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What Are We Here For? – Reflections on a Sacred Saturday
Before we embark on an engrossing expedition into the scriptures for finding out that simple answer to the simpler question posed above but definitely the most difficult virtue to practice, let us define what the word “We” in the title above refers to: of course, it refers to the special, privileged & blessed sect called “Christians” – ‘We the Christians’.
“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). That intimate family relationship that Christ and His church have for one another is how the world will know that we are His disciples. In fact, the title “Christian” that we carry proudly around was given to us by the 1st century ‘non-Christians’ for the very reason that the Apostles and the followers of Christ exuberated the love & compassion of Christ so much that each one of them carried and resemblance to the characteristics of Christ Jesus.
The Apostle Peter was so strong in himself that he said he would lay down his life for Christ's sake and he ultimately did so too. And so were all the disciples & early centuries’ followers of Christ, several of whom had not even met the Lord in flesh including Apostle Paul. It is on their precious spill of blood and martyrdom that we have built our modern Christendom.
“For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). The word for ’love’ that John uses here is agape, which refers to a rock solid, committed kind of love. It is a word that is used to describe the way a father loves his son. Or the way a husband loves his wife. Or the way a mother loves her little girl. We are to love one another with the same kind of love. That is the new command of Christ.
The common question that is pronounced by most of the 21st Millenium Christians, ‘why we should Love one another’ can be answered by not one but six absolute reasons:
- Ø Loving One Another Brings forth ‘ Christ’ in us Christians: "A new command I give you: Love one another, as I have loved you.” – John 13:34-35
- Ø Loving One Another Makes us Christians as the Strict Followers of Christian Law: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery’, ‘Do not murder’, ‘Do not steal’, ‘Do not covet’, and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. ‘Love does no harm to its neighbor’. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” – Rom. 13:8-9
- Ø Loving One Another is an absolute Requisite to Qualify as the ‘Children of God’: “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother”. - 1 John 3:10
- Ø Loving One Another is an Absolute ‘Must’ for Us Christians as it is Commanded by Christ: “And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.” - 1 John 3:23
- Ø Loving One Another is a ‘Direct Reciprocal’ for God Loving Us: “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” - 1 John 4:7-11 and as hyphenated in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
- Ø Loving One Another is an Absolute ‘Proof’ of God’s Existence: “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.” - 1 John 4:12
Having unfurled the theolographical components of Jesus’ requisites for ‘Discipleship’ let us meditate & explore the practical implication of the meaning of John 13:35. For an easy & immediate reference, we can turn to Apostle Paul’s thesaurus in his epistle to the Galatians: "Bear one another's burdens" (Galatians 6:2). In Paul's mind, our aim in every relationship should be ultimately to awaken and strengthen and deepen a joyful, fruitful passion for God through Jesus Christ. In other words, loving each other is the living evidence that we are born of God. That we are His children, that we share His nature. In a Christological capsule, this is simply means, ‘if you love your neighbor, it amounts to loving Jesus and the Heavenly Father’.
Therefore, let us view the new command of Jesus in a new perspective understanding that it does not preach a superficial and ‘passing the buck’ message but a command from the Saviour & Redeemer binding us intrinsically to our salvation because our salvation in effect is dependent upon our acceptance of the teachings & commands of Christ (Mat. 28:18-20) all of which, Christ has highlighted specifically in John 15:1-17. Amen.
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