Most people would agree that an essential part of what it means to be human is our capacity to love. And while we may express in many forms what we consider love, is there something more there that meets the eye? Is there more to love than what we simply perceive and feel? Let’s take a closer look at why love is one of the fundamental elements of the Christian reality.
Welcome to answers from an apostolic faith.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
My beloved, it should come to no surprise to any of you that love is very much one of the most fundamental elements of the Christian life. Scripture reveals to us that Our Lord Jesus Christ taught that:
'' 37 (...) You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all [of] your soul, and with all [of] your mind.'' (Matthew 22:37)
And then He adds even:
'' 39 (...) You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'' (Matthew 22:39)
Our Lord even goes on to say that the entirety of the law hangs on these very commandments. But why is this the case? Why is love so essential? And is it possible that what our Lord defines as love is not always what we have in mind? Today, we want to dig a little deeper. We want to try to identify what the proper understanding of love is as a fundamental and key element in properly living out our Christian vocation. And so to this, I want us to spend some time identifying what love is not and then examine what we can learn from Scripture and the early Church in regards to what love actually is.
Among those who spoke of love in Scripture, none surpass St. John the Beloved who writes about it both in his Gospel account as well as his Epistles. The evangelist records Christ Himself teaching the disciples and explaining to them the importance of love. He goes on to explain that Jesus gave them a new commandment, one that would define the very foundation of their purpose and their discipleship. Let’s read together from John, chapter 13:
'' 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.'' (John 13:34-35)
Let's unpack this for just a moment. Christ is doing two very important things: 1) He's calling us to love as He loved and 2) He is saying that this is our love for one another that will serve as our identity. This, my beloved, is a radically different calling to love than what we are used to today. Allow me if you will, to paint a picture of what love looks like in today's fallen world.
We throw around the word love as if it had no meaning: I love this movie and I love ice cream, I love your dress... We express love through gift giving, through chocolates and flowers and teddy bears. We have a day in the year that is dedicated to love, which is more of a consumeristic ploy rather than an actual celebration of love. And finally and most unfortunately, love has become limited to mere feeling and emotion inside us. And because we assume that love is that chemical reaction within us, or that deep desire for something or someone, we then begin to express ourselves by saying things such as I’ve fallen out of love with so and so or the feeling of love has faded away. We even speak of love as if it was something that could be rekindled or jump-started.
According to today's standards, an act of love is limited to one where I make another person feel something positive. And while there is no denying that this can be part of the effects of love, we must realize that this is a very superficial understanding of all that love is meant to be. For the Christian person, the greatest expression of love was the incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His ultimate sacrifice upon the cross which He offered for the life of the world. If this becomes our standard, then we will very quickly realize that love needs to be redefined in our minds and our hearts if we truly desire to fulfill the commandments of God.
Beloved, let us step back and examine the love that we see expressed by our Lord for all of His creation. We do not believe in a God who simply feels strong emotion for us or where he desires simply to please us, no! St. Paul explains that the Eternal Logos of God deeply desired to come and save creation and:
'' 6 (...) did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but [He] made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.'' (Philippians 2:6-8)
And this is the love that we speak of in Christianity: a sacrificial, self-denying, self-emptying, kenotic, agape love. Also, I want you to notice that we do not simply say God loves us. St. John the Beloved says that God is love. This reveals to us that when we are called to love, we're not simply giving in to an emotional inclination of sentiment and feeling; rather, I'm tapping into God Himself. I'm participating in the life of the All-Holy Trinity when I chose to love as He loved. Now this, again, redefines so much. Love is not merely a reaction to
circumstance or a matter of mood or preference; love is a choice, and dare I say, it's a state of being.
Now, St. Cyril of Alexandria, he comments on this and explains that our calling to love is, by definition, the very expression that Christ Himself revealed to us during His time on earth. He explains that while the law of Moses clearly taught to love the Lord with all our heart, with your soul and your strength, what Christ now adds is of immense importance. Christ adds as I have loved you, you also love one another. A new standard is set. A new revelation of love has been demonstrated. Let's read together what St. Cyril teaches on the matter:
''The law of Moses mandated the necessity of loving our brothers as ourselves, yet our Lord Jesus (...) Christ loved us far more than he loved himself. Otherwise, he would have never descended to our humiliation from his original exaltation in the form of God and on [the] equality with God the Father, nor would (...) have undergone for our sakes the exceptional bitterness of his death in the flesh, nor have submitted to beatings from the Jews, to shame, to derision, [or] all [of] his other sufferings too numerous to mention. Being rich, he would never have become poor if he had not loved us far more than he loved himself. It was indeed something new for love to go as far as that! Christ commands us to love as he did, putting neither reputation, wealth or anything else before love [for] our brothers and sisters. If need be, we even need to be prepared to face death for our neighbor’s salvation as our Savior’s blessed disciples did, as well as those who followed in their footsteps. To them the salvation of others mattered more than their own lives, and they were ready to do anything or to suffer anything to save [the] souls that were perishing.'' (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary of the Gospel of John, 9)
This is St. Cyril's commentary on the Gospel of St. John.
My beloved, the matter is therefore very clear: love can only mean to share in the very life of Christ our King and our God. It is not limited to strong feeling or emotion, not limited to making others happy through words or gifts, but rather the real offering of our freedom, our being and even our lives for the sake of another. My beloved, this is the foundation on which all of our lives are built. This is how the world will know that we are His disciples: that we love the Lord and our neighbour as He has loved us.
Thank you for watching this video. Don't forget to watch our previous ones by visiting and subscribing to our channel. If you find this content beneficial, share it with your friends.
Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith.