What I’m Thinking: Great Love

Jesus commanded his friends to love one another as much as he had loved them. Curiously, they didn’t ask how much he loved them. They seemed to know.

Would that we could know as well!

Here’s a transcript:

It’s Holy Week at Church of the Holy Cross, and although I am thinking about Easter Sunday, first I’m thinking about Maundy Thursday; “maundy,” from the Latin word “mandatum.” It means “commandment.”

It refers to Jesus’ words in the thirteenth chapter of John’s Gospel (John 13:1-17, 31b-35): “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

I’ve often wondered what it was that kept that rather strange group of people together as they followed Jesus from Galilee to Judea and sometimes back again. The fishermen, the tax collector, the wanna-be rebels, the women: what was it that made them leave homes and families and stay with Jesus? I don’t think it was just the stories. I don’t think it was just the miracles.

I think it was the love: A love that the Gospel writers tried their best to put into words, but I love that I suspect was deeper and greater than words.

In Holy Week, we raise up the love of Jesus, a love so great that it went all the way to the cross. But I think it’s comforting to know, here in the thirteenth chapter of John, with the shadow of the cross still fuzzy and undefined, that Jesus’ followers already knew how greatly he loved them.

And may we, groping through these ancient words, also know how much Jesus, how much God, how much the Holy Spirit loves each one of us.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below; I’d love to hear from you.