Tell Out My Soul

John 13:34-35

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

When he was on Earth Jesus, in so many ways, showed us how he loves and the degree and the power of his love. When he instructed his disciples to love, he didn’t mean just love the people close to them and the people that they liked. He meant everyone! The disagreeable, the unpleasant, the sinners, the enemies, these people are included too. There is a passage in John’s Gospel that talks about an episode during the Last Supper which is a perfect example of how Jesus loved. He loved Judas. Judas was doomed to perdition, and Judas transgressed knowingly, willingly and without contrition. He was Jesus’ betrayer. And yet John relates in John 13:26, thatJesus gave Judas the most favourable part of the meal, the bread that had been dipped in the juices of the meat that was their supper. He did this in front of all the disciples, and in this way he demonstrated his compassion even for the man who was his enemy. To all those present, this would have been a profound lesson in unconditional love.

May we too, follow in our Lord’s footsteps in nurturing love for all our brothers and sisters. May we walk in love, in his most precious name. Amen.