Fifth Sunday of Easter

          “I give you a new commandment: love one another.” Jn. 13:34

Most of us Americans like to call ourselves “Christian.”

Even while uttering the most bigoted, hate-filled expressions –  even after committing deliberate acts of vengeance and cruelty – all too often we hasten to assure everyone that we are Christians, followers of Christ and shining examples of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

And yet, as Rev. Jim Wallis writes in his powerful book, America’s Original Sin:

“We frequently call violence committed by foreign nationals against Americans terrorism, but usually not the violence we commit against one another – especially the historic white violence against blacks and Native Americans.”

In today’s Gospel reading, after having called his disciples to follow him, after having fed them and taught them and prayed for them, and after allowing each  of them to witness miracles the likes of which no one else has ever seen – after all this, Jesus dines with them, washes their feet, and urges each of them to imitate him and do the same to one another.

Then, Jesus speaks his farewell words to them:

“I give you a new commandment: love one another.”

These words summarize everything Jesus is about.

All the Gospels, all of the Old Testament, all of the story of Jesus’ death on a cross and a resurrection to new life in God – all of it can be summed up in those final words he speaks to his disciples:

“I give you a new commandment: love one another.”

Why a new commandment?

Perhaps for these three reasons:

First: If we love one another with the love with which Jesus has loved us, we will not fail to experience his presence in our lives. That kind of love is contagious. It spreads like wildfire and inspires and transforms others. It’s the kind of love that can constitute our whole identity to such an extent that St. Paul teaches in our first reading that it will “open the door of faith to the Gentiles,” to the whole world – so much so that “we will know they are Christians by their love.”

Second: To live by the standards of Christian love, it is necessary to resist the culture in which today’s society lives. Just as in the first century, this new commandment was in total opposition to the mandates of imperial Rome, the rulers of the time. The empire was not built on the conviction of loving one another. It was built on the belief system that might is right, that greed is the ultimate god, and that human beings were mere subjects to be used for the comfort and whims of the powerful.

Sadly, that same philosophy still prevails in much of our world today.

Like Jesus and his disciples, we need to resist that culture of greed and self-service and violence in our own time; we need to have nothing to do with that part of our culture that demeans other people in the name of Christ Jesus.

Third: In all our talk about loving one another and holding it up as our ideal, each  of us needs to thoroughly examine our conscience and ask ourselves honestly how well we have succeeded in investing love with its true meaning based on the spirit and concrete attitudes of Jesus.

Is ours a “love” that is ready to serve and to struggle against all that dehumanizes people and makes them suffer?

The kind of love that Jesus calls us to live is one that brings light, not darkness to the world; one that highlights hope, not fear; one that emphasizes courage, not cowardice; one that shouts out victory, not defeat.

Rev. Wallis highlights all of this when he concludes:

“In the end, we (Americans) can and must shed ourselves of our idols and divisions that have bound and separated us and find our dignity together as the children of God all made in the image of the One who loves us all.”

To put it another way, we are all in need of a conversion, a change of heart – not unlike that of the old slave trader whose faith in Christ opened his eyes to his hideous desecration of other human beings and caused him to write one of the most powerful of all hymns to tell his story:

 “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now I’m found,

Was blind, but now I see.”

Let us pray that we will all experience a new kind of sight – a vision so restored by the light of God’s love that we embrace fully that “new commandment: love one another.”

NOTE: In light of Jesus’ Gospel message of love, I had an extraordinary experience this weekend. I have next-door neighbors who are Muslim. This is the month of Ramadan. My neighbor explained to me that Ramadan is a special and sacred month of the year for Muslims around the world. It is similar to our Christian/Catholic experience of the season of Lent.

Here is the way my neighbor explained it:

“It is a time for inner reflection, contemplation, discipline, and devotion to God. As we sacrifice food and drink during the daylight hours, we are reminded of those who are less fortunate than us and we are encouraged to be kind and generous.”

As an expression of this belief, his daughter came to my home and gave me a gift of candies and other food. Unfortunately, I was not home at the time, so I knocked on their door and thanked them for their graciousness and generosity. I was told that “As part of our Islamic tradition we would like to share these treats with you today.”

On the package of the foods I was given was written these words:

“The month of Ramadan is the one in which the Quran was revealed as guidance to mankind, and as clear signs that show the right way and distinguish between right and wrong.” Quran – 2:185

Ted Wolgamot, Psy.D.

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5/17/19