The commandment of Jesus to love God and to love one another
as we love ourselves is really a call to live in the Spirit of Christ. And,
living in the Spirit of Christ is to live according to the Law of Christ. There
is nothing contradictory in such a claim, for Jesus makes it clear that he did
not come to abolish the Law. He proves
it when he characterizes the two great commandments in terms of the whole law and the prophets. By this, Jesus means that love itself--both
of God and of neighbor—is at the root of the entire Mosaic Law and the
motivation behind all that the prophets uttered. This is what inspires St. Paul to make
the bold claim in his letter to the Romans that we should “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one
another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Rm 13:8).
Paul’s instruction calls attention to the power of love. Although we too usually think of the word “commandment”
in terms of power, we think in terms of obligation, not love. The Hebrew word
for “command”, however, is better understood as a directive. The verb form of directive has the additional
meaning of landmark. The ancient Hebrews traveled the desert with their flocks
in search of green pastures and water.
As a result, they relied on various rivers, mountains, and other
distinctive features as landmarks to give direction to their journey. This is what the verb “command” means in
Hebrew, to direct one on a journey.
This is the background and meaning of the command that Jesus
gives to his disciples. When Jesus says
to love one another as I have loved you, he means that love is the principle of
life itself, and therefore must be the principle that guides our way of life. We know we are on the right path when the
principle of love is the landmark by which we direct our lives, our actions,
and our decisions. Allowing ourselves to
be guided by the principle of love is the only sense in which we can live in
the Spirit of Christ. Our lives thus become
truly holy because we then imitate the holiness of God.
To say that God is holy is to say that God is always true to
himself, or in human terms, God is a person of integrity. That is, God is always and never anything but
God, and all that God does is always and completely consistent with who God
is. I AM who I AM, God tells Moses (Ex
3:14). God always tells the truth, always loves, always does good, always
creates beauty, is always joyful and faithful because God is love, God is
truth, God is beauty, God is unity, God is good, God is Holy.
Because God is holy, God invites us to be holy as well (Lv
11:44; 1 Pt 1:16). We are not alone in
our response to this invitation from the one true God, however. In our Profession of Faith, we say, “I
believe in the Holy Spirit.” We believe
that the Holy Spirit is a powerful creator who can and often does intervene in
the physical nature of human beings, and help us do things we cannot do
alone. We believe that the Holy Spirit
is the Great Inspirer, the Great Nudger, if you will.
The Holy
Spirit speaks to us in our hearts, in our minds, in our reflections, and
through the wisdom of others to transform our lives into lives based on the
principle of love.
How the Holy Spirit inspires us and participates in our lives
is different for each of us. There are
many gifts, but one Spirit. Send forth
your Spirit, Oh Lord, and each of us shall be created, each of us made new,
each of us transformed into persons who can lead better lives, overcome even
the most complicated difficulties, and who can love others and touch their
lives as Christ loves and touches each of us.
If we live in the Spirit, then let us follow the Spirit’s lead, as St.
Paul reminds the Galatians (Gal 5:25).
Sometimes, following the lead of the Holy Spirit calls for a
change of mind and heart toward God. We
change our minds about how to live, about what is important, what values will
motivate and guide our way of life. This
change of heart and mind then allows for a genuine life in the Spirit. Life in
the Spirit is a life focused on authentic good deeds. This is the message that Jesus preached long
ago. It remains a call to follow him, to
live a certain kind of life, to be a certain kind of person. The decision to follow Christ is a decision
to be a person who is led by the Spirit to be loving, kind, patient,
understanding, merciful, and just towards others, especially the poor and
vulnerable members of society. To live
in the Spirit of Christ means to live a life of integrity rooted in the
commandment to love God and to love one another.
