Lectio Divina: 5th Sunday of Easter

“This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” — John 13:35

REFLECTION

In today’s Gospel, Jesus presents to us a new commandment. This new commandment is one that is beautifully simple, and yet often challenging for our human hearts — the command to love one another. It seems simple enough, right? But we’re not being called to love in a manner that is easy for us. Jesus calls us to love one another with the very same love He has.

The Lord convicts us by telling us that the way people will know we are His disciples, the way that people will know that we are in a relationship with Him, is by loving one another. After all, the life of a Christiain cannot exist in isolation. We are made for community. We are able to come truly alive, to truly imitate Christ, when we give our love away to those around us. This is not always pretty or easy, but it is always worth it.

This does pose a question for our life as a whole: do people know I am a disciple of Jesus? Do I imitate Jesus in such a way that people know I follow Him? Am I pointing other people to Jesus or to something other than God? If we choose to be His disciples, we’ll have to constantly examine our lives and make sure that we are leading others to Christ, and that we are reflecting Him well.

QUESTIONS 

  1. Do I love those in my life well?
  2. Do I love those in my life as Christ loved me?
  3. Do I allow the cross to be the blueprint for how I should love others, or is it something I seek to avoid?
  4. Do people know I am a disciple by the way I love?
  5. Who is a loving disciple of Jesus — deceased or living — that I can look to for inspiration?