5th Sunday of Easter (Jn. 13:31 ff.)

Right now, we are in the middle of graduation season.  Many young people will be moving on from grade school, high school, college, graduate school. We will hear many commencement speeches given to those who have been labeled successful in life. What does a person say at a commencement that might stick with those graduating? 

Most famous people have given bits of advice to graduates.  Norman Vincent Peale said this to graduates, “Shoot for the moon even if you miss you will be among the stars.” Eleanor Roosevelt in a graduate address said this, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”  Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing.” 

Sometimes when we hear a commencement speech we feel like the speaker is telling the graduates that they now know everything that they need to know.  Perhaps they tell those who have completed an academic course that they have the tools to change the world.  But if education is truly successful there will be respect for all the wisdom that the world has to offer.  And there will be a hunger to learn more.  We will never know it all.  Mahatma Gandi said it well in a graduation address. He said, “Live as if you are going to die tomorrow.  Learn as if you will live forever.” 

We could say that Jesus gave a graduate address to his disciples in the Gospel of John. We call that speech his final discourse.  We read a bit of that talk in the Gospel today. He had given his disciples a three-year course in Christian living.  He knew his time on earth was ending. His disciples were apprehensive.  When Jesus talked about leaving, Apostles like Phillip and Thomas said, “Tell us what to do next.”  It seems they wanted an instruction manual that would offer a step-by-step process on building the Kingdom of God. Jesus didn’t give us that.   

The key line in his graduation address is this.  “I give you a new commandment: love one another.” How is this a new commandment we might ask?  The Old Testament speaks of the love of God, doesn’t it?  Divine love is equated with mercy in the Old Testament. Love is also linked to compassion.  We hear in Psalm 145 today, “The Lord is gracious and merciful.”   

If we study the word mercy, we find there are two words that are used for it in Hebrew.  One word is ra-ha-mim.  Rahamim. is a mercy that an infant finds in their mother’s womb.  When we are in the womb our mother provides everything we need.  We are fed.  We have air to breathe. We are warm and secure.  God’s mercy is said to be like that. We have a total dependence on God. And God provides.  

The other word for mercy in Hebrew is he-sed.  What this word points toward is mutuality.  God is faithful to us.  We sense God’s commitment.  We respond in kind. We willingly enter a covenant with God.  

Jesus’ final instruction to his disciples is that they love each other the way he has loved them. The disciples deepest desire was for Jesus to stay with them.  Jesus says to them, my presence remains in the world if my love remains in the world.  The person seeking spiritual truth will be caught up in the love that exists between the Father, the Son and Christian disciples. Such love makes an impression on the world.  If Christian love is in the world the world is still encountering Jesus. 

Our motivation as disciples of Jesus must be love for others.  We are reminded that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Our neighbor isn’t limited to those who are in our family, our country, or of our race.  Our neighbor isn’t just those who are in the same economic class.  The people we are asked to love may not even return our love. If we see people willing to love others without expecting anything in return, then the true presence of Jesus is in the world. 

The practice of Christian love is never fully mastered.  At times we are frustrated trying to exercise such love.  But the love we call charity must be the goal of those who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ.