Introduction
"How do you recognize a church?" This is the question with which Antonella opens her sermon, during the service of October 18, 2026 at the church on Via Pinamonte, in Milan. One could answer: by its faith, by baptism, by its traditions, by its liturgy. Luther and Calvin, she reminds us, held to two marks: the pure preaching of the Word of God and the correct administration of the sacraments.
These marks are true. But in John 13, Jesus points to something "surprisingly simple and, at the same time, very demanding": "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
This leads to a question that Antonella deliberately leaves open: one can do everything perfectly, but if this founding element is missing, does the church remain the church?
Message Outline
1. They Will Know You by Love
- The text for today is John 13:34-35: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another."
- Jesus does not say that people will recognize his disciples because they get along well. Nor does he say: because you have perfect doctrine, or because you are many, influential, respected, able to organize events.
- He says: "They will know you by your love." This is what makes the difference when we talk about the church.
2. The Master Who Kneels
- To understand these words, we need to remember when Jesus speaks them: during the last meal. He knows that his death is near.
- He has just washed his disciples' feet. He made the gesture of a servant: he knelt before them, took a towel, washed their feet and dried them.
- This gesture overturns the way we understand authority, greatness and even our relationship with God. The Master becomes a servant. The one whom the disciples call Lord lowers himself before them.
- For Antonella, this is a "deeply revolutionary" gesture. Jesus does not only teach humility: he challenges the very way human beings conceive of power.
3. Power as the World Exercises It
- Too often, the one who governs wants to be served, not to serve. The one who holds force uses it to impose his will. The one who holds authority defends his privileges, instead of defending entire peoples.
- The dignity of others is sacrificed to keep one's position. And this force covers itself with fine words that celebrate peace, but that serve to hide violence, abuse and injustice.
- "People always say it is better not to do politics from the pulpit. But this is not politics": it is a summary of what we see every day in the news.
- Jesus overturns this logic. In the world, power means being above others: Jesus puts himself at their feet. In the world, greatness is measured by the number of people you command: Jesus measures it by the readiness to serve.
- The weakest are seen as a burden, sometimes as an obstacle to be eliminated. Jesus makes the smallest, the most fragile and the last the center of our responsibility.
4. "It Shall Not Be So Among You"
- Jesus had already spoken to his disciples about authority: "You know that they who are recognized as rulers over the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant."
- Whoever knows the Lord and lives among the people of God cannot be like the world. Jesus does not ask us to be a little kinder or a little less powerful: he asks us to live by a different logic.
- This word concerns the church too. It would be too easy to denounce the arrogance of those who govern and to reproduce the same attitudes and the same thoughts in our relationships. Bringing this feeling of superiority back into the church goes against the Lord's desire.
- In a world torn by wars, very strong nationalisms and heavy inequalities, the church can make a difference. Where the powerful demand that people kneel before them, the Lord of the universe kneels before human beings.
- He does not give up his authority. He shows that true authority does not consist in dominating the lives of others, but in putting itself at the service of their lives. "Not a power that crushes, but a love that lifts up. Not an authority that humiliates, but a presence that restores dignity." This is the revolution of the Gospel.
5. "It Was Night": Loving When Things Go Badly
- Jesus is speaking to imperfect people. Peter is about to deny him. The disciples will all run away. Judas has just gone out to plot with those who want to put him to death.
- A short phrase in the text explains why Jesus gives this commandment at this moment: "It was night." Night symbolizes darkness, difficulty, great confusion.
- It would be easy to say "love one another" when all is well, when relationships are happy and everyone agrees. Jesus says it when things are going badly, when someone has betrayed us, when we do not get along.
- This is precisely where love is needed. Being able to love the enemy, the person we find unpleasant, is what "makes us a church."
6. "As I Have Loved You"
- The commandment is not new in itself: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" is already found in Leviticus 19:18. What Jesus adds are these words: "as I have loved you."
- Jesus becomes our measure. And how far did he love us? To death. "This is a hard demand." Loving those who are likable, who share our ideas and return our affection comes almost by instinct. But Jesus also dies for Judas and for all those who do not love him.
- The Lord knows our limits. "As I have loved you" also means that this love comes first from the fact that we have been loved.
- Antonella takes the example of a child: a newborn does not instinctively know what love is. He learns it because someone took care of him, caressed him, spoke kind words to him. Children left alone in their cribs, without caresses, often can no longer enter into relationship. The more you are loved, the more you learn to love.
- It is the same for Christians: we learn the love of Christ because we have been loved by Jesus. If we cannot manage to love, it is sometimes because we do not measure the infinite love he has for us.
- "The Lord loves you for who you are. As you are, with your mistakes and your difficulties. You do not love yourself, but he loves you." This love is not a strength that God demands from us when we are not capable of it: it is a strength that the Lord gives us because he loves us.
7. No Longer Keeping This Love Secret
- Antonella, who has been part of this community for three years, observes that it knows how to love, not perfectly, with mistakes. There are those who care for others, those who make visits, those who give financial support, those who listen, those who prepare the meditations, those who serve outside, those who welcome.
- She says it without boasting: "We are not better than others." But she points to a major flaw: this love rarely leaves the walls. Often, nobody knows what the church does.
- "Sometimes, we are so excessively humble that we cannot manage to say: today there is this event, come, here someone can listen to you." Perhaps we are ashamed to tell the world that here is the house of God.
- The challenge is to learn to carry the Gospel outside, not because we would be better, but because people need the Word and the love that we have received. "The power of service can change the world."
- Her closing invitation: not to be ashamed of the beautiful things the Lord has us do, and to invite relatives, friends and people met on the street, "because the world needs that kind of love, and not the power of the world."
Key Takeaways
- According to Jesus, what makes his disciples recognizable is neither doctrinal perfection nor influence, but love for one another.
- By washing his disciples' feet, Jesus overturns the logic of power: greatness is measured by the readiness to serve.
- The church cannot denounce the arrogance of the world and reproduce it in its own relationships.
- Jesus gives the commandment of love "at night," at the moment of betrayal: it is when everything goes badly that love is most needed.
- We can love because we were loved first: love is a strength that the Lord gives us, and it is meant to leave the walls of the church.
Personal Application
- If someone watched your life this week, would they recognize a disciple of Jesus in the way you love?
- In your relationships at church, at work or in your family, are you seeking to be served or to serve?
- Which person who has hurt you, or whom you find unpleasant, is the Lord asking you to love now, while "it is night"?
- Do you truly believe that the Lord loves you as you are, with your mistakes and your difficulties?
- Whom could you invite this week to discover the love you have received in your church?
Verses Cited
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you recognize a church according to John 13?
Luther and Calvin held to the pure preaching of the Word of God and the correct administration of the sacraments. Antonella reminds us that these marks are true, but that Jesus points to something simpler and more demanding: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35).
What is new about Jesus' commandment?
Loving one's neighbor as oneself was already in Leviticus 19:18. The newness lies in the words "as I have loved you": the measure of love becomes Jesus, who loved to the point of death. But these words also say where this love comes from: we can love because we have been loved first.
Why does John specify "It was night"?
For Antonella, night symbolizes darkness, difficulty and confusion. Jesus gives the commandment of love right after Judas leaves, to disciples who are about to run away. He does not say "love one another" when all is well, but when someone has betrayed us and when we do not agree.