My friends, today I would like to begin with a line from the gospel selection that I just read for us: “I give you a new commandment – love one another as I have loved you.”  I have read this line from Scripture many times before, as you probably have too; but this time it struck me differently than it ever did before.  I want to therefore, lift up for us the word, “new” to reflect on today. 

   If this commandment is “new,” that says to me that it is not one that the people listening to our brother Jesus would have been “practicing” already!  This reminds me of a scene from my favorite story of the “life and times” of Jesus of Nazareth, done so well, I feel, by Franco Zeffirelli. 

   In this scene Jesus is sitting with a group of Jewish priests and “higher-ups,” and Jesus asks Joseph of Arimathea, “what is the heart of the law?” Joseph, in Jesus’ estimation, “answers well!”  “The heart of the law is this, love God with all your heart, soul and mind – this is the greatest commandment,” continues Joseph.  Jesus then replies, “there is another commandment, no less great, love your neighbor as yourself!” 

   At this point in the film, another man from the Sanhedrin proclaims, “but who is my neighbor?”  Enter a woman known as, “a local prostitute,” and our brother Jesus ministers to her showing his brothers present and us today, what, “love of neighbor” looks like.  Basically, that love must extend not just to those who, “love us back” – that’s easy, right?  No, this love is something we must at least attempt to, “extend to all, especially the least among us!” 

   So, my friends, our brother Jesus is giving us a new commandment.  He continues to his faithful twelve – “You will know that you are my disciples if you truly love one another.” 

   I think for many in this world, if not all of us, it is much easier to “love God,” who in God’s completeness, none of us have ever seen, than it is to love “neighbors” who come in every visage, shape and form.  That is why, I believe, God, in God’s goodness sent Jesus to first name that, yes, “we should love God,” but that we can’t truly love God, without at least, “attempting” to love those we encounter each day.  As a reality check, you will notice that I used, “attempt to” love, to make it clear that this truly can be difficult to do at times. 

   In such situations, “attempting to love,” when we find that hard to do, I do two things.  First, I try to love that which God has seen from the beginning in each of us, all the good that we are capable of…  This doesn’t mean that we should, “love or affirm,” the personal actions of others that are clearly against love.  And, in fact, when we do see actions that are against love,  we should speak out – saying nothing because we don’t “want to get involved, or we want to keep the peace, or unity” among our chosen group, simply, as we might say in present day parlance, “doesn’t cut it,” especially if on the other hand, we want to claim, “that we love God.”  It is at times like this, others might say of us, “we are better than this.” 

   Secondly, when all else seems to fail, with my best efforts, I ask Jesus to love them through my less than perfect actions. 

   Looking then to the other readings for today, from Acts first, we see Paul and Barnabas not only initially setting up churches in Turkey and throughout the Greek world, but that they extended pastoral care by visiting again and again to check on how they were doing.  Additionally, we know that when visits weren’t possible, Paul wrote letters so that his “young” flock, would not feel, “alone.”  Paul seems to use every “tool in his box” to share the Good News – extending his work, and inviting Gentiles, those not of the Jewish faith, when the Jews proved to be, not interested. 

   I am touched by our God’s loving care for the people depicted in each of the readings today.  In the 2^nd reading from Revelation, we hear that, “God will wipe away every last tear, and that death and mourning, crying and pain will be no more.”  And our God also says, “see, I make all things new.” 

   So, from our Creator God, to Jesus, our Revealer, we hear the message, that now we are being asked to do something, “new.”  Love God, yes, but love the people of this world too!  Of our brother Paul, we could say, “he showed persistence,” traveling and writing, trying to be present to those who named themselves in the early days, “The Way,” following as faithfully as they could, the message and style of Jesus. 

   We could, in my mind, use more spiritual leaders – bishops and priests, in today’s world, willing to persist as Paul did, doing something “new” as Jesus did, in order that, as Sister Joan Chittister is fond of saying, “the full message” of love could be preached.  I am so saddened when I see those “with the power,” both in Church and State, simply saying and doing nothing, because if not from them, then who will go for us, speak for us?

   My friends, the Easter Season is winding down in a few more weeks, and we are each invited and encouraged during this time to give back a portion of all that we have been given – we know that Paul was persistent in traveling overland an estimated 700 miles, and by sea, another 500 miles to do his “portion” – we know he experienced shipwrecks and more, yet he continued…  Our journey in our Christian lives, “walking the talk,” doesn’t have to be identical to Paul’s, but we do have to do that which is ours, loving our world and its people, in the ways we ourselves would like to be loved and cared for, and again, not always easy to do!  And, in all this “loving” my friends, remember to include yourselves in the care given – it’s a balance. 

Amen? Amen! Alleluia!