Year C. Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 13th, 2001 John 13: 31-35
Title: “Love one another”
At the Last Supper Jesus speaks of the process of his glorification as having already begun, as culminating in his death and departure from this world, and as continuing in the mutual love of his disciples.
Chapters one to twelve of John have been called “The Book of Signs,” wherein Jesus performs miracles which bring some to faith in him and others to rejection of him. Chapters thirteen to twenty have been called “The Book of Glory.” Chapters thirteen to seventeen take place at the Last Supper- a long farewell address discussing glorification, departure and fraternal love. Chapters eighteen to twenty describes the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus as his glorification whose ascension to the Father results in Jesus’ Father becoming his disciples’ Father also chapter twenty verse seventeen.
In chapter thirteen verses thirty-one to thirty-five the gospel reading for today, John gives a short introduction to Jesus’ Last Supper Discourse, the themes of which-glorification, departure and fraternal love- become the subjects of the following chapters, but in reverse order. These verses were probably composed by John and sandwiched into the otherwise “Synoptic-compatible” account of the Last Supper in order to introduce the long speech of Jesus peculiar to John. If these verses are not a part of the historical farewell speech of Jesus, but an introduction to them, then they were imported from his public ministry and so are authentic in that sense.
In verse thirty-one “When he, Judas, had left,” for John and Luke Judas is the instrument of Satan-devil-evil. Once he has exited into the dark outside, a symbol for evil, the light of Christ could shine without encumbrance. Jesus can now speak of “glory,” “glorify,” “glorification.” “Glory” and “light” go together.
Now is the Son of Man glorified: Jesus’ “hour,” his “time” in the sense of “timing,” opportune time, Greek kairos, has come. “Now” means that Jesus is between, or more correctly, simultaneously within, two worlds, earth and heaven. He is on the move. In verse twenty-one he said he was “troubled in spirit,” a parallel to the Synoptic “Father, let this cup pass…”. Now there is an air of triumph, even jubilation. This is parallel to the Synoptic “Not my will, but yours be done.” Jesus sees the whole process from the viewpoint of eternity, as though already accomplished. From the divine point of view his passion, death and resurrection have already happened. “Glory” means “hidden presence made manifest.” What was previously hidden to human experience is now revealed. “To glorify” it to make, cause, or otherwise do something so that that hidden presence is made visible, known, felt. It is God who is experienced in Jesus, who here calls himself “Son of Man,” a term connoting final glory when he judges the good and bad.
In verse thirty-two, “if God is glorified in him,” these words are missing from early manuscripts and were probably added by a copyist. They add nothing to the text and are usually put in parentheses in translations.
And will glorify him at once: “At once Greek euthus, a favorite term in Mark, has an imminent quality about it. It means “immediately” and thus, is “not yet, but as soon as possible, very soon.” The lines between time and eternity have become blurred. The verses are repetitive to express the mutuality between the Father and Son, their mutually shared glory and love. This glory-splendor-light will be seen, with faith eyes, in the very humiliation-ugliness-darkness of the crucifixion, a paradox possible only for those who see with two sets of eyes, physical and faith-filled. The ideas put so concisely here will be expanded in chapter seventeen.
In verse thirty-three, “where I go you cannot come,” the disciples will no longer enjoy normal human contact with Jesus. He is telling them that he will depart from the “scene,” from “being seen” only to remain with them in a new way. This new relationship will be experienced and expressed in their mutual love. Jesus must depart from the scene so that this mutual love can be seen, glory, as the new way he makes his presence felt and known. This will be the subject of the discourse in chapter sixteen.
In verse thirty-four, “I give you a new commandment,” since the disciples cannot “follow” Jesus, at least, not now, into the eternal realm they receive a command, which if “followed,” will keep his spirit alive among them as they continue to live in the world. This is not a “new” commandment as such. It is as old as Leviticus 19:18 which reads, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.” Rather, it is the foundational commandment or requirement or stipulation of the “new” covenant. Here John seems to be echoing the words of the institution of the Eucharist in the Synoptics “the blood of the new covenant”.
Love one another: The verb is Greek agapein, “sacrificial love.” In chapter fifteen verses thirteen and fourteen, “Jesus calls his disciples his “friends” and distinguishes between friendship love Greek philia and sacrificial, laying-down-one’s-life-love Greek agape. His disciples are to have agape, God’s kind of love for one another. The stress here and throughout John is on mutual love between and among disciples, but that is not to exclude others from that love, only to stress the need for a community of love. From this community, this center, the love can spread throughout the world, omitting only those who choose to be omitted. For Jesus this love is the moral consequence of sharing table-fellowship, especially but not exclusively the Eucharist.
“As I have loved you,” here is the crux of love. Jesus does not command any old love, whatever one defines as love. He commands love based on his love. He is the source, sign, model, example of love properly understood.
In verse thirty –five, “this is how all will know that you are my disciples,” the mutual love of the disciples for one another is the rule of the new era, the rule or reign of God, to use synoptic language. “Love” is the earthly counterpart of the heavenly glory of the Father and the Son. God, Christ is glorified when Christians love. Love is to glory as Son is to Father. The disciples will be the signs of Christ’s presence in the world by manifesting that presence through love and hence “glorifying” him. From now on Jesus will be known through his representatives, not directly, but through love, their only true credential. These thoughts will be worked out in chapter fifteen.
Sermon
As long as Christian love is in the world, the world is still encountering Jesus. This is not “good feeling” love. That is good and desirable and we would be less than human without “good feeling” love. However, this is “good will” and “good action” love. And it is extreme love. To lay down one’s life is an extreme thing to do. Jesus is not commanding middle-of-the-road love, even reasonable love. He went to extreme lengths to show, reveal, make manifest, “glorify” the Father’s and his love for us and he commands us to “follow.”
He recognizes the place and importance of friendship love, the mutual good feeling love among friends. And he recognizes “in-love” love, another form of good feeling love. He even has that love, friendship love, for his disciples. Yet, he commands agape love, extreme love, one-way love. This is the love of another even if the other is an enemy, expecting nothing in return. That’s the love he showed throughout his life and especially on the cross. That cross was, then, the very glorification of God and the revelation of the extreme love God has for us, going to such lengths to show it, reveal it, make it visible. The cross glorifies God because it makes God’s love visible and not only visible but accessible, available, capable of being experienced. God’s love, especially but not only visible in and on the cross, then, is both extreme and supreme.
However, Jesus goes even further when he commands mutual agape. If this one-way, nothing-in-it-for-me, love is so strong that it goes to extremes, the extremes of death on a cross, how much stronger will it be if it is pooled? If this love is shared among several or many is its power simply added or is it multiplied? Jesus established a church so that we can pool this love that first and only exists in him. He, in giving himself on the cross and in the Eucharist, makes himself available not only as an example but as the very source of this love. That’s glory! That’s God’s hidden presence becoming clear before our faith eyes and then, and when, put into such practical practice, so as to become clear, even to merely physical eyes. The mission of the Church is simply to continue to let Jesus the God man, be present in the world through us, that is, through our love. If he is in us then he will really spread himself through us and beyond us. We have only to surrender our will to his and he will take over.
Jesus is present in a new way. At his farewell dinner he read his last will and testament to them. He let them and us know what is going on in eternity and what needs to continue going on in time until such time as he wraps up the whole process by returning in whatever form he deems fit. But he has also given us another example, not only an example of how to live, in his physical absence, but also an example of how to die. These precious chapters are great meditations for our own deaths as well as for our lives as we, too, go to the Father to join the Son in mutual love and glory.
The great paschal mystery, the process beginning with the Incarnation with creation really, and ending with the process of cross and resurrection, dying and rising, failing and succeeding, losing and winning encompasses all of us, not just Christ. He has blessed us, baptized us, and made us part of his life. Indeed, his life is relived in each one of us individually and in the church communally. Christ empowers us to love with the kind of love with which he loved and continues to love. That is a one-way love, a love whether it is returned or not, appreciated or not, wanted or not. It is both one-way love and anyway love. Christ loves us anyway, no matter what we do or do not do in the presence and potential of that love. It is by the power of this love that the creation happened, the Incarnation happened, the cross and resurrection happened, and the second coming will happen. As we live with that love, in that love, and by that love we help Christ make these things, these mysteries happen every day on earth. The great mystery is also a process. It becomes a process, while remaining a mystery, when it enters human experience and is seen to be happening. Then it is seen to be progress, progress toward God’s kingdom’s second coming and progress into his very life and love.
Evil must be dispelled before God’s glory or presence can be experienced.
Christ is God. Thus, glorifying Christ is the same as glorifying God and vice versa.
God or Christ is glorified when his presence is noticed and reverenced.
God or Christ is glorified when his kind of love, agape, is practiced and lived by humans.
Glory: When we hear words such as “glory,” “glorify,” “glorification” it is easy for us to associate those words with the “special effects” we see in the movies. We can imagine lights shining, music playing, and an otherworldly aura coming into focus. That’s fine for the movies, but in real life God’s glory and our glorifying God happens in a much less “staged” arena. While there are occasions, occasions orchestrated by God, when we do get lifted out of our ordinary way of experiencing, they are relatively rare. Mostly, we experience the glory of God when we experience love, especially his loving presence hidden behind ordinary experience. We may not actually feel God, for God’s presence is not confined to our feeling him. True, God’s “glory” means his presence when it is somehow felt, but not necessarily emotionally felt. We can feel things, like hot or cold, hard or soft, without having an emotional reaction. Thus, the experience of God’s otherwise hidden presence becoming manifest to us may or may not involve our emotions and more often than not does not place us in a movie setting where strange things happen. God’s glory is God’s love, his fundamental characteristic. On the other hand, we “glorify” God when we help to make that presence known or felt, that is, when we love as God loves. Love, God’s kind of love, his kindly love, is our only authentic response to his love. When we do that we become the means for his revealing himself to us as well as to others. It becomes clear that what we read in the Synoptics as the two great commandments, that is, love God and love your neighbor as yourself, comes out in John as “Glorify love, God by loving one another.”
One of the better English translations for the Greek word agape is “anyway.” God’s love is anyway love as well as one-way love. It does not depend on the response of others, as does friendship love and in-love love. Mother Teresa wrote a piece entitled “Anyway” that expresses it well:
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, others may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway.
If you give the world the best you have, it may never be enough. Give the world your best anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God…anyway. Amen.
