There are commandments and commandments.

The genius of Jesus’s message is that He keeps it simple. He condenses all the commandments into one simple formula; namely, “love one another as I have loved you” ( John 13 : 34 ). This is Jesus’s new commandment or covenant. By this, He makes it clear, “all will know you are my disciples” ( John 13 : 34-35 ). He did not just say, “love one another.” Rather, He improved on this by adding, “as I have loved you.” In other words, Jesus is the highest expression of Love, and He offers Himself as the model, equating love with His own example, His way of loving us.

This love of Jesus is pure gift. It has come down to us from Heaven in the human form of the Son of God. It does not come naturally to us, of course. If it was the easy and natural thing to do, we wouldn’t need the Holy Spirit. We do not merit this gift nor do we acquire it by our own efforts such as is possible with the moral virtues. It is the greatest of the three gifts of faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13 : 13 ).

In giving us this new commandment, Jesus completed the Great Commandment of the Old Testament to “love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart, and soul, and your neighbor as yourself ” ( Deuteronomy 6 : 5 ). He did this by offering His life and example as the fullest expression of God’s love. If you have difficulty loving God, whom you do not see, look to Jesus, in the gospels, who is the living embodiment of God’s love in the flesh. As the Son of God and as the Son of Man, Jesus is God with a human face. He alone can empower you to love God in mind , heart, and soul, and to love your neighbors as yourself.

We enter into this Love of Jesus when we respond to it as a gift to be treasured and shared with others. You cannot impose or force this gift on others as some, mistakenly, think they should. If you try to do that, you will kill love for it goes freely where it is sent. You can show it, and you can nurture it in others by your example, but you cannot force it on anyone for it is, after all, a gift of God.

Let me explain what I’m talking about by means of a simple illustration :

There’s a story about a group of salesmen who were rushing through an Airport to catch a flight, and, in their haste, knocked over a blind girl’s table of apples. One member of the group returned to the terminal where the apples were scattered all over the floor. The blind girl was crying in frustration as she tried to pick up the apples. This lone salesman knelt beside her, and helped her put the apples back on the table. He then pulled out his wallet, and gave the girl $40 for the damage that was done. As he walked away, the bewildered, blind girl called out to him, “Mister!” He turned around and quietly walked back to her. “Are you Jesus?” she asked, feebly. The salesman chuckled, and told her he was nothing like Jesus who was so good He would never have overturned her apple display in the first place. He said: ‘I merely try to follow His example.” She nodded, gently: “I only ask because I prayed to Jesus to help me and He sent you.”

This salesman departed with a spring in his step, and a new song in his heart as he pondered the moving words of this humble girl at the Airport : “Are you Jesus?” The blind girl recognized him as a disciple of Jesus by his loving behavior towards her. So much did he impress her that she thought immediately of Jesus. She experienced the Lord’s love through his actions.

This is the good news of the gospel : our love for each other must be like the love of Christ for us. It is the gold standard of human behavior, the lasting remedy to life’s ills, and the ointment of life itself, given to us by the Lord Himself.

If you want to be a disciple of Jesus, you should act like Him. Following Him is more than simply quoting scripture, going to Church or trying to impress others with mere words. Following Him is behaving like Him, hearing His word and putting it into practice, day by day. It is not easy to do this, at times, but what a gift it is if you are able to pass this love along to others like the salesman who helped the blind girl.

When you are in doubt as to what you should do, simply ask yourself: what would Jesus do?

He will show you the way.

—Fr. Hugh Duffy