Fifth Sunday of Easter (C)

No greater love a man has than to lay down his life for his friend.
Jn 13:31-33A, 34-35

Context

Jesus just finished washing the feet of his disciples. He wanted to show them that his love for them is a love of service.

Judas rejected the love of Jesus. He went ahead with his plan to betray Jesus.

Discourse

In John’s gospel, the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus is referred to as his glorification. With the departure of Judas, the glorification/passion of Jesus began.

Jesus calls his disciples “my children”. In the Old Testament a patriarch leaves his last testament or message before dying. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are recognized as the patriarchs of Israel. Here Jesus does the same. He leaves them his last testament which was: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” And how did Jesus love us: “No greater love a man has than to lay down his life for his friends.”

Story

Steve and Mark were brothers. Steve was 12; Mark 10. But Steve had polio. Like any ordinary brothers, they also had their quarrels. But they never went to sleep at night without settling their quarrel they had during the day. They were very close to one another. In spite of this, there were times that Steve felt envious of Mark, especially since Mark had two good legs.
One night Steve had a dream. He found himself in a forest. It was dark. He heard the call of the wild animals. He was very frightened. But a long way ahead, he saw a light. As he drew nearer, he saw that it was coming from a cave.

He went inside the cave. He saw a fire crackling there. He approached the fire toe warm himself. Then suddenly out of the shadows there emerged a man with a long white beard and wearing a long robe. He introduced himself as the guardian of the forest. He told Steve that he was granting him one wish. He did not have to think long. He wished for a pair of good legs. “Very well then.” The old man threw his cloak around Steve.

When the old man removed his cloak, Steve found himself in bed. His brother Mark was sleeping soundly at the other bed. The man lifted the blanket of Mark, thereby exposing his legs. “What are you doing?”

The Old Man explained that he was going to give him Mark’s legs and mark would get his legs. At that moment, Steve saw himself running. Jumping, climbing and doing all sorts of things that he could never do before. And he was so happy at the thought of that. But then he also saw Mark with shrunken legs, sitting at a distance watching him enjoy himself. His joy turned to sadness. No! He could never allow that to happen.

Steve looked at the Old Man. “Thanks. I’d like to have a good pair of legs. But not if Mark is going to suffer for it. No. Thank you. I’d rather remain like this.”

Stever woke up the next morning. The sun was high. He looked at his little brother, Mark. He remembered the dream. From that day onwards, he never felt envious of Mark and loved him more than ever.

Conclusion

Perhaps we may never be called to give up our lives for those we love. But cer-tainly, there will be times when we will be called to make a sacrifice for them. When that time comes, our love will be tested. And then we shall know if our love is real or not.