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3. The new commandment for the church (John 13:33-35)
JOHN 13:33
33 Little children, I will be with you a little while longer. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you can’t come,’ so now I tell you.
After the Father was glorified in the Spirit, Jesus guides us through the aspects and basis of our faith. He is not just with us in the flesh, but he exists in heaven. The risen Christ is the most vital fact in the world. He who does not know the living One or believe in him is blind and has strayed, but whoever sees him will live and receive eternal life.
Jesus informed his disciples that he would go somewhere that the disciples could not follow. Not to his trial before the Council, nor the open grave, but he was referring to his ascension to heaven. The Father had said, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies my footstool." Jesus did not vanish right away from his followers but informed them beforehand of his death and rising as well as his ascent to heaven where no man can enter by his own efforts. He had foretold this matter to the Jews but they could not understand. Could the disciples now understand in the hour of betrayal? He had made them participate in worship of the Father and the Son so that they might not drown in sorrow and the gloomy future. Would they trust in his faithfulness, that he would not forsake them? And that their common enterprise would never fail?
JOHN 13:34-35
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just like I have loved you; that you also love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jesus knew that his disciples would not fully understand him since the Spirit had not been poured out. They were blind without the ability to trust, nor had they impulse to love, "for God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him". The Holy Trinity is love. Since love between the Persons of the Holy Trinity engenders unity that endures, Jesus wished the principle moving the Holy Trinity to be incarnate in mankind, and that the source of holiness become actual in his disciples.
So Jesus exhorted his disciples for mutual love among the members of his Church. He did not lay down ten prohibitions as was the case in the Old Testament, but only one commandment covering all other divine commandments. Love is the fulfillment of the Law. Whereas Moses gave people negative rules, Christ impels us to positive action as he exemplified himself. Love is the essence in Church life. Where the Church shows no love, it ceases to be the Church.
Love is the secret of Christ’s person. He had compassion on the sheep that went astray as a shepherd would, and had mercy on the lost sheep. He bore with his disciples patiently and gently. Christ made love the charter of his Kingdom. He who loves abides in Jesus’ graciousness, but he who hates belongs to Satan. Love is kind and does not become puffed up. It is patient, hoping all that is good even to the foe, just as our apostles laid down its traits in Epistles several times. God’s love never fails; it is the bond of perfection.
For the Church there is no other sign save sacrifice for love’s sake. If we train ourselves for service we become his disciples. We learn as guided by Jesus the meaning of practical love. We live in his pardon and forgive others gladly. If no one in an assembly strives for greatness, and if all rejoice because the Spirit of Christ has united them, there heaven comes to earth, and our living Lord establishes churches filled with the Holy Spirit.
QUESTION:
- Why is love the only sign that distinguishes Christians?