CALLED TO LOVE
Introduction
Today, we hear Jesus call several of his apostles: “Come, follow me,” he says, and they follow him. They recognize him as their Savior, the Son of God. From now on they will not only have to accept his word but also to live as he lived.
This is why the reading from John’s letter fits in very well: the life of the Christian must be marked by love, for Jesus gave his life for us. Love is not a theory or a mere sentiment but an experience of commitment.
1 Jn 3:11-21
For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other.We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous. So don’t be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time. The way we know we’ve been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn’t love is as good as dead. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don’t go together. This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear. My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God!
Jn 1:43-51
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, “Come, follow me.” (Philip’s hometown was Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.)
Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son, the one from Nazareth!” Nathanael said, “Nazareth? You’ve got to be kidding.” But Philip said, “Come, see for yourself.”
When Jesus saw him coming he said, “There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.”Nathanael said, “Where did you get that idea? You don’t know me.”Jesus answered, “One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!” Jesus said, “You’ve become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is over you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.”
Opening Prayer
Lord, our God,
when we do not know what to do or how to live,
you refer us to the living example
of Jesus, your Son.
Help us to learn from him,
not in theory but in practice,
what it means to love.
Give us the courage to follow him
by opening with him our hearts
to our brothers and sisters
and in giving ourselves to them in life and in death
by the strength of Jesus Christ,
your Son and our Lord for ever.
Reflection:
1 John 3:11-21
Love others not only with words but with actions
John begins this section of his letter with his central theme of love:
“This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”
Today we have a vibrant passage on the centrality of love in Christian life. Christianity can be summarised in the opening sentence: “…we are to love one another.” The big question that would immediately confront us would be, “how do we love those who hate us?” or “why are there so many who hate the believers?” Why does the Church suffer persecution when it teaches only to love?
John the Evangelist finds the answer from the Genesis story of Abel and Caine: Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy and spite. And so, we should not be in the least surprised if this world of sin and self-centredness hates the Lord who teaches to love! It hated and killed him then, and it wants to harm his Church today. It is, of course, happening all the time.
We might expect people to return our love. But the example of Cain is still to be found everywhere – even within the Church. People are hated not because they are bad but because they are good. Goodness for some people can be threatening.
The only valid sign of a Christian is the love we show for our brothers and sisters, irrespective of the response. God’s love cannot survive in us if we refuse to share what we have with those in need (James 2:14-17). God’s Word and our faith teach us that when we treat someone as if they are dead to us, we have already killed them in our hearts.
Jesus offered his life for the life of others, and he invites his followers to do the same. How do we live a lifestyle of laying down our lives for others? It demands caring for the physical needs of our brothers and sisters in need (v. 17), and loving others not only with words and speech but with actions and truth (v. 18).
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