It is the eve of his execution.\u00a0 Jesus<\/b> is celebrating the last supper with his own disciples.\u00a0 He has just finished washing their feet.\u00a0 Judas has already made his tragic decision, and after taking the morsel from Jesus\u2019 hands, he is gone to do what he has got to do.\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus says aloud what they all are sensing, \u201cMy children, I will be with you only a little while longer.\u201d<\/p>\n
He speaks to them tenderly.\u00a0 He wants his last gestures and words etched on their hearts:\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI give you a new commandment:\u00a0\u00a0 love one another; as I have loved you, so you also should love one another.\u201d\u00a0 This is Jesus\u2019 will.<\/b><\/p>\n
Jesus speaks of a \u201cnew commandment.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 What is there that is new?\u00a0 The command to love one\u2019s neighbor is already part of the biblical tradition.\u00a0 Various philosophers, too, speak of loving brothers, sisters and all human beings.\u00a0 What is new is the way to love that is unique to Jesus<\/b>:\u00a0 \u201cLove one another as I have loved you.\u201d\u00a0 Thus, his way of love will be spread through his disciples.<\/p>\n
The first thing that the disciples have experienced is that Jesus has loved them as friends:\u00a0 \u201cI no longer call you servants \u2026.\u00a0 I have called you friends.\u201d\u00a0 In the Church we have to love simply as friends.<\/b>\u00a0 And among friends, equality, closeness and mutual support are cultivated.\u00a0 No one is above anybody.\u00a0 No friend lords it over his friends.<\/p>\n
Therefore, Jesus nips the ambitions of his disciples in the bud<\/b> when he sees them arguing about who is the first.\u00a0 The pursuit of self-serving prominence breaks friendship and fellowship.\u00a0 Jesus reminds them of his way:\u00a0 \u201cI did not come to be served but to serve.\u201d\u00a0 Among friends, no one should impose.\u00a0 Everyone has to be willing to serve and to collaborate.<\/p>\n
This friendship that is lived by the followers of Jesus does not give rise to a closed community.\u00a0 On the contrary, the cordial and friendly climate that exists among them makes them ready to extend welcome to those in need of it and of friendship.\u00a0 Jesus has taught them to eat with sinners and with the excluded and despised folks.\u00a0 He has rebuked them for dismissing children.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 community the bothersome are not the little ones, but rather the big grown-ups.<\/b><\/p>\n
One day, the same Jesus who designated Peter as the \u201cRock\u201d on which to build his Church called the Twelve.\u00a0 He\u00a0placed a child in their midst, hugged it, and said to them:\u00a0 \u201cWhoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.\u201d\u00a0 In the Church that Jesus wants, the least, the most fragile and most vulnerable have to be the center of everybody\u2019s attention and concern.<\/b><\/p>\n
Jos\u00e9 Antonio Pagola<\/b><\/p>\n
April 28, 2013
\n5\u00a0Easter (C)
\nJohn 13:31-33a, 34-35<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"