5th Sunday of Easter Year C
✠ A reading from the Holy Gospel, according to John 13:31-33a, 34-35
When Judas had left them, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
1. How do we recognize a christian? Some people will say that we recognize a christian by his Bible or his chaplet or the stickers in house or the crucifix and other sacramentals. Modern-day men of God will talk of signs and wonders that accompany their crusades. For Jesus, a christian should be recognized by the love he shows to others. Shortly before Jesus left this world, he told his followers that it is by their love for one another that the world would recognize them as his followers.
2. Mother Theresa of Calcutta once picked a sick and abandoned man from the street and nursed him to good health. Speaking with the man one day, she told him of the need to believe in Jesus. The man asked him one question: “This Jesus does he behave like you?” Mother Theresa simply replied that she was trying to be like Jesus but that she could never become like him because he is goodness per excellence. The man wondered how Mother Theresa should be trying to imitate another person. That person must then be a God. Needless to say that the man became a christians without much preaching. Mother has the correct identity. She has love, and with this identity, preaching Christ became easy. It is along this line that St Pope Paul VI declared that “modern man listens more to witnesses than to preachers and if they listen to preachers, it is because they are witnesses.” This was eloquent in the life of Pope Francis.
3. Today’s gospel is not saying something new because love for neighbour is already in the Old Testament. However, there is a little significant modification. Jesus wants us to love others not merely as neighbours but as he has loved the world. This means giving up everything, including one’s life for the neighbour. This implies great sacrifices. The apostolic ministry of the early disciples was inspired not by monetary profits, tithes, offerings, and social comfort, as is the case in most ministries today. They were totally inspired by the command of Jesus to them to keep love as their identity. It was because of their modelling their lives after that of Christ that the first disciples were called christians (Act.11:26).
4. The early Christians trusted God and believed his words and then acted in the hope of being united with God. Today, that motivation is almost gone. People found churches not because they wanted to live out the love of God. Many churches have become house thieves where people are robbed in broad daylight in the name of God. Some churches have become citadel of hatred and wickedness where wicked prophecies are dished out to cower people to submission and dependence. The love that should motivate the ministry has moved from the love for people to the love of money.
5. Today, the Word of God invites you to go back to our root, which is love, in little and great things, in all your official and non-official dealings with people. He wants you to be loving. Many have gone astray. You still have the privilege of hearing God speak to you today in clear termed: “it is by your love for one another that you prove that you are my disciples.” What motivates your engagement for Christ and the church? Is it love of money and power, or is it the love for the salvation of souls? If you find yourself where love is merely a secondary attitude, you should have the courage to quickly redress your steps. The only authentic identity of Christ’s followers is love and loving service to one another. You can always love even without being a Christian ( See the love triangle story: Campaspe, Apelles, and Alexander the Great).
©️Vitalis Anaehobi
18/05/25.
