The Advocate
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Jn 14:15-21
[Jesus said to his disciples,] 15“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, 17the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. 18I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. 21Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
Because we are loved, we love in return. The heart of divine revelation and of the Christian message is one and the same: LOVE—the love of God gratuitously given to us, and the love directed to human beings in response to that love. This is emphasized in the Gospel of John, especially in Jesus’ discourse at the Last Supper, of which today’s Gospel reading is a part.
In this very intimate moment, Jesus gives his commandment that will indelibly mark the disciples as his very own: “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” (Jn 13:34-35).
The Synoptic Gospels also emphasize the centrality of love. Upon being asked which is the first/greatest of all the commandments, Jesus replies: “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ … ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ ” (Mk 12:30-31;cf Mt 19:19; Lk 10:26-27).
John, however, gives another measure for the love of neighbor: the love of Jesus. And Jesus loves his own to the very end—humbling himself to wash the feet of his disciples and dying on the cross. Hence, the measure of love is “love without measure.”
In giving his commandment of love, Jesus promises a gift that will make this loving possible: the Holy Spirit who will act as comforter, guide, teacher, and defender. Love, ultimately, is the work of the Trinity: the Father shows his love by sending his Son Jesus. The Spirit will teach and remind the disciples of the sacrificing love of Christ and empower them to respond to that pure and gratuitous love by loving one another as Christ has loved them.
Love, then, is not coming from an alien will, like something imposed on the person by the commandments. It is now part of “my own will,” based on my realization of how lucky I am to be so loved. And my experience of love will overflow to others.
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