Fifth Sunday of Easter

Christ washing Peter's feet, Ford Maddox Brown

“I give you a new commandment: love one another.

As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”

As many commentators have pointed out, the command of love by itself is not new. The Old Testament already commanded one to “love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev 19:18). What is new here is to love as Jesus has loved, which is to love more than self.

The community of disciples that Jesus has formed and is forming, which can also be called “the Church” and “the Kingdom,” should be marked by this love:

“This is how all will know that you are my disciples,

if you have love for one another.”

Icon of the Last Supper

We see here how love is tied to evangelism: “This how all will know ... if you have love.” This is a truth we tend to forget. When we take up efforts for evangelization, we tend to think of strategies for outreach, of door-to- door canvassing, rallies, crusades, passing out brochures, parish missions, etc. All of things are fine, but more fundamental is whether the local Christian community actually demonstrates love for each other.

Is our local parish a community of love, or a religious centre where people greet each other in passing while heading in or out of worship? Is it any wonder, then, that the world doesn’t recognize us as the disciples of Jesus?

It is a hard saying. We have a great deal to do in order to implement our Lord’s command this day.

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