5TH SUNDAY HOMILY OF THE EASTER — YEAR C
5TH SUNDAY HOMILY OF THE EASTER — YEAR C
HOMILY THEME: A NEW COMMANDMENT AND A NEW IDENTITY
BY: Fr. Anthony O. Ezeaputa, MA.
Acts 14:21-27, Rev 21:1-5, John 13:31-35
Our gospel passage today (John 13:31-33a, 34-35) is one of the parting speeches of Jesus Christ, otherwise known as the farewell discourse. This one was before his Passion and at the Upper Room. As we know, farewell speeches are much more than a casual “see you later” and a mumbled “thanks for everything” as you dash for the door.
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Instead, farewell speeches express appropriate, honest, and genuine feelings about people, events, and ideas. And most importantly, they are always filled with plans, hopes, and good wishes for those you are leaving behind.
For example, when Steve Jobs delivered his Stanford commencement speech in 2005, he shared his personal experiences, hopes, and wisdom with the graduating class. He said, “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” This iconic farewell message has inspired many to be bold, take risks, and pursue their passions.
Similarly, Jesus’ farewell speech to his disciples is a powerful reminder of the importance of love and unity among his followers. In his final words addressed to his disciples, Jesus says, “My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:33-35).
In this parting speech, two points ring out. These points represent not just Jesus Christ’s final wish for his disciples but also a mandate that he refers to as “a new commandment.” They are: “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (John 13:34) and “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
But in what sense does Jesus call this commandment “new”? In the Old Testament, for example, God has already ordered his people to love their neighbor as themselves. “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:18).
And to those who asked him, which was the greatest commandment of the Law, Jesus himself says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and the first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37–39). What, then, is the novelty of this commandment that Jesus entrusts to his disciples? Why does he call it a “new commandment”?
The “old” commandment of love became “new” because it was made complete with this addition: “as I have loved you”, “love one another as I have loved you”. The novelty lies wholly in Jesus Christ’s love, with which he gave his life for us. It is God’s universal love, without any conditions or limits, that reaches its culmination on the cross. So, the “new commandment” is to love our neighbor with the love of Jesus Christ.
Thinking back to Christ’s passion and agony, the disciples understood the meaning of his words: “As I have loved you, so you too must love one another.” Jesus loved us first. He loved us despite our frailties, our limitations, and our human weaknesses. It was he who ensured we became worthy of his boundless and never-ending love.
By giving us this new commandment, he asks us to love one another, not only and not so much with our love, but with his, which the Holy Spirit instills in our hearts if we invoke him with faith. In this way — and only in this way — we can love one another not just as we love ourselves, but as Christ loved us, which is infinitely more.
Indeed, God loves us much more than we love ourselves. We can spread the seed of love that renews relationships between people and opens horizons of hope. Jesus always opens horizons of hope. His love opens horizons of hope.
This love gives us new identity and makes us new men and women, new brothers, and new sisters in the Lord. And most importantly, loving with the love of Jesus makes us the new People of God, that is, the Church, in which everyone is called to love Christ and to love one another in him.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things,” writes Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. And that is how Jesus loves us; let us ask him for grace to love like him. Amen.
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