Commandment and Love

Law and love are not in conflict. Love is part of the law, and the law commands love. The command to "love your enemies" became one of the most important moral imperatives ever uttered. Also, the word "commandment" ("commanded" - Mt 28:20) is connected to the word "love," a connection that underscores the costly nature of true love: Jn 13:34-35; 14:15, 21, 31; 15:10. The linkage of the words command and love occurs > 30 times in the N.T., and thus is a significant theme throughout. This connection between costly, Christ-like love and Jesus' commandments is why Jesus calls this imperative the "new commandment."

"Our mission as Christians is to conform ourselves evermore to Jesus as the model of our lives." Pope Francis.

John 13:34: "Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other" (NLT). "Just as I have loved you, so you must love one another" (J.B. Philips). "You must love each other, just as I have loved you" (CEV). Jesus' disciples are to love one another with the same love Jesus had for them during his sojourn. Our love is God's sign to the world (Jn 13:35). This is the mark of genuine Christianity.

"The Johannine talk of love does have practical implications. Love within the community is not merely a matter of warm feelings; rather it is a matter of action." Richard B. Hays. 1 Jn 3:11, 16-18, 23 cover a wide range of activities. There is no sectarian retreat in the new commandment.

"It took me a long time to understand that God is not the enemy of my enemies. God is not even the enemy of God's enemies." Martin Niemoller.

"Loving those we like and hating those we don't like is as common as sin." Scot McKnight.

"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the dividing line between good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being, and who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. [Most violence occurs between people who know each other. A husband, wife, coworker, boss, neighbor, family member, or former friend becomes the target of violence. Also all kinds of categories or stereotypes: blacks, whites, Hispanics, Muslims, Arabs, Jews, Democrats, Republicans, gays, punks, pro-abortionists, pro-lifers, illegal immigrants, dictators, jihadists.]

"What if a man gives way to grief and anger and indulges these emotions (which he should struggle against)? What if he rushes wherever injustice will call him? Such a man does not fulfill the duty of virtue. For he who tries to return an injury desires to imitate that very person by whom he has been injured. In short, he who imitates a bad man cannot be good." Lactantius (250-325), a prominent Roman teacher of rhetoric converted to Christianity.

Preparing for You a Place of Love (John 14:1-6)

"Don't let your hearts be troubled," Jesus continued. "Trust God--and trust me, too! (Have faith in God and have faith in me)" There is plenty of room to live (there are many places of rest) in my father's house. If that wasn't the case, I'd have told you, wouldn't I? I'm going to get a place ready for you! And if I do go and get a place ready for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, so that you can be there, where I am (so that where I am you might be also). And as to where I'm going--you know the way!"

"Actually, Master," said Thomas to him, "we don't know where you're going, so how can (do) we know the way?"

"I am the way," replied Jesus, "and the truth and the life! Nobody comes to the father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known (recognized) my father. From now on you do know him! You have seen him."

N.T. Wright, The Kingdom New Testament, 2011.

Faith is not alienation but a journey of truth (Pope Francis, Encountering Truth: Meeting God in the Everyday. The morning homilies from St. Martha's chapel. 2015)

The journey of faith is not alienation, but to prepare the heart to see the marvelous face of God.

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me" (Jn 14:1). In a moment of farewell, these are wonderful words of Jesus from his heart to his disciples. He knows that his disciples are sad, for things are not going to be well. He speaks to them like a friend with the attitude of a pastor. The music of these words of Jesus is the attitude of the pastor, like the shepherd with his lambs. And he begins to talk about heaven, about our definitive homeland.

"Have faith also in me. I'm always faithful" (Jn 14:1b). With the figure of the engineer, of the architect he tells them what he is going to do: "I am going to prepare a place for you. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places" (Jn 14:2). And Jesus goes to prepare a place for us.

What is that place like? What does it mean "to prepare a place"? To rent a room up there? "Preparing a place" means preparing our possibility of enjoyment, the possibility--our possibility--of seeing, of feeling, of grasping the beauty of what awaits us, of that homeland toward which we are walking.

The whole Christian life is a work of Jesus, of the Holy Spirit to prepare a place for us, to prepare our eyes to be able to see... "But Father, I see just fine! I don't need glasses!" That's another kind of vision. Think about those who have cataracts and have to get an operation for cataracts; they see, but after the operation what do they say? "I never thought I could see like this, without glasses, so clearly!"

Our eyes, the eyes of our soul need, they have to be prepared to look at that marvelous face of Jesus. To prepare the hearing to be able to hear beautiful things, beautiful words. And in the first place to prepare the heart: to prepare the heart to love, to love more.

In the journey of life the Lord prepares our hearts with trials, with consolations, with tribulations, with good things.

The whole journey of life is a journey of preparation. Sometimes the Lord must make this in haste, as he did with the good thief, he had only a few minutes to prepare him, and he did it. But ordinarily we have a lifetime to allow our hearts, our hearing, our sight to be prepared to arrive at this homeland, right? Because this is our homeland. "But, Father, I went to a philosopher and he told me that all of these thought are alienation, that we are alienated, that life is this, the concrete, and nobody knows what is on the other side..." Some people think that way. But Jesus tells us that it's not true, and he tells us "Have faith also in me" (Jn 14:1b). What I am telling you is the truth. I'm not tricking you, I'm not fooling you.

Preparing ourselves for heaven means starting to hail it from a long way away. This is not alienation; this is the truth, this is allowing Jesus to prepare our hearts, our eyes for that great beauty. This is the way of beauty and the way of the return to the homeland. Let's pray that the Lord may give us this strong courage, the courage and also the humility to allow the Lord to prepare the place, the definitive place, in our hearts, in our eyes, and in our hearing.

April 26, 2013. Acts 13:26-33; John 14:1-6.

Love and Obedience (John 14)

Theme: To love God is to trust him (Jn 14:1). When we love and trust God we obey him (Jn 14:15, 21, 23). Our ultimate obedience is to trust God regardless of our situation (Prov 3:5).

Pray that January 2018 may be the month of love. The last two weeks we touched on Real Love (Rom 12:9-21), and  Love at Ten Years (1 Cor 13:1-13)--last Sunday being West Loop's 10th anniversary. Paul says that love must be real (Rom 12:9) and that love is the greatest (1 Cor 13:13). This Sunday, we consider what Jesus says about love and obedience (Jn 14:15, 21, 23).

In 2013, while studying Jesus' upper room dialogues, I preached on John 14 with the title Believe in Jesus. My point was that when we simply believe in God without fear or doubt, all of our problems vanish away. That's what Jesus promised his disciples (Jn 14:1). It really seems cliche and simplistic or even unrealistic to say, "Believe and trust God and you'll have absolutely no problems!"

Yet our lives, even as we profess faith in God, is often inundated with our own frustrating problems and issues that never seem to go away, or that keep recurring again and again. Often without any effort, we keep falling into the same problem over and over: fear, lust, anger, bitterness, resentment, sorrow, unforgiveness, even uncontrollable hatred.