In the Gospel of John, Jesus himself gives us the most accurate definition of who God is: God is love. Let’s pause and digest a little bit that simple premise: God is Love, with a capital “L”. Love in reference to God isn’t just a description of who God is, isn’t just a
characteristic of who God is, but rather, it is his very essence. The very being of God is love. We are created in the image and likeness of God. If we then are created in God’s own image and likeness, and we share in his essence which is Love, then we too are “love” – with a small “l”. By virtue of being created in essence of God who is Love, then we too assume and participate in that essence of love. Therefore, we can say that “Cary is love”, Jeff is love, Jane is love (with the small l). The commandment of love then isn’t something that is added to us, not something that is foreign or coming from without or from outside, but it is something that comes from within. So, when Jesus says, “love one another as I have loved you”, he is basically telling us “just be true to who you are, to your very basic identity and essence.” The difficulty of understanding this universal call to love is that we oftentimes just reduce it to “romantic love” or the love that exists between families and close friends. That’s a special category of love, but the love that Jesus speaks of here in the Gospel and in the commandment isn’t just a feeling or something exclusive, but rather, it is what defines who we are, our capacity to embrace our basic identity as sons and daughters of God. The world usually says, “I can only love you if I like you first or if I know you.” That’s true for romantic and marital love. But, Christian love is about seeing the other person as a recipient of the good precisely because he/she is a son and daughter of God. I don’t necessarily have to like him or her in order for me to respect and wish and work for the good of that person. The reality is that we can’t like everybody – that’s just impossible. The reality too is that we can’t have close relationships with everybody – that’s impossible too. But, we can always love everyone according to the standard of the Christian faith by wishing, wanting and praying for the best and the good of every person regardless if they have a close relationship with us or not, regardless if we like them or not, regardless if they are friends or not, regardless if they share the same faith as ours. In fact, Jesus pushed it further when he said that we shouldn’t just love another, but we should also love our enemies. How can it even be possible? It is possible precisely because one doesn’t have to be close or to agree with the person in order to genuinely love them. Even if we don’t see things eye to eye, or even if the person is hostile to me, I can still love that person by not wishing him or her evil, but rather, pray for his/her well-being and sincerely pray for his/her conversion. Our capacity to love this way is really our most intimate participation to the divine nature of God. This is where our humanity is elevated a little bit to the heights of the divine. Our capacity to love is also the glory that Christ speaks of in the Gospel today.
If the commandment of love then is something innate in us, something that is built in us, why did Jesus refer to it as a new commandment? Well, the very first command of God is found in the Book of Genesis: that command was, “Let there be light, let there be order in the land, in the universe, let there be life.” The first command of God was heard and seen in the story of creation, and we know what happened after that — with the disobedience of man, when Adam and Eve refused to honor who they were, when they forgot their basic identities and essence, chaos/darkness entered, sin entered — and now, in the person of Jesus, he restored all of creation back to its original dignity, light came back once again. And, this will happen with a new commandment, “love one another as I have loved you”, which is basically the same as saying “you know how I loved you; I have loved you by giving my very life for you, by offering my very self, the opposite of what Adam and Eve did, now do the same with one another. Give yourself to one another — that’s the only way you can flourish and the only way you can realize your full potential. That’s the only way we can maintain the integrity of creation.” Given this renewed understanding of love, how are we loving? Does our love usher renewal and life in people? Or, is it detrimental and enslaving? Remember that the love of God, the love of Christ, is the most liberating and freeing thing that we can ever experience — it freed us from the slavery of sin, darkness and self-centeredness. Is your love for yourself and for others liberating and freeing too? If it chokes, if it enslaves people, then it isn’t genuine love. Just remember that when we love genuinely, we are basically just being true to who we are. – Fr. Cary