Love One Another

John proclaims the Divine presence of God in Jesus in his very first Gospel with the words: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God… And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And now, in this gospel (John 13:31-35), the long awaited hour of Jesus’ passing from this world to the Father is set into motion. This is the appointed time for the “glorification” of Jesus and his Father. In this reading he uses the word glorification five times in two verses to underscore the deepest meaning of the coming hour during which he too will be glorified and exalted. 

Here Jesus addresses his apostles as “my children,” displaying a tender bond of affection as he prepares them for what’s to come. How could they understand? After telling them that he will be with them only a little while longer, he gives them clear instructions on how to live in his absence…to love one another as I have loved you.

Although Jesus is getting ready to leave his apostles he, in past readings, reminds them and us that he is one with the Father as he is one with us. We experience this “Oneness” when we give ourselves to one another and as in the parable of the vine and branches, the whole and the part live together in mutual, loving reciprocity, each belonging to the other and dependent on the other to show forth the fullness of love. That’s Jesus’ vision of no separation between human and Divine. (Adapted from Cynthia Bourgeault, “Oneness,” January 16, 2019, Rohr Meditations)

Jesus beautiful parting message evokes in me a similar tender moment in a scene from Rogers and Hammerstein’s The King and I, as Anna lovingly instructs the young lovers to cling very close to each other and love one another.

When I think of you
I think about a night
When the earth smelled of summer
And the sky was streaked with white

There are new lovers now on the same silent hill
Looking on the same blue sea
And I know you and I are a part of them all
And they're all a part of you and me.