John 15:12-14 "Love"

12"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. John 15:12-14

This is my commandment.... To Love One Another! What does that mean in the world in which we find ourselves? How is it that we, who follow Christ, are to respond to these words of our Savior in the midst of the geopolitical world in which we find ourselves?

Are Israel and Hamas bound to these words? Are Governor Blagoiavich and his appointee Mr. Burris bound to these words? Are President-Elect Obama and the financial wherewithal of this nation bound to these words? Are those of us who have wronged our spouses or children or family bound to these words? Are we who do not love as God has loved us bound to these words?

Is this not one of those New Testament passages that make us squirm as much as anything that we find in the Old Testament? I mean, at least for those who are uncomfortable with the Old Testament can claim that the blood and gore of the OT is much more "black and white" as the high standards to which God calls us in the New Testament, especially when we are commanded to LOVE others?!? Isn't that just Jesus' job?

Of course, we are asked to think about who it is that we are to love; especially when we remember that Jesus died for all of us, despite and in spite of who we are. So maybe, just maybe this passage is one of those that, when we follow it, will make us into the people whom God has created and called us to be. Just think on that a little while as you reread this daily-lectionary passage.