The Easiest Commandment?

In tomorrow's Gospel reading Jesus says,

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

In a sermon in our archives, The Easiest Commandment I noted that someone pointed out to me this command comes just as Judas has left to betray Jesus. The question is, was Judas one of the "one anothers" Jesus wanted us to love? In the sermon, I said:

Knowing that Jesus’ commandment to love one another could include loving Judas changes everything. Jesus’ commandment to love one another is a command to love those near and supposedly dear to us. Yet giving that message as Judas is slinking through the night on an errand to betray Jesus puts a different spin on things. We are reminded that those close to us can sometimes be the most difficult to love of all...

Reaching out to the other while missing those close to us is so easy that Jesus thought it needed a commandment all its own. Jesus could see all the strife and division to come and he said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.” We are to be peacemakers in our own churches, in our own extended families, and in our own homes. We are to bear one another’s burdens and share one another’s joys. Jesus calls on us to reach out in love to the unlovable in our own midst. Even when the one another you are loving betrays you, keep on loving. Far from being the easiest commandment, loving one another might turn out to be the hardest commandment of all.

Jesus calls us not just to love some faceless "enemy" out there somewhere, but to also love those we know very well who have caused us hurt and pain.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church