“Beloved, let us love one another,

because love is of God;

everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.

Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.

In this way the love of God was revealed to us:

God sent his only Son into the world

so that we might have life through him.

In this is love:

not that we have loved God, but that he loved us

and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.”

“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.

No one has greater love than this,

to lay down one's life for one's friends.

You are my friends if you do what I command you…

It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you

and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,

so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.

This I command you: love one another.”

I love the parallels of these two passages from the First Letter of John and the Gospel of John. While there is some legitimate debate as to whether or not the Gospel of John, the three epistles of John, and the Book of Revelation all share the same authorship, it is clear that the words, themes, and purposes of these five biblical books are common. In these passages, we see the ultimate and common theme of love. Love one another. On Jesus’s lips, this is a command. In the epistle, it is an admonition. In both cases, it is a response to God’s love for us. It is not that we have chosen Jesus, but that Jesus has chosen us. It is not that we have loved God, but that God has loved us. God has acted first. God sent his son to die for our sins. Jesus laid down his life for his friends, for you and for me. There is no greater love than this. It is his life for ours, that we may have life in his name. Because we have been loved, in such a complete and absolute way, we, too, must love. And not just in a feel good, milk toast, mushy way, but in the same way as Jesus has loved us. We must lay down our lives for each other. In small ways or in total ways, we must love. John even states, “Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.”

Last weekend, I had a wedding for a young couple who chose this gospel for their nuptial mass. It was, for them, the ultimate form of love. Practically speaking, their evidence of love was in their marriage of a University of Tennessee graduate to a University of Kentucky graduate. Blue and orange don’t mix, but love overcomes even the deepest divisions. Even more significantly, they understood love to be a verb, not just a noun, and to be expressed in concrete actions. Love is a sacrifice, not just a warm feeling. When commanded to love one another, it’s not just about the good feelings we have, not that those are unimportant, but it is about loving one another as Jesus has loved us. It is, specifically, about dying to ourselves so that others may live. Beautifully, we see this within the dynamic of families, parents and grandparents, sacrificing for their children and grandchildren. It goes beyond that, however. It is expressed, perhaps, in the phrase, “I go without so that you may have.” There is the rub. To love one another is not just from our surplus or excess, but it cuts to the heart of sacrifice. Can we put service before self, others before our own wants or needs? Will we love as we have been loved? I believe we can! “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God.”