How to Love on Command?

The tempter in paradise said that by acquiring the knowledge of good and evil, man will become like God. The Second Divine Person, the Word became flesh, and wanted to make us like Himself. He wanted us to do everything out of love.

But how can you command love?

Let’s look at that part of the Gospel of John where the Savior instructs us to love our fellow men:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. If you do what I command you, you are my friends. I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything I heard from My Father. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name. This is my commandment: Love one another!” (Jn 15, 12-17)

Jesus’ command could also sound like this:

“Everyone commands us. Many difficult things need to be accomplished. The Romans dictate to us and humiliate us, the Pharisees give impossible commands, while my command is to love one another.”

But what is love?

Jesus teaches that love finds its ultimate justification in sacrifice. He sets an example of love, not writing poetry. The poetry will be written later by the last apostle, Paul, who creates the greatest poem about love in world literature (cf. 1Cor 13). From this, we know that love is the art form in which every human can create something outstanding. Out of love, anyone can be a genius. They just need to rise to the task.

A Good Time, a Man’s Work

Many are afraid to love because love makes them vulnerable. However, these wounds are wounds of sacrifice. Each thorn from Jesus’s crown. And if these are sacrificial wounds, then after the resurrection, they make loving-hearted people just as identifiable as the nails on the Savior’s wrists.

Today, many think that showing a desire for love is not just weakness, but childishness. I ask them to pay attention to a few lines from Paul the Apostle in the Love Hymn:

“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” (1Cor 13,11)

A loving person has no more mature personality. Just a decision is needed.

Rákóczi Piroska