NEW IN THE OLD COMMANDMENT

Being the youngest among my cousins (maternal side) and siblings, I am the receiving end of their used clothes and items. From old toys to second-hand school items, I had them all. I would always yearn for new things instead of old stuff. But life was difficult back then. The only consolation I had was that my mother and my siblings would find ways to make that old stuff look new through their creativity. I remember having notebooks made out of unused and collected notepads. My mother would patiently place them together using colorful yarns and cover them with artwork and adorable lettering of my name. And voila, what used to be an old and worn-out pad became new. In a commercialized world, recycled things may have no place. New items are in things. But there is always beauty in the old when experienced from a new perspective.

As Jesus bid His apostles a farewell, He gave them a new commandment: “I give you a new commandment: love one another. I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” God's commandment of love is not really new. The Old Testament cites it a number of times (cf. Dt 6:5, Lev 19:18). However, what can be new in this new commandment? The eve of His passion and death points to a new reality of this age-old commandment of love: “As I (Jesus) have loved you.” This is new! For us to understand what is new in this commandment, it is imperative to ask: How does Jesus love us? Experiencing this love can guide us to fulfill the new commandment He gives to us.  

Jesus’ love is lucid, overflowing, victorious even in the midst of hate and indifference, and everlasting.

God's love is lucid as it is manifested in our life, in the things he had created for us, in the people he sends in our life. Jesus' love is concrete. It is made clearer as He dwells among us; the Emmanuel, the God who is with us. When He saw hungry people, He fed them. When a sick person approaches Him, He healed Him. When a sinner goes to Him, He forgave his sins. His love is made clearest when He offered His life for us. Jesus did not remain a Word. His love did not merely become a divine expression. He was made flesh. His love is an action. 

God's love is overflowing, as on the cross Jesus embraced the entire creation, not only the righteous but most especially the sinners. His love is for everyone. Thus, the apostles would go to the ends of the world to preach about this love. They were not confined in Jerusalem nor to the Jews alone; to one set of people chosen by God. After all, the selfless love of Jesus is uncontainable. It is something that moves us to share it as it realizes its purpose through sharing and not keeping it selfishly. 

His love for man is victorious. The pinnacle of Jesus' love is evident on the cross; a love that is ready to die for His beloved. In His wounds and death, love triumphs. Perhaps, hanging on the cross, Jesus died not in total agony and utter misery, but with joy and satisfaction, knowing He had realized the will of the Father to communicate to man the endless and selfless love of God. Motivated by the same love, three days after, He would rise from the dead, crushing sin and death in a definitive way; through selfless love for others.  

His love is everlasting. God is eternal, and so is His actions and deeds. Though two thousand years may have passed since He made that sacrifice out of His love for man, that love is still felt and experience to this day.

 Difficult? Yes. To be fully transformed by the love of God entails hardship; such as shedding the old to assume a new identity. We are transformed as we meet and experience love. We change, if not for the better, for good. True love transforms us; as a lady is transformed into becoming a mother as she loves her child; as Peter is transformed from being a fisherman to a shepherd. BINABAGO TAYO NG PAGMAMAHAL! As we experience Jesus' love, we are transformed to becoming the persons whom God meant us to be: To be bearers of His image. We are to love like Jesus; to share the same love He shared to us. It is this love we ought to imitate, for it is this love that we have received since the beginning. It is in this love that our true identity lies as God's children; as Jesus' true disciples.

As we imitate the selfless love of Jesus, we too suffer as He did. In the face of trials due to our love for God and one another, God sends people and inspirations that will strengthen us whenever we are discouraged to pursue this kind of love. Paul and Barnabas, in their missionary journey of sharing the love of Jesus to the Gentiles, were an encouragement for the Gentiles to pursue this love. They did so by imitating Jesus; by loving others like Jesus. They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, "It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:21-27). Wounds mark Christian discipleship, just like those of Jesus, which He had gained because He loved, even if it meant laying down His own life for man.  

Through this new understanding of the commandment of love, love that is ready to die for the beloved, love that is ready to suffer, love that is transformative however painful the change may be, we will be able to glorify the Father, as the Son glorified the Father through Jesus' transformative love of humanity. Through this love imitated by us, God continues to be present among us. Through Jesus' brand of loving shared by us to others, we become Jesus' living signs in this world. Indeed, by loving like Jesus, God is glorified and so is man, for through it, man gains a glorious identity: “This is how all will know that you are my disciples: by your love for one another.”