How would you live if love were real?

L

ove is a word that gets thrown around a lot in this day and age. Many people use the word and often link it with sex. To be loved is to get sex and to have sex one must be loved or at least desirable in some fashion. But there is none of this in the Gospel (John 13.31-35). The command to love one another is born out of the love that Jesus (and therefore the Father has for us). Jesus calls on his followers to love each other in the same manner that he has loved each and all of them.  

So it is important to note the conditions under which the command is given. According to the Gospel we are into the “Farewell Discourse” and Jesus is talking to his followers about what is important for him and for them in the hours, days and time ahead. Within this context there are two things that we must be mindful of: a) Judas has just left to arrange for Jesus’ arrest and b) Peter’s impetuous insistence that he will go to the cross and to death with Jesus. He will fail and deny Jesus three times over that night.  Therefore the command to love each other comes in the midst of both betrayal and denial. Love and forgiveness will not find Judas but it serves to bring Peter back after failing and falling.

If we go deeper, the call and command to love one another means that we are going to “agapaos” or love those we know best. It may mean that we have been hurt by that person, possibly believe we have been betrayed or even denied in some fashion by someone within the Church. We are still called to love that person as Christ loves them. There is no other standard. We are called to love in all circumstances and occasionally in spite of them.

Jesus points out that God is glorified through our relationships and the working out (with fear and trembling) our salvation just as he has been glorified through the incarnation ministry of his Son Jesus. If God is glorified through us loving and looking after each other then how you live this life matters. It matters to you, to God and to everyone around you. Your life matters in every moment. Your life matters from here to eternity. Know this, how will you live your life from here on out? Will it be all about you? Will it be about drawing people into the kingdom and into eternity? What will you do with your life?

In this moment, as Captain Raymond Taylor used to tell us when I was in College in Toronto, “Be ready boys! Be ready to preach, pray or die at a moment’s notice and maybe do all three.” We are being called to the new creation and to inhabit the new City. We are called on by Christ to love and care for each other in ways that will draw others. We must live in such a way as to show others that we are ready to live in the new City and not just prepared to by into the old ways of the old life and the Empire. The new creation is sacred and there is a future for humanity with abundant life, and is filled with hope and peace. There will be no more death, or tears or mourning or terrorism. There will be no more sickness, disease, or malnutrition. God will make all things new. God will do this for those who follow and those who believe. And love will be brought to its perfection.

Jason+