Gospel May 17

John 15: 9-17

"This is my commandment - that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12

Christianity is one - sided. It is about loving others - and if we love others as Christ lived us then the benefits flow to others, and the pain flows to us.

This would not be so in an ideal world - for in utopia everyone would be pouring love upon others. Our experience in the here and now tells us that it is not so.

So what do we do? We hedge around the loving. We include discipline as part of love (and so it is), but our discipline is often far more aggressive and brutal that the discipline the Jesus dispensed. His discipline was a rebuke, or the offering of a choice. Choosing to go another way - with its own temporal and eternal consequences - would involve punishment enough. People were allowed to make their own choices. The young man who was very rich walked away sad, because he could not give away his wealth. Jesus let him go.

Our discipline, on the other hand is often brutal and damaging. Christendom contains too many examples of individuals, organizations or even governments that have compelled obedience to a 'Christian ideal' by force. No doubt there may be times when war is justified, but such occasions are no doubt far fewer that the number of times one group or country has decided to impose its will and desires upon another.

On the personal level obedience to Jesus' commands means that we love one another no matter what it costs. Doors are left open when relationships falter, respect and courtesy mark every interaction, forgiveness is freely offered, and the best interests of others are always sought.

Jesus approach was one of invitation, not compulsion. The right of choice was always left to the individual. Those in whom the nature of Christ can be seen must not force their will on others. Rather, by our life and our love, we must reveal the way of Christ and invite others to join us on this way.