‘Love each other dearly always. There is scarcely anything else in the world but that: to love one another.’ So says Jean Valjean on his deathbed to Marius and Cosette, in Victor Hugo’s great novel Les Miserables. It’s a clear re-enactment of this scene in the gospels, as the hero, facing his own death, passes a final, vital instruction onto those closest to him.
Jean Valjean is himself is transformed by an act of grace. Arrested for stealing silver from a bishop, the bishops ‘saves’ Jean by declaring that he gave Valjean the silver and even some candlesticks as well. He then urges Valjean to take the second chance he has been offered and use the silver to make a new way in life. Valjean does, but is still relentlessly pursued by Inspector Javert; ultimately, though, he never forgets what he learned from the bishop, as his parting words testify.
It’s a great illustration of our passage for today – and, I think, a useful one, because there’s a risk of complacency. These words of Jesus are so familiar, it’s easy to forget how revolutionary they were at the time. This is a completely new definition of love. The Greek language already had three words: eros, meaning physical love; philia meaning a liking kind of love; and storge meaning kindred or family affection. But the early Christians recognised that none of these adequately captured what Jesus meant by love – so when John came to render Jesus’ Aramaic instruction to his friends into Greek, he used the new word that Christians had invented for love: agape.
Agape means humble, selfless service, and the context makes clear why John understood this was the right way to render Jesus’ instruction: Jesus had just washed his friends’ feet, and told them to do likewise. What better illustration of the sort of love to which Jesus was referring?
And, knowing that he was about to leave them, Jesus must have felt a keen sense that he needed to reinforce his most important teaching. The foot-washing example was powerful, but having just been disturbed by Judas’ exit into the night, he realised the lesson needed repeating: ‘As I have loved you, so you must love one another.’
There’s a further reason for his command, too: not just Jesus’ own example, but the credibility of our witness to the world: ‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’ It’s a healthy reminder that people will notice our lives, and potentially judge our message in the light of them.
As we commit our day to the Lord, may He grant us all grace to treasure His unfailing love in hearts; and may that empower us thereby to live out this command, as best we can. As we observed a few days ago, we can never pay His love back; but we can pay it forward – today, and every day.