Love one another

John 13: 31 - 35

"As I have loved you, so you must love one another"

In this passage, Jesus says that he is giving his disciples a new command: Love one another. Simple yet profound. This command puts into abstract description what Jesus has made concrete in 13: 1 -17, when he demonstrated love by washing the feet of his disciples.....those he knew would in some way betray him or deny him or leave him alone in his hour of need. Profound words from our Lord and Master who asks from us only what he has first gracefully shown to us himself.

Why then is it that lack of love is what most often causes pain and disillusionment among Christians? The church is called, both as individuals and communities to demonstrate the love Jesus has shown to us. In fact John goes so far as to say that showing Christ's love ranks in importance to having faith in Christ (1 John 3: 23).

Jesus has issued a command. But can we really be ordered to love? The psychologist John Sanford writes in his meditation on John: ..."love cannot be willed. The person who tries to love by an act of will is likely to wind up with a persona that looks like he or she is loving, but with a shadow side hidden in the unconscious that negates it. Love must come from the heart if it is to be genuine; it cannot be feigned, not even with the best of intentions"

I think our own experience tells us that this is true. We cannot will ourselves to love, yet one of the most fundamental marks of a Christian is love. How can we 'love' like Jesus, with a pure heart? Firstly one key to Jesus' ability to love is found in 13 : 3. There we read that Jesus knew himself well, knew his origins and his future. Through his deep self-knowledge he was freed from egoistic self-concern and so was able to reach out in love to others. If we search ourselves we will find that many of our conflicts with others arise from being blind to our own weaknesses and instead projecting them on to others. We need the Lord's cleansing to empty us of self deceit and to free us to love others. Secondly, Jesus tells us to model what he has done for us. Unless we have a profound experience of being loved by Jesus, it is most difficult to express profound love for others. It is well known that if we grow up in an environment where we do not experience love from our carers, we will be handicapped in our ability to love. We need healing and the Lord's love poured into our hearts to fill our 'empty love tanks'.

The ability to love one another is the most beautiful expression of Christ's life in the church. Yet it is also fraught with difficulties. As we grow in self-knowledge and as we personally encounter the profound love of Christ, we will find ourselves naturally freed to love.