Question of the Week
Gospel Reading: John 15:9—17
How can Jesus command us to love one another? Does that work?
In fact, love is under our control: we can love on command, but it doesn’t begin by willing ourselves to love. It begins by making ourselves understand that Jesus loves us, that he who is God—Creator and Owner of Everything—loves us enough that he is willing to do whatever it takes to free us from the mire we have gotten ourselves entrenched in, that he went to the limits of godforsakenness to reach out for us, because he loves EVERY ONE OF US. Therefore, everything that comes to us is from God’s loving hands. That’s step number one, which can be called Radical Acceptance.
Step number two is to let him who loves me be my boss. Little children say to one another, “You are not the boss of me.” Jesus is the boss of me. Whatever he says, that is what I want to do, which can be called Radical Availability. After we go through steps one and two, then we are at the point where we are able to love one another upon Jesus’ command.
Question: Where do I start?
