1 John 4:10

What is love? Love is an ambiguous word! It can mean almost anything from the trivial to the profound. It can be used in a cynical sense, as in the song by Billy Joel: ‘fifty ways to leave your lover.’ It can describe the greatest acts of self-giving the world has ever seen: the love of Jesus for all humankind.

We can love peach cobbler, baseball, and our pets. We can love our families; we can fall in love; we can love one another; and we can love God.

If love were all fluff and glitter, we could get along with a book of sweet sayings. If love were easy, we wouldn’t have to make difficult decisions. We wouldn’t have to make sacrifices. We wouldn’t be called to live wide-open to God’s surprises in our lives; we wouldn’t know the awesome love of God.

In today’s scripture, the word “love” is translated from the Greek, agape, which describes the mutual self-giving relationship between Jesus and the Father and between Jesus and his followers. The love that the Father bestowed on Christ has been spread all around and has reached us full strength. Another word for love that Jesus uses is: friendship. We are not servants, but chosen friends of the Lord himself, who suffered and died for us.

If love were as simple as reading a book, we wouldn’t need an advocate, a helper; we would not need the Holy Spirit. But we do need help understanding what St. John says about love: that God has first loved us; that all our loving commitments are grounded in God’s first loving us; and that God so loved us, He sent His son for our redemption.

Love in general doesn’t compel our attention, much less our loyalty or our respect. Love, as example, always compels respect.

The love named by St. John in today’s scripture speaks of loving one another as Jesus, the son of God, loves us. This is love in action. This is true love because you can always count on it. It is not fickle; it is not like the weather-cock that twists and turns with every breeze that blows. It is constant because it is grounded in the love of God who loved us first and sent His son to show us how to love one another.

Fr. Hugh Duffy