If You Love Me, It Will Show
Today’s Gospel comes from the Gospel of John, and it helps to remember where John’s community was when these words were written. John is the last Gospel to be written, probably around the year 100. The temple has been destroyed. The Ascension has already happened. Jesus is no longer physically present with them.
And so this early Christian community is hobbling along in the early days of the Church, asking very human questions. How do we live without the physical presence of Jesus? How do we connect to God now? We used to connect to God in the synagogue. We connected to God with the Torah. We connected to God with the temple. So what does it mean now to believe in Jesus? What does it mean to have eternal life?
These are not small questions. They are the questions of a community trying to survive, trying to remain faithful, trying to understand where God is when the familiar ways of meeting God have changed.
The Farewell Discourse
In these weeks, we hear from what we call the farewell discourse of Jesus. This happens during the Last Supper, on the night before Jesus dies. Jesus has washed the feet of his disciples. He says to them, “As I have done, you must do.”
That is a very important commandment. As I have served, you must serve.
Then Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment.” And that commandment is this: as I have loved you, you must love one another.
This is the final instruction Jesus gives his disciples. This is what Saint John wants us always to remember. When everything else feels uncertain, when the old ways are gone, when people are wondering how to connect to God, Jesus brings them back to love, service, and the life of the Spirit.
Many Dwelling Places
Last week, we heard those familiar words: “My Father’s house has many dwelling places.” And we talked about how that is not only about what happens when we die.
The Father’s house is the place where we encounter God. Jesus is telling this community that there are many places where we encounter God, not just in the synagogue, not just in the Torah, not just in the temple. There are many dwelling places.
Jesus is in the Father. The Father is in Jesus. We are in Jesus. And now we become one of those dwelling places. We become one of those rooms in the Father’s house. We become one of those places where people encounter God.
That is not meant to exclude people. It is meant to include this marginalized community that had been thrown out and told they no longer belonged. John is reminding them that when you lose the way, Jesus is the way. When you lose the truth, Jesus is the truth. When you lose your life, Jesus gives life.
If You Love Me
Now Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
And yes, we know how that phrase can sound. It is Mother’s Day, and Italian mothers are very good at saying, “If you love me.” If you love me, you’ll come over every Sunday for family meal. If you love me, you’ll go to church with me. If you love me, you’ll call me when you get home, even if you are only going five minutes down the block.
But John is not putting these words on the lips of Jesus to give us guilt.
When Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” he is saying something more like this: because you love me, it will be evident. It will be obvious in your life. You will naturally keep my commandments, not all on your own, but because the Holy Spirit dwells in you.
That is what motivates us.
Many of us grew up doing religious things out of guilt. We had to go to Mass every Sunday or else. We showed up, maybe tried to get there by the Gospel and leave after Communion, and figured it counted.
But that is not the best reason to go to Mass. We do not go to Mass to be entertained, though we do our best to stay alive and engaged. We come to give thanks and praise to God. We read a little Scripture. We sing a few songs. We participate in a meal. What a beautiful way to give thanks and praise.
And more importantly, we do what we do because we love God.
Loving the God We Cannot See
Our parish mission says it plainly: we love the God we cannot see by loving the neighbor we can.
That is what today’s Gospel is telling us. If we love God, then it has to come out of us. We have to see it in the way we love one another.
Scripture says they will know we are Christians by the way we love. Not by how much we talk. Not by how much we pray if prayer only becomes telling God what to do. Not by how well we can explain things. They will know us by our love.
So what does that love look like?
It looks like caring for people who are hungry. It looks like feeding our neighbors on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It looks like helping someone with a bike, because if you need to get to a job or simply get around and you have no way to get there, a bike can radically change your life.
It looks like showers. Clothes. Hygiene items. A little dignity. A little love.
It looks like standing with people who need a mental health diversion program and asking for a meeting until the meeting is promised.
It looks like the Care Portal ministry, where things many of us take for granted can radically change someone’s life. A chair. A sofa. A bed. Pots and pans. A table where someone can sit and eat a meal. We may not know what it is like to live without those things, but when those things arrive, a place can become a home.
That is what love looks like.
The Spirit That Remains With Us
The question Jesus leaves us with is simple and serious: “If you love me, you will keep my commands.”
And the command is love.
If we say we love God, then it has to show in how we love our neighbor. If our prayer is only telling God what to fix, then we may be missing it. We may be missing the Spirit, the Advocate, the Christ who remains with us.
Because the Spirit does not remain with us so that our hearts become harder. The Spirit remains with us so that love becomes visible through us.
We love the God we cannot see by loving the neighbor we can.
