In the Gospel of John at the Last Supper Jesus told his disciples to love one another as he has loved them. I think when many hear this we are comforted by Jesus' words, but I think we ought to be disturbed by them.
To love as Jesus loves is very radical. It means putting another's welfare ahead of our own. It means looking at the world through another's eyes, and trying to see what we say and do will affect the person's feelings and thinking. It means walking in another person's shoes for more than a mile.
It has been my experience that many Christian folks take loving one another as oneself to mean strangers or people "out there". But it really means practicing this radical love to those who are closer to us. It means loving our family and friends with Jesus' self-denying love. It means loving one another in Christian congregations in this way.
What would it look like if we took this directive from Jesus very seriously - loving one another as Jesus loves us? I think we would more carefully edit what we say, do and how we react. I think we would behave as I heard someone else say speaking about this: "we would hold one another in the highest possible regard". This would apply to those in our families, our friends, the cashier at the store, those behind and ahead of us in traffic, people in our associations and faith communities - young and old, our neighbors, and strangers on the street.
This is a tall order. That is why we need to continually pray for the mind of Christ to accomplish it, confess and ask forgiveness when we don't live up to it, and forgive others when they do not treat us as we would want them.
Fr. Patrick
