A Thought For The Week Of February 20, 2017

"I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love each other as I have loved you." (John 13:34) One of the truly wonderful things about the Bible is that no matter how familiar you are with a particular verse or passage, every now and then the Holy Spirit surprises you by revealing something new about it. Take these words from our passage today as an example: "You must love each other as I have loved you." Obviously, Jesus is saying to his disciples that his love is an example to them. But I have always interpreted this verse in terms of the cross and the death of Jesus, so that to me it has always meant that Jesus gives his life or sacrifices for us, so that we who call ourselves Christians have to be willing to sacrifice for each other. Now, that's a noble concept surely, and I'm not saying that it's wrong, but as I was pondering these words today what occurred to me is that they're in the past tense. The crucifixion hasn't happened yet obviously, and so "as I have loved you" can't be a reference to Jesus' death. The words are in the past tense, and the crucifixion is in the future. When that leaped out at me - and it never had before - I found it puzzling and interesting. So, then, what does Jesus mean? What is he referring to? How has he loved the disciples (past tense)? As I worked with these words it finally occurred to me that basically Jesus has loved the disciples simply by calling them together and by making a community and even by making a form of family from a very diverse group of people. Isn't that love? Breaking down barriers, creating relationships, bonding people together? Isn't that love? At this point in his ministry, that's how Jesus had loved his disciples: by making the many into the one. Ultimately, that's our calling - perhaps it's what Paul meant when he spoke of the "ministry of reconciliation." Sacrifice may be (and, indeed, surely is) a part of that, but it's not the whole of it. As Jesus has loved us by breaking down the barriers between different peoples and between all people and God, so are we to love one another by working to do the same.