聖若望福音15:9-17
Easter may seem a distant memory for us, but the church is still celebrating it during these weeks. For us, Easter is the time after baptism or the renewal of our baptism. The focus of this season is about getting on with the Christian life. The readings we listen to each Sunday call us to the practical living of the gospel.
Our Lenten discipline may be over, but we soon become aware during the Easter season that the Christian life itself needs discipline. This idea of discipline can be a difficult one for us to deal with. The starting point for understanding it is to recognise that the word discipline contains the word disciple. A disciple is one who follows the teaching and way of life of a wise person. A disciple listens. The Christian listens to Jesus and his teaching. In our gospel today Jesus speaks of keeping his commandments. These are the Christian discipline.
Let’s look at what Jesus commands in today’s gospel. I counted three things. First is the command to remain in his love. The second was to love one another as I have loved you. And the third was to go out and to bear much fruit. It thus seems that the Christian discipline boils down to one thing: love. Seen as statements about love, the three commands he speaks in today’s gospel become what I would like to call the grammar of love. They show us how love works and how to love well. So perhaps rather than speaking of commandments we might be better to speak about a grammar of love.
That grammar consists of three elements. It begins with the source of love, namely that God has loved us. Jesus puts it rather starkly when he says that we did not choose him, but he chose us. So, the first thing we learn about love is that it is gift. Because it is gift we are free to receive it or not. However, the gift itself is so generous and gives such a sense of our own worth and dignity that it is hard to refuse it. The second element in this grammar of love is the fact that love puts us in relationship with other people. In other words, you cannot hang on to love and not reach out to others. You cannot be loved totally and freely by God and not want goodness for others. It is as though the greatest expression of our freedom is to have care and concern for others. The third element of this grammar of love is that it bears fruit. In the case of Jesus the fruit of his love was seen in the new life he offered people. He healed the sick, forgave sinners, and looked out for the poor. His love helped people escape those situations that entrapped them. He gave them a way out of situations that dehumanised them. Speaking in the broadest terms we can say that the fruit of Jesus’ love was the welfare and progress of all human beings.
I mentioned earlier that the Easter season was about the practical living out of the Christian life. So, how might this grammar of love help us in the practical living of the Christian life? I believe that the three elements become the basis for the decisions we make about our lives. To put this another way: they are the foundation and the building blocks for a moral life. This is important for all of us, but especially for those who are the young people of this community. You are at a stage in your own personal development where you are learning how to make good decisions: decisions that will shape a bright, prosperous and wholesome future. You are also at a stage in your life where you can see around you a variety of ethical theories that offer you different ways and different criteria on which to make your decisions. All of them promise happiness; however, not all of them will deliver happiness. Some of them are quite complex, and it is not always easy to recognise the likely outcome.
The grammar of love in today’s gospel offers a very simple framework for making choices in life. The three elements give rise to three questions that you can always ask. The first is: am I open to Jesus’ love in this situation? In other words, am I acting out of the conviction that God has loved me and calls me a friend? The starting point for our actions is always our relationship with Jesus and, as a consequence of this, how we see ourselves. This question invites us to see ourselves as people who are loved deeply. The second question we can ask is: will my actions show love to others? In other words, am I wishing the very best outcome for other people? A positive answer to this may seem easy, but it can be difficult, especially when we remember that the love Jesus is speaking about also included the command to love your enemies. The third question we need to ask is: what fruit will come from my actions? This is a question about the consequences of actions. But in the context of Jesus’ own life and resurrection it is also about whether this action leads to human flourishing. The question is: how will my actions build me up as a person, build up the community and build up the human family?
We all know the challenges that living in the world today can have. We have lots of options. Easter reminds us that God has chosen us, and loved us first. God has given us the capacity to make a difference in the world by the way we love. Let us continue to learn this Christian love, and let us show it to those around us.
Fr. Gerard Kelly
