John 13:31-35 – Easter 5, Year C
Let me set the scene. It’s the evening of the Last Supper. They just finished their final meal together.
Jesus has instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist… “do this in remembrance of me.”
He washed the feet of his disciples as an example of the life of humility and service they were to live.
And Judas had just left to betray Him.
Jesus certainly would have felt the weight of this moment. In less than 24 hours, He will have died on the Cross, and His body would be resting in the grave. While everyone else is oblivious to what’s about to happen, He knows. And He knows that He needs to make these moments count.
It’s here, in the shadow of the Cross, Jesus talks to His disciples about glory and love.
Our Gospel passage today is a beautiful one where Jesus speaks plainly to the people closest to him. No parables. No beating around the bush. Just straight talk. He can’t afford for them to miss any of this one.
So He’s taking this opportunity to pour out some of His last best advice to this motley crew that’s about to take on the responsibility for carrying the message of the Gospel and changing the world forever.
And this is what He tells them:
“Love one another. Just as I have loved you.”
the commandment that isn’t really new… or is it?
This call to love one another isn’t a new one. Moses wrote statements like this one in Leviticus (19:18):
“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
Jesus even used it in response to the religious leaders of His day when asked about the greatest commandment, saying in the Summary of the Law:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and the great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
What makes this new is when Jesus says, “as I have loved you.”
That begs the question… how did Jesus love?
- He touched the untouchable… healing lepers and the unclean, people who the rest of society kept at a distance.
- He spoke to the woman at the well with compassion and honesty without shame… leading her to freedom and purpose.
- He offered forgiveness of sins first… often before other physical healing.
- He fed the hungry… meeting physical needs. Love isn’t just emotional or spiritual. It shows up in bread and fish too.
- He wept when His friend Lazarus died… sometimes love is shown in presence, solidarity, and shared pain.
- He welcomed the marginalized… he ate with tax collectors, welcomed prostitutes, and honored outsiders. His table was wide!
- And ultimately, He gave His life on the Cross… the ultimate act of love and redemption. He laid down His life for His friends, and His enemies.
This is a love marked by humility, service, and sacrifice. This isn’t a sentimental or surface-level love. It’s a costly, inconvenient, Christ-shaped love.
What does love like that look like among us?
- basil’s wisdom
To answer that question, let’s take a look back… way back!
St. Basil of Caesarea, a 4th-century bishop, was a strong supporter of the Nicene Creed, and had a great deal of influence on the liturgies developed in the early church. One of his greatest contributions, however, is as a monastic, setting up monasteries near towns to help care for the sick and the poor in those areas.
This is something that we see a lot of in early Christianity, and is sometimes attributed as one of the reasons for the rapid growth of the church.
Sociologist Rodney Stark shares how during epidemics in the first few centuries, it was Christians running into towns when others were fleeing. When the sick people were cared for, they survived. And it was this kind of selfless act of love that helped Christianity spread more quickly.
This kind of work was important to St. Basil. He wrote:
“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.”
And this is much like what Jesus is sharing with His disciples… That we should always be planting love.
Love isn’t abstract or internal. It looks like something. And it bears fruit. It’s seen by others, not just professed.
a haunting question
I was once asked a question that continues to both haunt and inspire me many years later. It’s a question that gets to the heart of what we’re talking about. It’s a question that drives almost everything we do as a church.
The question is:
“If our church closed its doors tomorrow, would our community even notice?” (awkward pause)
Listen, this question isn’t about shame or pointing out faults or blaming anyone for missed opportunities. In fact, there are so many things here in our church that we’re doing well!
I think about the preschool… I know adults who took their kids there because that’s where they went when they were kids. What an incredible legacy and opportunity to be a light and a blessing to our community!
This question, though, is about searching our soul. What are we known for? What do we want to be known for?
In our Gospel reading today, Jesus is saying that people will know us not by what we believe (whether we follow this doctrine or that, favor this political position or that), nor by how we worship…
But by how we love.
How are we loving one another? How are we loving our neighbor? How are we loving even our “enemy”?
Too often in church, we face the temptation to be inward-facing in our own comfortable community.
But, are we being the love Jesus commands us to be?
by this everyone will know
Honestly, I’d love to sit around and brainstorm about all of the things that we could do to be love in our community.
On a broader, church-wide scale, I think of things like hosting community meals for people in need, supporting local school programs (like we’ve started doing with the high school theater kids), offering childcare for “parents’ night out” for single or adoptive parents, running free laundry days where we show up and pump coins into machines for people, or running skill-sharing classes (resume writing, budgeting, cooking, or other life skills).
We could go on and on and find lots of ways that we could show up for people in our community. But it’s not just the big things that make a difference.
It’s all of the little things that each of us can do individually too. Share a meal with a lonely neighbor. Being there for someone in their grief. Welcoming someone new or different.
I believe it was Mother Teresa who said:
“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”
Big or small, we have opportunities all around us to love like Jesus loves. The big things are amazing, but love doesn’t need to be grand in order to be seen.
The reality is that people are watching. The world is watching for people who live differently and who break through all the junk and the noise.
And Jesus tells us that this is how they’ll know. This is how we make sure that the world sees Him.
an invitation and encouragement
So here are some questions we all should ponder:
- Where might Jesus be inviting us to love more boldly this week?
- Who around us needs the fruit of kindness?
- Where can we plant the seeds of compassion?
In a few minutes, we’re going to celebrate the Eucharist. In the broken bread and poured-out wine, we receive that same love.
During that time, our priest will pray this (in Rite 1, or a variation of it in Rite 2):
And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee that we, and all others who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion, may worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction, and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us, and we in him.
And afterwards, when we pray together giving thanks for the Eucharist, we say something like this:
And we humbly beseech thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in.
And even when we leave here, the deacon dismisses us with words like:
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
And that’s an invitation to take everything we received in here, and to pour it out, out there.
So may we accept every bit of love and mercy and grace and healing and redemption that Jesus offers to us. And with that, may we live out the calling He gave to His disciples to love the way He did. Let us be the church our community would miss if we weren’t here… not for our programs, but because our love made a mark on it. May we sow courtesy, plant kindness, and gather love… in His name. Amen.
