“This Is My Commandment: Love One Another As I Have Loved You.”

05-05-2024Weekly ReflectionFr. Manasseh Iorchir, VC

The twelve men chosen by Jesus to be His Apostles were all Jewish. Similarly, most of the area that Jesus went about teaching and healing was Jewish territory. Little wonder when the Apostles began to make Disciples of all nations, they naturally went to fellow Jews and shared with them the Good News about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the salvation that His death and resurrection purchased for all people. However, there were non-Jewish people who heard of the growing “way” and desired to be part of it.

This presented to the early Church its first major problem other than persecution. Should those who were not of the Jewish origin and religion and so unclean be granted unconditional acceptance into the assembly of the emerging Christ’s faithful or not? The early Church quickly realized that it had a huge problem on its hands, a challenge that threatened the very existence of the Church if not properly handled. How the Holy Spirit prompted the Church to carefully navigate this huddle is what the First Reading at the Liturgy this weekend recounts.

The Holy Spirit used Simon Peter, leader of the Apostolic college to whom Jesus made the promise “on this rock I shall build my Church and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it…..” (Matthew 16:18) to open the way for the Gentiles to have unhindered access to the means of salvation. Earlier, Peter had seen a vision in which he was instructed to take and eat a dish full of “unclean” animals according to Jewish pedagogical separation of “clean” from “unclean” animals which was symbolic of the separation of God’s people from the people of the world. At the house of Cornelius, a Gentile who desired to embrace the Christian faith, Peter interpreted the vision he had earlier to mean that “God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears Him and acts uprightly is acceptable to Him.” While he was still speaking, the Holy Spirit confirmed his holy opinion by falling on the Gentiles and causing them to speak in tongues to the amazement of Peter’s Jewish companions. Invoking his Apostolic prerogative, Peter determined that the Gentiles were more than welcome to be Christians and he ordered that Cornelius and his household should be baptized.

In the Second Reading, St. John determines that God is love and anyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Invariably, whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. This is similar to the conclusion of St. Peter in the First Reading that all one needs to be accepted by God is to “fear Him and act righteously.” Righteousness and the fear of the Lord can be rightly interpreted to mean the love of God and neighbor and anyone who loves God and his or her neighbor as Christ loves us is in the right relationship with God.

In the Gospel passage, Jesus gave His disciples a new commandment. “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you.” The law of love as far as Jesus is concerned, is the law of the New Covenant which He came to seal with the sacrifice of Himself on the cross for us while we were still sinners and enemies of God. This indicates a significant shift in the focus of the law in the Old Testament which commanded its adherents to “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” In the new dispensation, Christ and not the “self” would become the standard of love since He demonstrated the greatest form of love by dying the shameful death on the cross so that we could have life, and instructed us “you are my friends if you do what I command.”

May we subject ourselves to the law of love as taught to us by Christ. May our love for each other be visible to the world and so make our witnessing more effective, and may Jesus teach us to love even those who, by our flawed judgment, are undeserving of our love.

Please be kind and may God bless you.

Fr. Manasseh