THE TRANSFORMATIONAL POWER OF LOVE

 

Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year C

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Scriptural Texts: Acts 14:21b-27, Revelation 21:1-5a, John 13:31-33a. 34-35

 

The gospel reading of this fifth Sunday of Easter centers on the last words of Jesus as given to us by the fourth gospel. They are set within the context of Jesus’ last night with his disciples before he died. Jesus has just washed the feet of his disciples and had identified the one who would betray him. (John 13:31-32). Then, in this highly charged and dramatic situation, Jesus begins to speak to his disciples. Declaring that he will not be with them for much longer, he gives them a ‘new commandment’. This commandment is ‘new’ in that it is not found, in so many words, in the Jewish Scriptures: ‘Just as I have loved you, you also must love one another’ (John 13:34).

The disciples would have been familiar with the commandment, ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ from the Jewish Scriptures (Leviticus 19:17-18; 19:34). However, with the new commandment, Jesus goes further than this commandment, calling on the disciples to love each other in the way that Jesus loves them. This is the love Jesus would shortly draw attention to by saying, ‘no one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’ (John 15:13). This kind of love is inclusive, unconditional, self-sacrificing and self-emptying. It is this ‘new and greater love’ that every Christian is called to give expression to in their dealings with others. this is because love is the Christian identity card; the only valid document identifying us as Christians. We have to be renewing this card every day of our life so as to retain membership as witnesses and followers of Jesus.

This love was evident in the early church, as we read in today’s first reading. It is said there that Paul and Barnabas ‘strengthened the disciples and encouraged them to remain firm in the faith’ (Acts 14:22). Whenever we put fresh heart into those whose spirit is waning; whenever we encourage what is best in others, such as their relationship with the Lord; whenever we love even our enemies; whenever we forgive offences, and  choose to repay evil with good, we are loving in the new way the Lord loves us.

This new way of loving which Jesus teaches us is very transformational; it makes all things new (Rev. 21:5). It is the transformational process of this love that is at work in the second reading. The vision of John points to a city that has been transformed by the Lord’s servant love (Rev. 21:1-2). This new city or Jerusalem is an image of the church at its best. The new Jerusalem is the community of believers who love one another as Jesus loves us. This is the human city as God intended it to be. It is a city where, because God’s love reigns, it can be said of it, ‘Here God lives among men and women’. It is a city where the power of God’s love brings new life in abundance, and, so, ‘there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness (no more killings in the name of religion)’ (Rev. 21:3-4).

Our today’s world which is characterized by war, violence, division, hatred, bitterness, and religious intolerance is truly in need of this transformational love. It is only by practically living out the Lord’s new commandment can our earthly cities be transformed into the apocalyptic ‘new city of God’s love’ where people live in peace and harmony. Whenever we love one another as the Lord has loved and commanded us, we are helping to raise up something of this city of God on earth and the prayer Jesus asks us to pray, ‘your kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven’, begins to come to come to reality here and now.