Acts 14:21-27

Revelation 21:1-5

John 13:1, 31-35

The renowned artist Paul Gustave Dore once lost his passport while travelling in Europe. When he came to a border crossing, he explained his predicament to one of the guards. Giving his name to the official, Dore hoped he would be recognized and allowed to pass. The guard, however, said that many people attempted to cross the border by claiming to be persons they were not. Dore insisted that he was the man he claimed to be. "All right," said the official, "we'll give you a test, and if you pass it we'll allow you to go through." Handing him a pencil and a sheet of paper, he told the artist to sketch several peasants standing nearby. Dore did it so quickly and skilfully that the guard was convinced he was indeed who he claimed to be. His action confirmed his identity.

Christians have always had the problem of how to tell the world who they are. At some periods in history and still in some places in the world, uniforms have played a very important role in announcing our identity to the world. Think of the various uniforms of the various Christian societies of consecrated life, which distinguish consecrated people not only from ordinary Christians but also from one another according to their institutes. In the African Independent churches members usually wear uniforms to distinguish them from non-members. This usually takes the form of white flowing gowns, with headgear and sashes of different colours distinguishing members according to their various ranks. In the mainline churches, however, the use of uniforms or habits has become less popular. In these churches the words of Shakespeare in Measure for Measure, "Cucullus non facit monachum (the hood does not make a monk)" have been taken more seriously.

The quest for uniforms, habits, badges, banners and pinups designed to distinguish believers from non-believers does indeed have its place in the celebration of who are. We are symbolic beings who need to express our faith in symbolic ways. Jesus himself wrestled with the question of how to distinguish his followers from the non-believers around them. But his prescription goes much farther than external habits and uniforms. For Jesus the essential mark of distinction between Christians and non-Christians is not in the way we dress but in the way we live.

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-5).

Love is the Christian identity. Love is the Christian uniform. Love is the Christian habit. If you are wearing the habit of love, you are in. If you are not wearing love as a habit, you are out.

Jesus wants the world to recognise us as Christians. We need to evangelise and witness to people around us. But effective evangelisation and witnessing has less to do with how fluently we speak and more to do with how faithfully we live. In the evangelisation of Africa, many missionary groups came early and focussed on making converts. Others came later but focussed on service to the people, providing needed medicare and integral education. These latter groups succeeded where the former groups failed. Words are only a small part of our witnessing for Christ. As St Francis of Assisi told his friars, "Preach the gospel at all times and use words if necessary."

The great Mahatma Gandhi was asked about his view of Christianity. What he said could show us what probably is keeping two-thirds of the world away from the Good News of Christianity:

I have a great respect for Christianity. I often read the Sermon on the Mount and have gained much from it. I know of no one who has done more for humanity than Jesus. In fact, there is nothing wrong with Christianity, but the trouble is with you Christians. You do not begin to live up to your own teachings.

The greatest homage we can pay to the Christian faith is to live in such a way that through us people begin to have a glimpse of the unbounded and unconditional love that God has shown us in Christ.

When God delivered the Israelites from Egypt he gave them the Ten Commandments to guide their relationship with one another. In the actual living out of the commandments, the people deviated, and as a consequence, hatred, sectionalism, intimidation, war, selfishness, rancor and wickedness became the order of the day. The poor were treated with neglect, lepers were ostracized, the Gentiles were discriminated against and women were relegated to the background. Jesus came and taught his disciples about the new commandment of love which recognizes everyone as a child of God with rights and dignity. At the end of his earthly ministry he reminded them: I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (13:34-35). With this Jesus declared love as the identity of believers.

          As a matter of fact, Jesus did not just preach about love or taught us to love, he demonstrated what this love is all about. During his ministry Jesus was very passionate and sensitive to the needs of the people.   And out of love he devoted time to teach them how to do the will of God; to the blind he gave sight, to the deaf hearing, to the crippled ability to walk, to the hungry food and before the unjust authorities he defended and fought for the right of the people. Towards the end of his ministry he said: “Greater love has no one than this to lay down his life for those he loves (John 15:13). Here he made the sacrifice that denied him his life and by it paid the debts (it is finished) we owe due to our sin with his life. So his relationship was characterized by sacrifice, sensitivity to the needs of the people and selfless service.  

          Love as we all know is a house hold word. It is found in the lips of both young and old. But at the same time love has been bastardized. Like the Israelites we are living in a society and at a time when the world and society are full of hate, war and terrorism; the child hates parents, and wives and husbands celebrate divorce with impunity. Today, love has become a thing for those who belong to us (and are therefore deserving of our love and concern) and those who do not belong to us (who can go to blazes). As a result, our society has become infested with false and romantic love; Pop society tells us how to love; the Movie-stars present us with the kind of love to follow as models of love. Love loses its purity and becomes a source of sin and evil.

        It is in this kind of situation that Jesus wants us to make a difference and permeate the society with true and genuine love like his own. He wants non-Christians to recognize and differentiate Christians from the rest of the world through genuine and pure love. He wants us to know that what changes the life of people is not so much the collection of truths, not teaching or preaching but people in whom they can see the truth of the gospel love lived and the beliefs put into life.

          So love for one another is opposed to any form of ethnic and racial prejudice, or sectionalism and hostility in the sharing and distribution of social and economic amenities. When Jesus was telling his disciples to make love their watch word, he was telling them to make a difference in the world by allowing the belief they have in God to influence them to love one another with a sense of sacrifice, sensitivity and a selfless services.

          Jesus wants us as to carry his spirit of sacrifice with us and be disposed by it to selflessly reach out the hand of love and generosity to persons who are in need - the homeless, AIDS patients, malnourished children, refugees and immigrants in our midst without counting the cost as Jesus did when he gave his life for our salvation without counting the cost. In the spirit of his love expressed through selfless service, Jesus wants Christians to make a difference in the world of labor through selfless service - to render selfless service in our places of work not necessarily to earn money but to enhance the joy of humanity and make the burden of life bearable.

          As we celebrate the love of Jesus which gave us this Mass let us realize that we are called to make a difference in the world through our love. To achieve this, Christians are to be totally taken up to live in such ways to show the Jesus’ love without borders or frontiers in our relationship to one another.