God Is Love

 

Reflection on Today's Readings, 6th Sunday of Easter, Year B, May 9th, 2021
Texts: Acts 10:25-26.34-35.44-48; Ps. 98:1-4; 1John 4:7-10
John, in today's second reading, reminds us that it is love that makes us like God, that is, to love is to be godly. To be godly is to be like God, it is to manifest God, it is to reflect God by our ways of life. He tells us to love one another because love is of God. This is a call to desire things that are of God, things that are godly. Another variant of this call is: "Be holy for I am holy" (Lev. 19:2; 1Pet. 1:16). John simply tells us, today, that we are to be like God in the way we live our lives. This once again reminds us of our destiny. We have only one destiny: to be like God. To be like God is the goal of our existence. One way to be like God is to tread the path of love. Hence, he says, "Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God"
When we say that love is of God, it also means that we cannot talk of love without God. If we want love we should rather seek God. Where there is no God there cannot be love. This means where there is no God there is no love. If there is no love in our society, it is because we have lost God. If there is no love in our family, it is because we have abandoned God. If hatred fills our hearts, it is because there is no God in our lives. If there is no love in society, it is a sign that we need to search for God. If there is no love in our family, it is a call to search for God. If hatred fills our hearts, it is a call to search for God.
John reaches the climax of his associating love with God, when he says, "God is love". God is love because it is in His nature to love; love is part of what makes who He is. This means love is part and parcel of what makes Him God; we should not conceive Him without love. To say that God does not love is to say nothing or it is to be out of one's mind; for to be God is to love. "To love is to will the  good of another" (CCC no. 1766). God wills the good of man and every other creature. God created everything to be good; everything He created  was good.
John sees love as that which gives and sacrifices. Love manifests in giving and sacrificing for the sake of others. Hence, John says, "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins."
It is love that connects us to God and for this John says, "he who loves is born of God and knows God." Love becomes that which identifies us with God. By our love for others, we are known as the children of God; we are known to belong to God. If I claim to be child of God and yet I do not love, my claim is not true, it is false; I am lying. The more we love, the more we authenticate our status as the children of God.
Today's gospel reading also invites us to love. The gospel calls us to love our children so that they in turn we love others. It is the love we show our children that they show outside and also to one another. If we love our children, they will love one another and also love outsiders. This is clear in the words of Jesus: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you". This words of Jesus also assures us of His Father's love. It simply means we enjoy in Him the love of the Father. This means to be loved by Him is to be loved by the Father, to come to Him is to come to the Father, to know Him is to know the Father; He is what the Father is. After the assurance of Father’s love through Him, He says, "abide in my love." In another words, enjoy my love.
Jesus, in the gospel, attempts to tell us that we enjoy in Him the same love the Father has for Him. By our faith in Jesus Christ, the Father loves us as He loves Jesus Christ. This means in Jesus Christ we are made special children of God. This affirms the words of St. John: "But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God" (1:12). He reemphasizes once again the model of the relationship  between Him and the Father in the words that follow thus: "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love." Here He tells us how to abide in His love: to keep His commandments. If we want to enjoy  the love of Christ, we are to keep His commandments.
The keeping of His commandments makes His promises come to pass and our hope in Him fulfilled. For this, He says, "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." His joy in us is full when His promises come to pass in our lives and our hope in Him fulfilled.
Jesus goes further to tell us what His commandment is. He says, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." We are to love others as He has loved us, not as we want. The way He has loved us is by laying down His life for us. Hence, we are to lay down our lives for one another. This means we are to live for one another, we are to live for others.
God has no favourite among those who love Him; before Him we are all His children. Hence, in today's first reading, Peter says,  “Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” God gives His Spirit to all who love Him and His Spirit in us makes us equal and one.

Lord our God, we bless You for the love You have shown us, grant that we may make the keeping of Your commandments our joy. Amen.

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke