A New Commandment

Today we move into the fifth Sunday of Easter, when we rewind to the Last Supper scene and words of Jesus then, where he gives us a new commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

There are hundreds and thousands of definitions of love. And one of the best definitions that gives a lot of sense is Jesus’ own definition. “There is no greater love than to give one’s life for one’s friends.” It captures the essence of what love is. Love is all about sacrifice, and putting others first before oneself.

In the Bible, the moment in which Abraham is asked to give up his son is the first time that love is mentioned by name: "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I shall point out to you." Love is given a name in the moment of sacrifice, at the moment in which we face the terrifying possibility of loss. Suffering is the moment when love appears.

And Jesus asks us to love others as he himself loved us. That’s really a great challenge. The measure of love is to love as Jesus himself loved, as God himself loved us. As St Francis de Sales puts it, “The measure of love is to love without measure.” So love is a divine quality.

How to understand love then? Love is a force. It is the most powerful force on earth. It is the energy that sustains the universe, moving us towards a future of resurrection. We can say so many things about love, and try to define love. But it is love that defines God and all of us even. Love can’t be seen or touched, but it is that which every one around us can feel it immediately. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin says, “The physical structure of this universe is love.” So we can say that even what we touch and see and hear is all a result of love, God’s love.

Love defines God: God is love. The best understanding of God is that He is love. There are some beautiful Biblical verses that remind us of God’s love. “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” “My heart yearns for Ephraim, my favoured son.” “Can a woman forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child of her womb? Yet though she forget, I will never forget you. I have written your name upon the palm of my hands.” “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but may have eternal life.”

The Bible is God’s love letter for us. Page after page proclaims His great love for us. His love has no terms or conditions: He loves us not because we are good. But He loves us because He himself is good, because He himself is love. His love is immeasurable, and that is the only measure we can use to love each other.

A great challenge indeed!