What is Jesus calling us to?
Love is of God, the First Letter of John tells us. Love originates in God and God’s love for us precedes anything we might bring to the table. God has loved us, and sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. Our love for other flows from God’s love for us; when we share in that love through baptism, we know God. In John’s Gospel, Jesus teaches his disciples, now beautifully named friends, that love connects: Remain in my love. Love one another as I have loved you, he tells them. In the Mystical Body of Christ, every church community is bound to God and to each other by the love of God. We are to remain in him, in his love, and therefore in one another, that his joy may be in us, and our joy might be complete. If we respond to God’s love for us in this way, then we dwell (or remain) in this love with one another forever. Love binds us, weaves us, makes us into one Body, eternal and joy-filled.
Of course, our love for neighbor is not limited to other members of the Body of Christ. Peter encountered this truth when, in the Acts of the Apostles, God prepares him to eat in the house of the Gentile Cornelius, and Peter comes to understand that God shows no partiality. Remarkably, while Peter is still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit falls upon all who are listening to the word, fulfilling Psalm 98’s dictum, The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power. In Jesus’ time, such an act of inclusion would have meant not only Jews and Gentiles but also the enslaved. All those loved by God (everyone, in other words!) are called to sing to the Lord a new song, for to them, and to us, the Lord has made his salvation known, and that salvation is nothing short of love. What is Jesus calling us to? Simply to remain in his love, forever!
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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