In this verse Jesus calls on his disciples to imitate God the Father in loving. If we want to be his children, we should love our neighbour in the same way that he loves.

‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.’

The first characteristic that distinguishes the love of God the Father is that it is absolutely freely given. It is in sharp contrast to the love of the world that is based on reciprocity and mutual attraction (loving only those who love us or please us). The Father’s love, instead, is completely unconditional: He gives it to all people, whether or not they respond. It is a love whose very nature is to take the initiative and share all that it possesses. Consequently this love is constructive and transforming. Our heavenly Father loves us not because we are good or spiritually beautiful, and therefore deserving of His attention and goodness. Rather, on the contrary, in loving us, he creates in us the goodness and the spiritual beauty of his grace, helping us to became his friends and his children.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

Another characteristic of God the Father’s love is its universality. God loves everyone without distinction. His love goes beyond all limits. His is a free and creative love that is abundantly bestowed wherever there is a need or an emptiness to be filled. This is why the Father loves even those who are ungrateful, or rebellious, or far from him. In fact, his love seeks them out in a special way.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

How should we live this word of life? By acting as true children of our heavenly Father: imitating his love, above all in those characteristics we focused on, namely, a love that is freely given and universal.

Let us try, in every situation, to be the first to love, with a love that is generous, supportive, open to all and especially attentive to those around us who are most in need of it. Let us try to love with a love that does not look for results. Let us make an effort to be the instruments of God’s generosity, helping others to experience the gifts of nature and grace that we have received from him.

If we allow ourselves be guided by these words of Jesus, we will see with new eyes and a new heart everyone we meet, and also every opportunity offered to us in our daily lives. And in whatever situation we live (in our family, at work or school, in hospital etc.) we will feel urged to be sharers of this love which comes from God and which Jesus brought on earth – the only love capable of transforming this world of ours.

Chiara Lubich

First published in full as the Word of Life for June 1983