WITH JESUS’ STYLE
Jesus is saying good-by to his disciples. He has loved them passionately. He has loved them with the same love he has loved the Father. Now he has to leave them. He knows their selfishness. They don’t know how to love each other. He sees them arguing among themselves about getting the first places. What will become of them?
Jesus’ words take on a solemn tone. They need to be kept well engraved in all of us: «This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you». Jesus doesn’t want his style of loving to be lost among his own. If they one day forget it, no one will be able to recognize them as his disciples.
About Jesus there remains an unforgettable memory. The first generations summed up his life thus: «He went about everywhere doing good». It was good to meet up with him. He always sought the good of people. He helped to live. His life was Good News. You could discover in him the good closeness of God.
Jesus has a style of loving that’s unmistakable. He’s very sensitive to people’s suffering. He can’t pass by one who is suffering. When he entered one day into the small village of Nain, he meets up with a funeral: a widow coming out to bury her only son. From Jesus goes out a love from within to that unknown woman: «Woman, don’t cry». Whoever loves like Jesus goes about alleviating suffering and drying tears.
The Gospels record in various occasions how Jesus held in his gaze the suffering of the people. He looked at them and was moved deep within: he saw them suffering or dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. He quickly steps in to heal the sickest or feed them with his words. Whoever loves like Jesus learns to look at the faces of people with compassion.
Jesus’ readiness to do good is admirable. He doesn’t think about himself. He attentive to any call, always ready to do what he can. For a blind beggar who begs compassion from him while he’s going down the road, he welcomes with these words: «What do you want me to do for you?». Someone who loves like Jesus walks through life with this attitude.
Jesus knows how to be near the most needy. There’s no lack of those who beg of him. He does what he can to heal their pain, free their consciences or spread his trust in God. But he can’t solve all the problems of those people.
Therefore he dedicates himself to do good deeds: embrace children of the street – he doesn’t want anyone to feel orphaned; bless the sick – he doesn’t want them to feel themselves abandoned by God; caress the skin of the lepers – he doesn’t want them to see themselves excluded. Thus are the gestures of someone who loves like Jesus.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
