It says that as He declares He will be with them only a little while longer, He gives them a “new commandment”. “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” (John 13:34) For someone who knew His death is approaching, this last lesson was a vital one for His disciples and crucial to impart. Ang huling habilin ng isang taong mamamatay ay kadalasan ang pinakaimportanteng bagay na nais niyang maibahagi sa kanyang iiwanang mahal sa buhay.

If we look back on Jesus’ life, everything He said and did, boils down to LOVE. Does it not baffle you why Jesus refers to this as a “NEW” commandment? Remember that in Jesus’ time, the Jews lived by the 10 commandments given by God to Moses and they all generally began with “Thou shalt” and “Thou shalt not”. They were a list of objective rules that the Israelites had to comply with to please the Lord as part of their covenantal relationship with Him. When Jesus came along, He summarised the 10 commandments of God into two simple, and very relatable commandments — Love of God and Love of neighbour. In today’s gospel, He introduces an aspect of loving that renders it a “New” commandment — “… as I have loved you”. That phrase changes everything altogether!

As Christians, our task of loving is more difficult. It is more demanding because it is patterned after the way Jesus loves each one of us; and how the Father loves each one of us through Jesus. We are asked to love perfectly as God loves and in Jesus, we find a model of how it is to love as God does. Jesus teaches a very radical kind of love.  He asks us to love those whom society rejects as outcasts. He asks us to be loving enough to forgive sinners. One of the more difficult ones is to love EVEN our enemies. Ultimately, we have to love even if it means we have to make sacrifices. It may even mean giving up of the self; a laying down of one’s life! We recall what Jesus says in John’s gospel: “[There is] no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) This is what Jesus did when He took up the cross and took on the punishment for our sins so that we may have the chance to be united to God the Father. Thus, when we love we must be willing to put the good of the people we love before our own wants; before our own needs. To emphasise this self-giving aspect involved in loving, St. Augustine famously said, “Love has hands to help others. It has feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of others.”

This means we have to be all-embracing, open and inclusive in our loving. “Love one another!” (John 13:34) Jesus did not say: “Love your fellow Jews or your fellow Christians only!” As followers of Christ, we have always understood this call as an invitation to reach out and to be less discriminating about the people we help or the people who benefit from our understanding and forgiveness. We are asked to give love to others even to those whom we think are seemingly undeserving of it — to those who are different from us, with different values, ideologies, habits, cultures and preferences. We are to extend ourselves. We are to selflessly offer our hearts especially to those who need love the most. God loves us despite our sinfulness and propensity to keep falling into sin. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”  We hardly deserve the sacrifice God makes for us because after all, we are just His creatures. Yet, that is how much God has loved us in Jesus. That is how we are expected to love.  It is, as the gospel says, how people will know we belong to Jesus and that we are His followers. 

I remember a mother telling me about one of her children who was perceived as a total disappointment by her husband. Apparently, the husband wanted his only son to be a businessman like himself. The son however, had set his heart on a completely different career. This angered his father who began to treat him unkindly. In the father’s old age, he got sick and needed special care and attention. To the mother’s amazement, it was the son who took on the responsibility of selflessly taking care of his father. She shared how she was very much moved and impressed by her son’s behaviour. There was not an ounce of bitterness, rancour, and resentment on the part of the rejected son. After all the hurt he had suffered from his dad’s ill-treatment, she never expected her son to afford his father such gentle care. This is a self-giving and forgiving love. This is How Jesus loves. This is how God loves. We live in such an imperfect world in need of God’s perfect love.  If we look around, we will find many opportunities for us to love others as Jesus loves each one of us. 

Our loving should take after the way Jesus loves us; and how the Father loves us in Jesus. Let us learn thereby to love as Jesus loves for it is through it that we can be recognised as His disciples.