Laying Down the (New) Law
by Paulist Fr. Rich Andre
May 7, 2018

Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter on May 10, 2015 at St. John XXIII Parish in Knoxville, TN. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48; Psalm 98; 1 John 4:7-10; and John 15:9-17.



We will hear a beautiful gospel passage today. It’s part of Jesus’ great farewell discourse at the Last Supper. He gives his final instructions to his disciples, about how they are to carry on the faith after he is gone. We always hear from this discourse in the weeks leading up to next weekend’s Feast of the Ascension. 

But this passage is appropriate to other events happening this weekend. We have just completed the commencement exercises at the University of Tennessee. Surely, many professors and administrators have agonized over their final instructions to their students before sending them out into the world. This weekend, we also celebrate Mother’s Day, a holiday to recognize all the agonizing that the women of our lives have done for the sake of preparing us for the world.


One day when I was in college, at a rehearsal for the music ministry, our director introduced to a newly published piece by Michel Guimont:

No greater love than this,
No greater love than this,
Than to give your life for a friend.

(Here’s a link. Click on “Preview” to listen.)

I thought it was beautiful, but I was confused. When would it be appropriate to sing this at Mass? Perhaps on Holy Thursday during the washing of the feet, perhaps at the funeral of a police officer who died in the line of duty, but when else would you sing a song about laying down one’s life for a friend? Our pianist was surprised at the question. She pointed out that it would be perfectly appropriate to sing this song at a wedding. Her parents each considered the other to be their best friend. At their wedding, they had each pledged to give their lives to the other.

It shows what an unromantic clod I was in my early 20s. The verses of the song are obviously intended for a wedding: they are quotations of the thirteenth chapter of St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. Most of you probably know that passage very well. It includes “love is patient, love is kind.” 

On the night before he died, Jesus’ instructions include a rather odd juxtaposition. He gave us his new commandment: “love one another as I have loved you.” In the very next sentence, he says that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend. It’s natural to think as I did, that there is only one way “to lay down one’s life” – by being martyred in a way similar to Christ.

But that’s not true. Jesus’ great commandment to love one another isn’t just fulfilled through martyrdom. It’s about placing other people’s concerns at the center of our own concerns. The Hellenistic culture of Jesus’ time was in many ways like our society today, where success is defined as having complete control, being able to do whatever you want, to think only about yourself. Much of New Testament refutes that sort of worldview, explaining what it means on a day-to-day basis to live out Jesus’ command to love one another. For example, that beautiful passage that Paul wrote about love being patient and kind wasn’t written for a marriage. It was the climax of a three-chapter argument he was making against the members of the Corinthian Christian community who were being selfish and divisive. Elsewhere, when the epistles give instructions to husbands and wives on how to live together, the most radical sentence would have been “Husbands, love your wives.” In much of Hellenistic culture, husbands did not love their wives; they loved their mistresses.

Today, when Jesus invites us to lay down our lives for one another, I think it applies to a whole range of ways we make commitments and covenants. Since Fr. Don isn’t preaching this weekend, I figured that I’d better include a joke, so here it is: What’s the difference between involvement and commitment? In a ham-and-eggs breakfast, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed!

I interact with a variety of married couples and couples preparing for marriage. Some of them see their relationship as a covenantal commitment, but others see it as merely being “involved” with someone else – a legal contract to follow until one or the other no longer wants to be involved with the other. In academics, we’ve all seen plenty of people who truly pour out their lives for the sake of their students; but most of us also know a few people who see teaching merely as a job at which to collect a paycheck. 

This past week, I looked back at some of the cards and notes that I received at my ordination three years ago… and I was as shocked now as I was then to see how often people talked of “sacrifice” and “giving your life.” But if I sit down and pray about it, yes, I definitely live a life that is other-centered. For me, I feel the most fulfilled when someone else is sharing their story with me. When I wear my Roman collar in public, I proudly witness that I have consecrated my life to God and to other people. 

Now that classes are over, I have a homework assignment for everyone here. That includes those of you who are still in school, those who are recently graduated, those who are well-established in their careers, and those who are retired. Pray this week on the following questions: 

  1. Do I lay down my life for others? 
  2. Do I live a life that is other-centered? 
  3. Do I love others as Christ has loved me? 

If the answer to these questions is yes, then we have already discovered the wisdom of our second reading. In loving others, we better realize how deeply God loves us!