Love one another!
 

“33 My children, I am with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and what I said to the Jews, I now say to you: Where I am going, you cannot come. 34 A new commandment I give to you: Love one another! Just as I have loved you, so you also must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples: if you love one another.”
 

Love one another! That is the commandment of the hour. Timeless and undated – because it always applies. It is also addressed to those who, even today, set out to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and live out the message of love. The word ‘love’ could not be more fitting than in the wedding month of May. For at (church) weddings, bridal couples often choose a Bible passage that contains the word ‘love’. Yet: not all love is the same. The New Testament essentially recognises two distinct terms for love that is based on reciprocity: agape and philia. Whilst the latter refers to the affection between people who share the same goals, agape is conceived exclusively from God and encompasses a self-sacrificing, diaconal and charitable love for one’s neighbour, indeed even love for one’s enemies.

Love in this sense always demands action, and it is not uncommon for the reverse to be true: an act proves to be an act of love because of its motivation. Throughout the Bible, love does not stop at feelings of love, but combines respect for the other person, the recognition and safeguarding of freedom, with the promise ‘I love you’ and means: ‘I want you to be well – and I am prepared to pay the price for it’. Love is therefore personal and directed towards the other. In its reciprocity, love also enables us to allow ourselves to be loved. This aspect of love is no less essential. It requires allowing love – in sincere affection and a genuine willingness not only to share and give love, but also to accept it.

The Bible verse of the month, taken from the Gospel of the Fifth Sunday of Easter, is an exhortation from Jesus Christ to his disciples who wish to lead a life following him. This is an excerpt from Jesus’ first farewell discourse (13:31–14:3), which can be read as a foreshadowing of the Passion and Easter narratives. ‘Love one another’ is, in the context of the Gospel, not merely an exhortation or even a law; it is also a distinguishing mark. In mutual service of love, just as Jesus exemplified by washing his disciples’ feet, so too should they serve one another, so that their deeds may reveal: these are Christians. They are lovers because they are loved by Jesus. And because they are the beloved, they can share the love they have received. Therefore, they are also co-lovers in and through Jesus Christ.

When one considers that these verses are set in the context of Jesus’ arrest by Roman soldiers, love takes on a very special power. For Judas’s kiss, with which he hands Jesus over to the soldiers, marks the beginning of precisely this profoundly Christian capacity, rooted in Jesus Christ: the (self-)surrender extending to (self-)dedication into the hands of the other. This means: love is always also a risk and a venture. In the case of Jesus, Judas’s handing over (literally ‘surrender’ in Greek) leads to his betrayal – even unto death. Here begins the great ‘but’ of Christians, for death no longer has power over them. It is the beginning, the new beginning in God’s unconditional love, which takes place through, in and with Jesus Christ in the world. It is called: resurrection to eternal life. If that is not love…

Miriam Pawlak