Homily for the Week of April 28, 2013

Fifth Sunday of Easter. 2013 Acts 14:21-27 Ps 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13 Rv 21:1-5a Jn 13:31-33a, 34-35 There is a story about St. John, the writer of our third reading for today, that towards the end of his life he got so feeble and absent minded that all he could remember that Jesus said was: MY CHILDREN, LOVE ONE ANOTHER. Today’s Gospel is Jesus’ last speech to his followers. He focuses it on what it means to love and to be a loving person. He has modeled for them actions that defines love as going so far as to give our life for someone else. It is a love that is extended even to those who will not love in return. At the last supper Jesus washed the feet of all the disciples—even Judas, who was about to betray him, The message from the lips of Jesus is short, said while they were all at table for their Last Supper with Jesus, and while he knew that in a short time Judas would betray him. He tells them and he tells us: You are my followers if you love one another. The followers of Jesus had understood love to mean loving your own, looking out for your own. While that was an authentic kind of love, it was not a love that would include all persons. Jesus tells his friends that they must also love those persons who do not love you or even do you harm. Christians have been told to love one another as Christ loves them. This was a new kind of love, one that had not been known. It was a hard change, and many could not make the change. We have just heard, not only of love, but of the practice of that love and what that love can bring us. Jesus went around publicly for just about 3 years but during this time he was able to gather together a small group of persons who trusted him and would go anywhere that he suggested they go. It was not at all popular to be known as a true follower of Jesus. To do so they would often have to go underground so that they would not be discovered, and when discovered they would most likely be tortured and some times even killed for their religion. What kept them going? What attracted still more to come to follow? It was not that they thought they would become popular, but it was that they believed in the message and the life style of Jesus. All of us have a desire to go beyond the easy, the common place. We are often prevented from doing what we believe, however, because we have no one to follow, we have no one to teach how to live a fully human and spiritual life. That is why we hear so often of the apostles and the early Christians needing to live together in order to support each other. Sorrow, pain, injury, sadness is less feared when it is shared with someone who loves you and whom you love. And when we believe that our pains will lead to something better. Athletes will often push themselves to the limit with a body full of pain in order to win a game or be an award winning player. In the past week our news programs have told of us of persons in the policy or EMT or fire fighters that have gone beyond the ordinary in order to help someone as in Boston or the fire in Texas. The apostles had each other, but they also had a faith that told them that Jesus was going to leave them, but God was always with them. The Jerusalem that these early Christians lived in was city that did not accept them. But they imagined, thought of a new Jerusalem, a holy city where they would live some day. They compared that new city to a man and woman who had promised their marriage vows that they would be together for a lifetime. Love is perhaps the easiest yet most difficult human experience about which to write. Poems, songs, plays, paintings, books and movies tells us about love, but never quite say it all just right. Mothers, fathers, friends, strangers all have tried to reveal to us what love means to them and what it would mean to us. But love is probably one of the most over used words in our vocabulary. Unfortunately, for many the words I love you gives permission to do what you want with me. Love often replaces the word like - I like you. Also, for many falling in love has little resemblance to what Jesus talks about in today's Gospel. Love as Jesus wants us to love does not consist of warm, fuzzy, romantic feelings toward another. To love as Jesus loves, it is not necessary to like or even feel kindly toward the other person. But it is necessary to act toward the other in the way Jesus treated his disciples as he washed their feet. This kind of love is not affection. This kind of love is not feeling. This kind of love is not reserved for those we find attractive or those who think like us or look like us or act like us. This kind of love is doing. It is being ready always to care for the person who is placed in our path regardless of whether we like or do not like this person. This kind of love is often called charity. Jesus encourages us today, to love as he did. With it there is always the hope of a the better life and that we will be loved and appreciated in return. But the only thing more difficult than loving is not loving because that path leads to nowhere. Modern medicine has found a cure for nearly all sickness. The only sickness that has no cure is the feeling of being unloved. God pays attention to our love. Not one of us is indispensable. Jesus wants us to fall in love with him and his way of life. If we do we will follow him today and every day.