Jn 13:31-33a, 34-35
31When [Judas] had left [the cenacle], Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32[If God is glorified in him,] God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. 33My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
34I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. 35This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The Love That Binds: Today’s gospel is part of John’s narration of the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples. John’s rendition of the Last Supper is different from those of the Synoptic gospels. The account begins by showing the meal already in progress, while Jesus’ sacramental words and gestures are not given. The absence of reference to any particular time and place reflects John’s desire that Jesus’ message be not only for the original disciples but for future believers as well.
Jesus’ HOUR—his passion and glorification—begins as Judas leaves the company to do Satan’s work. The time of glorification of the Father and the Son has arrived. In his life, Jesus has glorified the Father by being submissive to his will. Through preaching and SIGNS (miracles that show the deeper reality of his mission), Jesus has testified to his intimate union with the Father. He has always sought the Father’s glory, but he will give the Father the perfect glory by the obedient and loving sacrifice of his life. In turn, he, the Son of Man who has already been glorified by signs, now accepts his supreme glory of being elevated to the throne of the cross. The Son is glorified in his resurrection and ascension to the Father, which, however, entail death on the cross.
While bearing his own anguish, Jesus tenderly consoles his disciples about his immediate departure. The time of parting may set them into a crisis of loneliness. But though they cannot follow him, their separation will only be for a while. His last testament for them is a new commandment: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” This commandment will be the bond that will keep them together. It resembles what Jesus said after washing the feet of the disciples: “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do” (Jn 13:15). In the Old Testament, the gauge of love is the love of self. Now, Jesus makes himself the model and yardstick in loving one’s neighbor. His commandment is new because he has elevated the standard of love on his very own.
Jesus demonstrates to us a love that goes beyond oneself. By offering his life, he pushes love unto death—but then, unto life, for he lives! This is the love that should mark his disciples: a love that knows humility, a love that serves, but also a love that gives life!
One time, when money was tight, a man became angry when his little daughter “wasted” a roll of gold wrapping paper to decorate a box. The girl brought the gift to him and said, “This is for you, Daddy.” He was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but raised his voice when he found that the box was empty: “Don’t you know that when you give someone a present, there’s supposed to be something inside of it?” The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, “Oh, Daddy, it’s not empty. I blew kisses into the box. All for you, Daddy.” The father was crushed. He put his arm around his little girl and begged her forgiveness. Then he kept that gold box by his bed for years. Whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.