As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem, and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. Luke 24:28-35

I remember it clearly although it happened decades ago. I was going on fifteen and just returned to school after a month of vacation. In Singapore, we have a month of vacation in June. It is not really summer holidays because it is summer throughout the year in our tropical island. Something happened to me during my vacation. At that time, I wasn’t an Anglican yet. My good friend had recently became one and he invited me to witness a baptismal service. The local Anglican Church had a practice of baptizing adults in the sea, after all we lived on a island. It was an overnight affair. The church rented a small cottage and had a mini retreat prior to the sacramental event. It was during this evening of prayer and contemplation where I felt for the first time of my life the reality of God in a deep and personal manner. I remember going home from the event feeling that something new had happened in my soul. I had spent my whole life involved in the church. I had attended countless catechism lessons. I watched countless Jesus’ movies and felt emotional whenever our Lord was crucified. I recited the Creeds from memory. I went to confessions regularly. However, I never felt like what I left that day at the baptismal retreat despite having all these religious baggage. I did not know what to make of the whole experience. It was something new. Vacation eventually got done and I went back to school a little different. I did not try to be different. I was trying to figure out what was happening to me. My friends noticed the difference. They let a few days pass and thought maybe it was just a phase. Days turned into weeks and they noticed that this new thing was perhaps something permanent.

One day in the school canteen, a close friend of mine who is a Muslim decided to get right to the matter. He asked what was happening to me. I was honest with him. I told him that I wasn’t quite sure myself. I shared my experience. I told him in simple words that a God who was once remote and distant now seems to be a someone close and real. He opened up and shared about his own spiritual experiences. At that moment, all barriers were torn down between us. We were two teenage boys transported from our temporal reality and brought to encounter something eternal. As we talked, we felt a fire burning in our hearts. Neither of us were trying to convert each other. We just shared about this fire in our souls. Not too long ago, I briefly reconnected with this friend. Both of us live in different continents now. We, like most people, have aged considerably and yet, we remember that moment as if it was yesterday. It is something that will live eternally in our hearts. A fire was ignited in our souls which only God had the match to light. Neither of us did anything for it to happen. It just happened through the grace of the Living God.

The two men on the way to Emmaus were apparently disciples of Jesus. There is nothing explicit in the story itself. We are never told if they had previously followed Jesus or not. We are just told that they were extremely perturbed and saddened by the events that happened. When Jesus asked them about the events, the evangelist records that they were saddened by the remark. It is understandable. When we are sad, we want to the whole world to cry with us. These two men were deeply concerned with everything which had happened to Jesus. However, they failed to recognize Him. The evangelist states that their eyes were kept from recognizing him. Some would say it was God who closed their eyes. This would be rather strange seeing that the God Incarnate was there right next them. Why would He keep them from recognizing Him while at the same time revealing Himself to them? Perhaps it was their personal worries and concerns. Perhaps it is another case of the Martha-Mary incident where one was so busy with the event that she forgot the guest of honor. However, in the case of these two men, there is a major difference. They had just witnessed an event which devastated them to the core. Martha was merely distracted with things that needed to be done. However, these two sensed that the world had lost something special and important. Their distraction flowed out of something deep within their souls. Their world had just slipped into a endless abyss of desperation and hopeless as only Light of Hope was murdered. This feeling is something most of us can appreciate in our present times. We are living in times where it seems like we are slipping into chaos on a daily basis. It seems like the world is bent on destroying all things good and sacred. Sometimes all these thoughts and worries, as legitimate as they may seem, might blind us from seeing the Risen Christ walking just next to us.

Some may claim that we are living in an unique period of history. They usually claim this in the negative sense. We can be never sure if this period is worse than any period before us. We tend to look back into past with a romanticized perspective. We don’t know what it was like back then but we do know what it is like to be living in this present moment with its fragility and vulnerability. We are seeing people deliberately embracing a path of self-destruction. We find ourselves walking alone on our personal road to Emmaus. Like the two men, it is easy for us to be so disturbed that our souls are laden with sorrow and pain. All these things can keep us from seeing that something good and wonderful is happening. I don’t mean this in a way like those who promote adopting a positive outlook on life. I find those people unhelpful. I am talking about understanding the meaning of Easter. The Resurrection story is one of Hope. It tells us that nothing truly good can be destroyed by the ignorance and wickedness which assails us. However, it is possible for us to be overwhelmed by these negative things and miss seeing the power of the Resurrection being manifested in our midst.

Maria spent a long time with us yesterday. She talked for the most part and we listened. We didn’t mind. It was nice to see her being enthusiastic about life. Maria is one of the young women who had been homeless since she was 8. Her mother has serious mental problems. For a long time, we thought Maria also suffered the same illness. We still think she does. Anyone who had seen Maria in the past would have said that there was no hope for this young girl. She was either extremely reserved or hostile. In fact, in the past, she would only talk to us to try to finagle some money from us. She would even be mad and aggressive with us when we refused to give her any. Needless to say, she was a disagreeable person.We were convinced that she was incapable of making any lasting relationship. Maria has changed today. The woman who spoke to us yesterday was someone full of Life. She is very articulate. She has fire in her soul. I am not saying that her situation has changed. She is technically homeless but lives in a shelter. She has been clean from drugs for months. She told us that she did it for herself. She recognizes that everything she learned about Life and most importantly, Love, was in the streets. She had never lived in a home before. Her mother never showed her love. She discovered what it was to love in the streets. In her words, she said that she learned how to eat and drink in the streets. In other words, her mother never provided the basic needs for her life. However, she also learned some self-destructive habits in the streets. Now, she has to learn to discern between the two. When she spoke, we felt a joy of hope. We felt that despite the darkness and hopelessness which surrounds us, God is able to bring genuine Hope into the lives of these young people. Maria is not holding on to false promises. She does not have impossible dreams. She just has one conviction; Love will help her find her way. For many years, her eyes were kept from seeing this undying Love present in the streets. Something or someone opened her eyes. She is able to see clearly. It doesn’t mean that in the future she won’t fall and slip into desperation. She is human. However, the Resurrected Christ will be present. Maria may need help to be reminded in the future and she can take refuge in the warmth of the fire of those who can see the Resurrected Christ alive in their midst.

There is a lesson I learned listening to Maria yesterday. The world might be constantly slipping into chaos. However, nothing can hinder the Risen Christ from walking next to us and making our hearts burn with zest for Life. There is nothing we can do to ignite this fire. There was nothing we did that made Maria realize that she is loved despite being abandoned at such a young age. We could have told this when she was younger. In all likelihood, she would have responded in a hostile manner. Only Jesus kindles this flame. All we can do is to testify with our lives that this fire is real and is burning in our hearts. Those who need its warmth will come close to us. Wherever the Risen Christ is present, hearts will burn with hope and love.

Therefore, we need not be burdened with the darkness that seems to envelope us. The Risen Christ has conquered death. Maria just reminded me of that yesterday. There is hope even when things appear hopeless and lost. He has conquered all hopeless and chaos. We know this because He is Risen.

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’ John 20:26-29

Recently a young person in our local church was a little perplexed by a book she was reading. The author is a prominent Christian leader in the evangelical circles. I don’t think it is necessary to mention his name. I don’t have anything against him except that his ideas did not bring comfort to this young person. She recently joined our church and we found her to be very sincere and determined in her desire to follow Jesus. The author stated that in order to fully trust God it was necessary for followers to be radical in their faith. I have no problems so far with his statement. However, he went further to define that trusting God means not having any retirement plan or any kind of financial safety net and depending completely on God to provide for the future. I am sure that many reading this would find this statement rather unsettling. Needless to say this perturbed our young friend. It made her doubt about her own faith and whether she is able to trust her life into God’s hands. For her, it is a huge risk. She does not come from a financially secure family. She worked hard to get to a point of financial independence. She likes her independence and wants to ensure that she continues to have this in the future. She is just like a majority of sincere Christians in the world. However, this author, I am sure who has good intentions, has thrown something into her path that made her doubt about her place in God’s kingdom.

We can imagine her dilemma. It is not a strange feeling for many of us. We might be constantly assailed by these doubts, taking many shapes and forms. Many times people think doubts have to do with questioning God’s existence. However, for the most part, It is mainly about ourselves. We might think that we don’t have enough faith to just make the cut. Sometimes we hear stories of people having stupendous spiritual encounters and we might feel left out and even question if there is something wrong with our faith. Thomas the apostle must have felt that way. Imagine being the only one not seeing the Resurrected Lord. It wasn’t just a great miraculous event. It was a major transformative event that would changed anyone who experienced it. Thomas was the only one who was left out.

I am not going to reflect on the nature of Thomas’ doubts. I have done this many times in the past years. However, I do want to reflect about the sense of spiritual insecurity we feel when we think we are excluded from what we perceive as a spiritual blessing. This is something which is relevant for our ministry among the homeless. All our young people feel like that they have missed out on something special God is doing in this world. Many times they believe that it is because of who they are or a lack on their part. Unfortunately, there is never a lack of people pointing their finger at our young homeless people and saying that they missed God’s blessings due to their own fault. These so-called Christians forget that all our encounters with God occur through the grace of God. None of us have done anything to deserve these encounters. None of us can do anything to merit these encounters. It is only through the grace of God. It was through God’s grace that the Resurrected Christ appeared to the apostles. None of them deserved this special visitation. To the contrary, they wouldn’t have blamed Jesus if He had ignored them altogether and moved away from Jerusalem after He resurrected. After all, the city murdered Him. The apostles knew that they did not stand by Him at the Cross. They were justifiably afraid for their lives. Their faith did not enable them to walk on the waters of chaos. They swam away in fear and hid in a safe place. Their faith was weak. The Risen Lord appeared to them anyway. He forgave them on the Cross and His appearance to them sealed this forgiveness for eternity.

Thomas, unfortunately, wasn’t there. Perhaps he thought that he was lacking something. He needed reassurance. Just like the young person in my church; just like our young people living in the streets; just like all of us. We all need to be reassured that we are included in the group who is able to see the resurrected Christ and be included in this great thing that is happening. The only thing that can reassures us is a personal encounter with the Resurrected Jesus. Nothing else would suffice.

Thomas was actually in a better position than us. Jesus pointed this out to him. He could physically touch the Resurrected Christ. We don’t have this privilege. We are the ones who have to believe without seeing. However, this does not mean that we have to believe without concrete evidence. Believing something blindly without any proof is blind faith. I don’t believe this is what Jesus meant. I believe that we have ample evidence to know that Jesus is Risen and Alive. The thing is that the evidence is there but we need faith to recognize it; Faith, not verbal persuasions nor social pressure nor a religious coercion. Faith is a recognition of a truth that includes our intellect, our emotions, and our entire being; body and soul.

Our faith helps us to embrace the complete human experience. In this world, there is a tendency to divide the human being into different parts. There are so-called “truths” that appeal solely to the emotional aspect of our humanity. They are speak of things that invoke our sentimentality. This is the most common tactic today, unfortunately employed by many churches. They preach a message appealing solely to the emotions. There are those who think too highly of their reasoning power and refuse to believe anything except things which can be proven materially. They forget that are things in Life which make Life joyful and meaningful cannot be reduced to mere physical nor emotional evidence. Love is a good example. Love is neither sentimental nor racional. It goes beyond all this and it always transform the persons involved. On the other hand, emotional and rational “truths’ lack this power to transform life. They just produce short-term changes. However, faith helps to identify and receive these life-changing presences in our lives and faith unites our emotional and reasoning aspects of our souls to act in unison to produce everlasting change in the way we live.

The apostles met the Risen Lord and their lives were transformed immediately. You cannot meet the Risen Lord and not be transformed. We can only meet the Risen Lord through faith. Thomas missed this event but he was surrounded by people who were transformed by this special event. He wanted what the apostles had but he also wanted assurance that he wasn’t left out. He wanted something more which none of the apostles had experienced. He wanted to touch the wounds of our Lord ensure that He was truly the Risen Lord. It turned out that it wasn’t necessary. The evangelist did not say that Thomas actually went through with his demand. Just the mere presence of the Lord sufficed for Thomas to be transformed and be the first the gospels to confess the divinity of Jesus.

We are not going to meet Risen Lord in the same way as Thomas. We will have to believe without sensory experiences or at least without the so-called five senses. However, it doesn’t mean that our encounters will be inferior to that of the apostles. As scripture as reminded us in Hebrews 13:8,

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.

This text, in all likelihood, was written by someone who never met Jesus personally. He or she came to know the Risen Lord the same way we, in our present times, will meet Him in our daily lives. The Risen Christ who ignited the faith of Thomas is the same for all seasons and times. There are no circumstances nor situations nor experiences to hinder Him from manifesting Himself to us. He is able and willing to meet us where we are spiritually and transform our lives in the same manner He transformed the lives of the apostles.

The Risen Lord meets us where we are. This is not restricted just to our spiritual space but also includes our human nature. We, as humans, are social creatures. We learn and acquire virtues and vices through our interactions with people. The Risen Jesus manifests Himself constantly through people. We receive the truth of the Resurrected Lord through the testimonies of people. They were by no means perfect people. They were just people who were constantly transformed by their encounter with the Risen Lord. They were people who were able to sense the presence of the Risen Lord through faith in their daily lives. After all, we do not serve a God who is dead and buried. He has Risen from the dead and active in our midst. We have a long list of people in the history of our faith who reflected the living Reality of our Resurrected Christ. We also have people in the present who reflect this reality. They are not found in high places nor in social media nor on television. We can see the truth of the Resurrect Lord in their lives. God always meets us where we are. He places people in our lives to reflect the reality of the Risen Christ. These people are close to us where we can touch and feel His presence like Thomas was able to touch and feel the presence of our Lord. However, we need to have faith like Thomas did in order to encounter the Risen Christ.

Thomas kept company with those who were transformed by the Risen Lord even though he himself was assailed by insecure thoughts. He chose to remain with those who were touched by the Risen Lord and transformed.

I told the young person to forget about giving up her financial security. Maybe her desire for financial security is an obstacle or maybe it is not. She needs to sense this from the Risen Lord and not from someone who has no commitment nor responsibility towards her. Besides, we cannot earn the right to meet the Risen Lord with our actions. All we can do is offer our souls and bodies as living sacrifices and wait. The Risen Lord will meet us where we are spiritually. Once we meet Him, the reality of the Resurrection will fill our hearts with confidence. Then we won’t be afraid to die to ourselves daily because we know that God will raise us and transform us into something new and great. We will have the confidence to do things that perhaps we thought we were beyond us. The Risen Christ will give us the necessary strength to overcome obstacles in our lives. He will guide us to a place where we can see His Living presence more clearly, where there is always hope and joy. We see Him in the street and we are always filled with joy and hope. His presence gives the boldness to testify to the world;

Christ is Risen indeed!

Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. Luke 23:34

Sometime ago I ventured into Nietzsche’s philosophy and I read his masterpiece, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Anyone who knows this philosopher will tell you that this is not the book to begin with when reading this rather intriguing philosopher. Anyway I read it. I did not understand it. It was just a little too much for my brain. However, there was a character in the book whom I found to be extremely interesting. He was known as the ugliest man in the world. He was a man who could not bear God’s scrutiny over his life. He desired to escape from God’s presence because every time he sensed the divine, he was aware of his hideousness. Finally he did the most despicable thing. He murdered God. Of course, Nietzsche was the self-proclaimed enemy of the Christianity. His thoughts on Jesus are rather complex. They tend to waiver between extreme admiration and something else. He chose to take a different route contrary to Christianity from this allegory. Nevertheless, the allegory is a powerful one. It is the Good Friday story. Humanity could not tolerate God’s presence because they did not like their reflection in His Light. They saw God face to face and they murdered Him.

There are several passages in the Old Testament where certain prophets desired to see God’s face. The warning is always the same. No one can see God’s face and live. God’s true identity reveals our own hideous nature and it causes our demise. However, it seems like the passion story in the gospels reveals something different. Humanity ends up killing God. They saw the face of God and they murdered Him like the ugliest man in the world. It seems like God died. Does this mean God was wrong in the Old Testament? Perhaps He was afraid to show His face because He knew that Humanity would seek to destroy Him?

In reality, we cannot murder God. We just murder ourselves in the process. Even Nietzsche, who was an ardent atheist, wrote that the ugliest man fell into a state of depression. Now, he was an orphan without a God, aimless in Life without any Hope.

God was brutally murdered. His crime was that He was God Incarnate who revealed the true nature of God. This is the only purpose of His Life on earth. He wanted to show God’s face to the world. However, whenever God is manifested, His judgment is also present. We cannot divide God into compartments. God is not a loving God in one instance and then a terrifying judge in another. He is One God. His presence manifests the completeness of His being.

Where God’s presence is manifested, there is judgment. It is not the kind of judgment we find in this world, where there are accusers who rightfully or wrongfully accuse us. God’s presence just reveals who we are. There are no accusations; just revelation. The Light of the world shines brightly to reveal everything and nothing is hidden in the darkness. For some, this is a blessing. The man in one of the gospel healing stories, who was a paralytic, found relief when his sins was revealed. Jesus revealed His sins not to condemn him but to forgive. Jesus identified that the burden of sin had paralyzed his whole life. He received his judgment with joy because He knew that the judge was loving. Remember the gospels always stated that Jesus was different from the rest of the religious teachers. He spoke the Truth. He gave people the courage to come forth and receive Healing. Many came and were healed from the heavy burden of sin. Unfortunately, many also prefer the darkness because they strive in it. It is working for them. They delight in their ugliness. For these, God’s presence is burdensome and tiresome. They did not want God’s presence in this world. They did not want His scrutiny. They did not want to know that sin has distorted their lives and made them hideous. They want to remove all reminders of it. The only way to do this is to remove God. However, if we try to remove God, then we commit suicide. Without God, we cease to exist. Our whole existence depends on God.

For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said, “For we too are his offspring.” Acts 17:28

The argument is a philosophical one. St Paul addressed a group of men who were interested in all things religious and philosophical. It was during the ancient times when there was no clear distinction between these two. However, it explains why in the Old Testament, God was so adamant in warning the people that they would die if they saw His Face. It wasn’t that God would kill them but the contrary was true. This is what we see in the Passion narrative. Humanity wants to kill God and in doing so, they end up destroying their own existence. Without God, nothing can exist. However, the world did not end at the Cross. Humanity murdered God Incarnate but it still continued in its existence. Nothing bad happened to humanity.

There are two options here for us. One is we could say that God doesn’t exist, that He is something we made up in our minds. This is the route Nietzsche chose even though he believed that Jesus was the most perfect man who existed. He did this in his convoluted manner. This option would require us to deny something deep and profound in our souls. It would require us to deny something in our souls seeking to be united with something higher and more powerful. In other words, the atheistic route would be a negation of an important aspect our spiritual makeup.

The other option which is essential for the Christian faith is recognizing God’s unconditional forgiveness. The greatest reveal at the Cross is that God’s presence judges but not the kind of judgment which condemns but forgives. Without forgiveness, we would cease to exist. Without forgiveness, there would be no humanity. There would just be death.

At the Cross, the words of forgiveness have become rather common knowledge. At least, common knowledge in terms of familiarity. The depth of their meaning is yet to be discovered. The verse tells us that Jesus utters these words and the soldiers continued to insult Him by dividing His clothes, completely oblivious to His powerful words. They were too obsessed in glorying in their hideousness. Nevertheless, they were included in the forgiveness. For many of us, especially Christians, this is hard to accept. We, as humans, understand forgiveness as a response to repentance. We cannot imagine forgiveness without a act of contrition. There might be some of us who are able to forgive someone without this action. However, our idea of forgiveness is something more beneficial for our own souls. We forgive someone to relieve ourselves from the burden of bearing grudges and carrying all the anger and hatred. None of these reflect the powerful words of Jesus at the Cross. This kind of forgiveness was unique. It is the kind of forgiveness only God can bestow upon us.

Only God can forgive us without confession. Only God’s eyes can penetrate into our souls and see our deepest desires, the kind of desires reaching beyond our sinful ones. The desire to be loved and known. God sees us and His Light reveals that we are going about the wrong way to fulfill profound desire. We are missing the mark but cannot see it. In our blindness, we continue to murder the only One who can fulfill our most deepest desire. Fortunately, there is unconditional forgiveness. He forgives us and refuses to retreat His presence from us.

The forgiveness of God is not a mere forgetting of our sins. His forgiveness means that His love continues to sustain despite our hard heartedness. The soldiers kept dividing his raiment among themselves but He still forgave them. The soldiers were still able to move and have their being in Him. God did not retreat His Life from them. In the same way, today God’s forgiveness rules in Life. It is unconditional but many walk through Life without realizing this unconditional Love. They go through Life as if they are abandoned and alone in this Life. They fail to see that God’s forgiveness walks with them every single moment in their lives. They fail to see because they are still dividing his raiment among themselves. They are lost in the world of their own self-hatred. Hatred towards God is really self-hatred because in the end, we just kill ourselves with this hatred.

However, Good Friday is not about hatred. It is about God’s judgment. He judged the world and He said, “Forgive them for they do not know what they do.”

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35

I have to admit. I am not a fan of the washing of the feet. I know that some people find it moving during the Maundy Thursday service. I am not one of these people. I always feel a little anxious whenever the celebrant calls people to the front to wash their feet. I get a little stressed out whenever this happens. It is not that I am worried that my socks may have holes and sometimes they do. It is just that I feel a little awkward. I mean it is not a custom in modern times or at least where we live to wash one’s feet. Besides, if I were to suggest doing this with one of our youth, they might be think that I am an odd fellow to say least. This does not mean we shouldn’t stop doing something just because it makes us feel awkward. I think liturgy should challenge us. It should make us think about how we live our lives. The symbols used should remind us of our higher vocation. There are many things in the liturgy of Last Supper which are challenging and speak directly to our present reality. Perhaps they might even be a little disturbing if we think about them more profoundly. I am referring to the new commandment.

As a young child I used to sing a Catholic hymn based on this commandment. Maybe some of you might know it. “They will know we are Christians by our Love, by our Love.…” Now that I am older, I have my fair share of experience with disagreeable characters, I find it a little harder to sing this hymn with the same enthusiasm. However, this commandment goes beyond just being patient with people who are not quite likable. Jesus is commanding us to love them like He did. The fact that He waited all this time to drop this bomb on his disciples was because He wanted to show them and us how to love exactly. It is not open to our personal interpretation of love. His Life is a living example of how this Love should be manifested. This is really the essence of Jesus’ ministry. He wanted to clear all misconceptions about God and Love. He came to reveal the true nature of God.
In the Old Testament, the people had an idea of a tribal God. They thought God’s actions were only favorable to one nation of tribes even though God had sent prophets now and again to remind them that He was a God who acted in all nations. However, they could not erase from their minds an image of God who was a warrior fighting political battles like a regular King. Their idea of God could be appeased with sacrifices and violence towards whomever they thought was against Him. Jesus taught us throughout His ministry that He came to fulfill the Law. The objective of the Law is to reveal the essence of God to all people. This new commandment is the consummation of this ministry. His passion operated on the basis of this New Commandment. It showed us how to face a world invested in dividing each other through hatred. Jesus, through His life and death, revealed to us a superior path. He commands us to do the same.

I recently read a disturbing comment by a so-called prominent Christian leader stating that this commandment was restricted to fellow Christians. In other words, we should only love fellow Christians as Jesus loved us. This interpretation relieves them from expressing love and compassion to anyone whom they deem as unworthy of God’s love. This is the spirituality of the Pharisee which Jesus told us time and again that we should supersede. Jesus is the standard. He loved people who were not Jews in His time. He attended to Syrophoenician woman and the Roman centurion. He welcomed people who were considered as outcasts. He even transformed a Samaritan woman with a dubious background into a prophetess to her community. The list goes on and on. Jesus, at the Last Supper, broke bread with Judas whom He knew was going to betray Him to a certain death. Judas might not have thought that Jesus was going to die an horrific death but despite this, betrayal is still an hurtful and hateful thing to do especially to someone who loved him unconditionally. Jesus did not refrain from washing Judas’ feet. There are some Christians who argue that Jesus did not wash Judas’ feet. I don’t understand why this is an issue. Jesus’ washing of Judas’ feet is coherent with our Lord’s lifestyle. He loved His enemies. St John Chrysostom gave an insightful interpretation of this action. He said that perhaps Jesus was hoping that this act of Love might convert Judas’ heart. Every act of Love is an act of evangelism. It is also an act to persuade our souls to look beyond our lives to discover true divine Love.

The thing about this Commandment is that is impossible for us to love one another like Jesus loves us. The bar is too high. In our ministry, we have some undesirable characters who also like our companionship in the streets. I cannot say that the feeling is mutual. To the best our abilities, we tolerate them. However, Jesus is not encouraging us to tolerate the disagreeable personalities of Life. He wants us to love them like He loves us. Jesus served without prejudice. He healed and restored the lives of many. However, only a handful returned to express their gratitude. The rest just left and maybe even forgot about our Lord. Jesus loved them nevertheless. We, as mere mortals, like to receive feedback. We want to love people who appreciate our efforts. Jesus loved unconditionally. Loving someone is difficult even when we like the people. People are complex and not always easy to love. The Holy Week liturgy reveals this to us. People can shift their opinions from enthusiastic love to complete hatred. This is not just something we read in the gospel passion. This reality is experienced in everyday life. I have known people who once upon a time loved working with the homeless youth. Their enthusiasm made us feel a little ashamed because we did not have their same zealous love. Then, we met these same people again and they seemed to have changed their position. They say hateful and hurtful comments about the homeless in general. People are complex which makes them even harder to love them like Jesus did. To make matters worse, Jesus said this Love would be the sign proving we are His disciples. In other words, we are not followers of Christ unless we love one another like He loved us. Neither our baptism certificate nor regular church attendance is going to prove that we are His disciples; only the presence of unconditional love in our lives.

On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?” Then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.” Matthew 7:22-23

Jesus, then, goes on to say;

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. Matthew 7:24

As wise people, we need to know how to construct our lives on this new commandment.

This new commandment is not something that came out of nowhere. It is the summary of our Lord’s ministry. He came to live among us to show us how to live our lives in this world. The unconditional Love that He freely bestowed upon us is not only for us but for the world. He wants to continue to testify to the world the everlasting presence of Unconditional Love in our midst. However, Love is not something which can be expressed in words. It cannot be reduced to doctrines nor some fanciful words of an eloquent preacher. Love is an action. It is something that we have to live out. Unconditional Love is not merely tolerating certain difficult people. Jesus did not tolerate people. He loved them with concrete actions. His Love was always active and never a passive nod to the idea of unconditional Love. However, all this still does not answer the question whether it is even possible for us to love like He did. The short answer is that it is humanly impossible. We need His divine presence to guide and empower us to love. It is difficult even to love those whom we find agreeable and pleasant. People are complex and Jesus loved them in all their complexities. The proof of this is one of His final words on the Cross,

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots. Luke 23:34

It seemed to me that they knew exactly what they were doing. However, Jesus was able to see beyond the obvious and many times we just see what’s in front of us. We need Jesus to guide and show us how to love one another like He loves us. The Eucharist reveals to us how. We need to constantly feed on His Life. His Life and words are powerful and living. They are not mere concepts but they are living words moving our souls to spring forth living waters. We need to be in the company of people who have been touched by the power of God’s unconditional Love and are willing and open to share this powerful Love with their lives and actions. We need to listen and obey the voice of the Holy Spirit who wants to use us to become instruments of Unconditional Love. The Lord’s Table is the symbolic place where all these necessary elements are united.

The Lord’s Table is where we come together and listen to the living words of our Lord and allow these words to transform our hearts so that we can live out this new commandment. It is humanly impossible for us to follow this commandment. However, we have Jesus to guide us. He will always be there waiting for us and all we need to do is to be willing and open to His unconditional Love.