Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Lectionary: 289

This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

The pandemic certainly throws an odd light on today’s familiar gospel. We have all known people who were a bit peculiar about human contact; those who would not shake hands, who never use a public toilet, or never dine out for fear of contagion. The pandemic threatens to turn everyone into haphephobics who fear human contact. Suddenly, those who touch others risk their lives and the lives of loved ones. The more they do it, the more certain the consequence. And yet we must touch one another; we cannot live without human contact.

Jesus gives us a new commandment as this new, unexpected future appears, “Love one another….” And he sets the standard for that love, “…as I have loved you.” 

Two things I have learned since becoming a hospital chaplain:

We human beings would not be here on this planet if we did not care for each other. We simply don't have the advantages most animals have. We cannot reproduce very fast. We have neither natural defenses like a shell, nor weapons like talons. We readily fall sick before exotic diseases and we have a curious habit of migrating from place to place, taking our diseases with us. And we're accident prone, especially because we walk on two legs rather than the more sensible four legs. Plus we're adventurous and often foolishly suffer accidents. 

But we take care of each other: the sick, orphaned, elderly, wounded, and disabled. We even take great care of the dying. We want to do it; we cannot stop caring for one another. 

Secondly, caring for others is dangerous. The sick are often contagious and their caregivers catch it. Also, those who are too weak to move need help and their caregivers are often injured by helping them move. Finally, they're needy. Some may require twenty-four surveillance. Caregivers risk burnout and are frequently hospitalized for exhaustion.

It takes a village to care for its own. Given our susceptibility to illness, we might ask one another, "If you're not caring for others in some fashion, what are you doing?"

"Love one another as I have loved you." Jesus laid down that commandment on the night before he died. His commandment was love, and then he demonstrated the standard by his death on a cross. 

As we deal with Covid-19, this strange, new illness which has appeared among us, we realize again, if we're not taking risks, we're not doing our job. Good enough will never be good enough. We must go the extra mile, lend our shirts when they ask for our jackets, and consistently, habitually turn the other cheek. 

You are my friends if you do what I command you.I no longer call you slaves,because a slave does not know what his master is doing.I have called you friends,because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.It was not you who chose me, but I who chose youand appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.This I command you: love one another.”