SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR B.
6th May 2017
Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48; 1 John 4:7-10; John 15:9-17.
The theme of love is presented to us once more. Jesus Christ is the revelation of God’s love. The passion and death of Jesus Christ is the expression of God’s love in action. It comes in the form of dying for humanity. A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. This is a summary of the passion and death of Jesus Christ. The challenge before humanity is to love as Jesus Christ loved – dying for friends.
The cross is both a symbol of love and salvation. The command to love reveals the indispensability of love. Love is the only virtue that is capable of lifting the marred face of humanity. Jesus’ earthly ministry was a demonstration of the path to recovery of the face of humanity through love. Unfortunately, love is the most undermined and abused human reality. Our inability to love is understood as difficult. This is not an honest assessment on the part of humanity.
At the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve practiced love, thereby implying its possibility. The challenge to love featured when the serpent appeared in the scene. The serpent called up that insatiable selfish part of humanity. As soon as Eve operated from this self-centeredness, love became elusive. Love is aimed at suppressing the self-centeredness of one in order to reach out to the rest of humanity. The challenge of humanity is how to live above a self-love that blinds us to the needs of others. Jesus Christ through his love expressed that only love can save the world. He lifted himself above selfishness in order to give us salvation. At the garden of Gethsemane, we saw him battling with selfishness. However, he overcame and gave us the Holy Spirit to assist us in doing the same.
Our joy will be complete when we are able to jettison self-love in order to see the rest of humanity as a beautiful design of a Good God.
Anthony Ekpunobi, CM.
