Jesus Christ – detail from Deesis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
How beautiful is it that Jesus uses some of his precious final moments on earth to urge his disciples to love one another.
Just as he loved – loves – them.
But sometimes, for us, following that commandment seems almost impossible.
How can we live up to that when it’s so much easier to hold on to our petty differences? To name the one who would deny us, the one who betrays us. To blame those who we feel will abandon us in our hour of need.
Jesus did all those things, but what he calls us to emulate is his love. After all, he forgave them all in the end. And he did that out of love.
When we blame another person instead of loving and forgiving them, we inflict upon them again whatever injustice they’ve inflicted upon us.
We betray, deny, abandon them in their hour of need.
But Christ calls us to love one another. And a love like God’s looks beyond petty division and instead constantly, endlessly forgives.
Maybe when we learn how to do that we can finally say that we’ve raised our cross to follow Christ.
My Eyes Have Seen 