by Joe Cady
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus gives us the greatest commandment, to love God and love neighbor. Notice, that in answering the question about the one greatest commandment, Jesus actually names two commandments, indicating that there can be no separation between love of God and love of neighbor, the one is expressed and manifested by the other. This two-fold love, Jesus says, is the heart of the entire law and the prophets. But when it comes to loving our neighbor specifically, what exactly does this look like? Is it simply a feeling, an emotion? It may certainly include these things, but in reality, love is much, much more. Pope Benedict XVI beautifully defined love in his encyclical Caritas in Veritate, where he writes, “To love someone is to desire that person’s good and to take effective steps to secure it” (CV 7). To love someone, he says, is to will their good and to act in a way that actually brings it about.
Jesus makes it very clear that THE mark of a Christian is love, and that this two-fold love is the heart of the entire law and the prophets. In short, to love God and love our neighbor is the embodiment of God’s will and purpose for our lives, the very thing that he has been trying to teach us throughout salvation history (see Mt 22:34-40). During his final night with the twelve, Jesus reiterates this great commandment: “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (Jn 13:34). Love, Jesus says, is to be the primary feature of his disciples. And from the very beginning, the Church has reiterated this teaching and made it clear that love of God and love of neighbor go hand in hand. In fact, St. John says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen,” therefore, John says, “whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 Jn 4:20-21).
From reading the New Testament, it seems clear that love is to be the mark and measure of the Christian life. But what exactly does it mean to love my neighbor as Christ has loved me? The good news is that Jesus shows us the way himself. Jesus is our model of love, our model of holiness; therefore we look to him and his life to learn the art of loving. How did Jesus love? Jesus’ love was first and foremost a selfless love, a love that sought not its own good but the good of others. It was a love marked by humility and service, one that sought to reach out to the poor and forgotten. It was a love that was complete, total, and faithful; one that did not quit in the face of opposition or difficulties, but rather gave everything, even to the point of laying down his life so that others might live. Jesus’ love was rooted not in the worthiness of others, but in the mercy and goodness of the Father. It was a love that was fruitful and life giving, a love that brought joy into loneliness, light into darkness, healing into brokenness; a love that gives hope, revealing once and for all that nothing can separate us from the love of God. THIS is the love of Jesus, the love which we are called to emulate.
Clearly this is no easy task, and without God’s help, it is impossible. But with God, all things are possible! By grace we are remade and restored to the likeness of God, and by the Holy Spirit we are empowered to live out this self-sacrificing, other-centered, service-oriented love. It is this love that will transform the world. It is this love that will heal the wounds of sin and division. And it is this love that will bear witness to God’s love and goodness in the world. Certainly all of us struggle to do this on a daily basis, but love doesn’t have to be perfect for it to be valuable. God has demonstrated, time and time again, that he is able to use our imperfect effort to do his work. So let us all seek to love a little better today than we did yesterday.