It Would Have Been Enough

A Reflection on the Gospel for Sunday, May 18th, 2025:
Fifth Sunday of Easter

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John
​13.1, 31-33a, 34-35

Before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

During the supper, when Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.

“Little children, I am with you only a little longer. 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.”

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

I don’t fully grasp the kind of love Jesus speaks of in the commandment He gives His disciples in Sunday’s Gospel. It is a radical, sacrificial love that does not come easy to me. I used to think that I ought to demonstrate my love for people by being kind to them. There’s some truth to that but, if I leave it there, I’m missing a bigger truth: love is willing the good of the other. It sounds so simple, but I have to ask myself: Am I willing to sacrifice my needs for the good of my neighbour? And, when I am willing, do I later pat myself on the back and say, “Good job – that’s enough for today”? Do I tire of loving others?
 
When Jesus says, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another,” I think about the many ways Jesus loves His followers. He teaches them, is patient with them, forgives them. He sees them, accepts them for who they are but calls them to something higher. He surrenders His own life. He calls them to believe in Him, to have a deep faith in God. On the day of the Passover, Jesus gives His followers an opportunity to demonstrate their faith. He tells Peter and John to follow a young man, who leads them to a homeowner who has already prepared a room for them to share their meal. Peter and John honour Jesus’ instructions, demonstrating their trust in Him. And when I think that is “enough for the day,” the God of the universe gets down on His knees and washes His disciples’ feet. By serving, He shows them what it means to “love one another.”
 
I am so grateful for the show The Chosen, which has brought to the screen some iconic scenes from Holy Week. One is the Jewish tradition of singing “Dayenu,” a song of gratitude for God’s continuing goodness. In The Chosen, the women recite their own Dayenu based on their experiences with Jesus, and I was so moved by it that I wanted to create my own: 
 
If You had called me by my name and claimed me as Your own but did not bring me back to the church, it would have been enough. If you had brought me back to the church but did not give me an encounter with the Holy Spirit, it would have been enough. If you had given me an encounter with the Holy Spirit but didn’t give me a community to walk with, it would have been enough. If you had given me a community to walk with but hadn’t healed me from addiction, it would have been enough. If you had healed me from addiction but didn’t continue to heal me from shame, it would have been enough. If you had continued to heal me from shame but didn’t give me intimate relationships with my sisters, it would have been enough. If you didn’t give me intimate relationships with my sisters, if you didn’t give me purpose, if you didn’t give me hope and joy .… 
 
I could go on – and that is the point. It’s never “enough” with Jesus. He has never given “enough” love or “enough” mercy. He never tires of offering Himself completely whenever we call for Him, never tires of loving the heck out of us even when we don’t deserve it. 

This is the Love of the new covenant to which Jesus calls His disciples (and us) in the Gospel of John. 

By the grace of God may I love others a fraction of the way that Jesus has so abundantly loved me. Lord, let me never tire of it. Let it never be “enough.”

​
Lisa Matheson

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