John 15:12-17
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
You are my friends
if you do what I command you.
Few of us will be called upon to lay down our lives for our friends. Though we probably all hope that if a big sacrifice of some sort is asked of us we will have the courage to respond.
The memory of the pandemic is still fresh in our minds. In so many ways we have witnessed the love that is prepared to put others first. Some will have had little choice over their working conditions and others were prepared to take the risk. Many lost their lives. I hope that we will always remember this sacrifice.
At the heart of our Christian story we have not a philosophy or a set of principles, but a human being who embodied selfless service and self-emptying love. Christ is our pattern for every part of our lives. Often on the feast of a martyr we sing ‘The Martyrs Living now with Christ’, a hymn written by Stanbrook Abbey. This verse always stands out for me:
No one has ever measured love
Or weighed it in their hand,
But God knows the inmost heart
Gives them the promised land.
It’s God who knows the depth of our love and our willingness to give. It’s God who sees the bigger picture of our lives and how we try to image Christ.
Let us always remember the people in our lives who quietly and unobstrusively have shown us this self-emptying love.
Image: sj obijo, Unsplash