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SERMONS

The Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 13, 2001

By David Christian

There is an ancient tradition about the last days of St. John the Evangelist. He is said to have lived to a great age. Toward the end of his life he became very frail and had to be carried to meetings of the faithful. There, because of his great weakness, he was unable to teach or preach for long. At every gathering he would simply repeat the words, "Little children, love one another."

The members of the community eventually grew weary of hearing the same words over and over. So finally they asked him why he never said anything else. St. John answered, "If you will do this, it is enough."

Today's gospel takes us back to the final evening of Jesus' earthly ministry. He and the disciples are gathered at table for what Jesus knows will be their last meal together. Judas has just left to betray him.

It is time for him to draw everything together. It is time for him to give his band of followers his final word. "I am giving you a new commandment," he says. "Love one another."

This is the summation of his teaching over the three years that he has been with them. This is the final word that he leaves with them. "Love one another."

Love is the distinguishing characteristic of Christianity. It is the central rule for those who would follow Jesus. "Love one another." As another John, the mystic St. John of the Cross, wrote fifteen hundred years later, "When the evening of this life comes, we shall be judged on love."

We have to be careful here. If we don't watch out, we can turn the commandment to love into an impossible command. After all, we all know how difficult it can be to act lovingly in our day-to-day lives. It's hard enough some days to love those we are closest to and care the most about, much less to love the surly clerk in the store, or the jerk who cuts us off in traffic.

There are two things to be said.

First, the ability to love is a gift. In talking with his disciples about love, Jesus goes on to say, "Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."

We are able to love because we are loved first. We are first loved by God. We are called into a relationship with God, a relationship characterized by love.

As we grow in that relationship we become able to love. As Paul describes it, we "put on Christ." We become transformed by the loving relationship that God has entered into with us. And we become channels for that love. That love begins to characterize our relationships with others: with husbands or wives; with parents and children; with brothers and sisters; even with the surly store clerk and the jerk in the other car.

The second thing to remember about this command to love-and the fact that we will be judged on how well we have loved-is who will be our judge.

We will be judged by love. We will be judged by the one who first loved us. The one who loved us so much that he was willing to become like us. The one who took on flesh and blood out of his love for us. The one who lived as a human person and knows how difficult such a life can be. The one who loves us so much that he was willing to give up his life for us.

The judge is heavily biased in our favor. We need not fear his verdict.

My brothers and sisters, love one another. That is our call. In this and in this alone everyone will know that we are Jesus' disciples, if we have love for one another.

Do this alone and it is enough.

David Christian
The Chapel of the Cross
Madison, Mississippi

Acts 13.44-52
Revelation 19.1,4-9
John 13.31-35