FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR C.
15th May 2022
Acts 14:21-27; Apocalypse 21:1-5; John 13:31-33,34-3.
Today’s gospel defined the identity of a true Christian. Jesus defined a Christian as someone who loves. He said: ‘… love one another; just as I have loved you, you also must love one another. By this love you have for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples.’ Jesus made his love for us the paradigm of loving. If you want to love, love like Jesus. What is loving like Jesus?
Jesus’ love for us is a sacrificial love. He gave his life for us to be saved. This is the nature of his love for us. It is different from what exists in our relationships today. The love of Jesus as Kerry Urdzik explained in her book is ‘the desiring of the genuine good for the other’. It is a movement from the selfish love of ‘how you make me feel’ to the sacrificial love of ‘what I can do for you’. It is infatuation to dwell on the level of love as feeling. Love, according to Jesus is self-giving for the good of the other.
The reason we are not experiencing the true taste of the Christian life is because we gave up on sacrifice. Everyone is waiting for the other to show love. The Christian disposition is to give love. Let us remind ourselves that genuine goodness is connected with sacrifice. Behind every good thing is the sacrifice of one willing to make others happy. Just as faith without good works is dead, a Christian without love does not exist.
Fr Anthony Ekpunobi, CM.
