The love of Jesus: But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness

The apostle John in his first epistle describes to us the fullness of love, that love that blesses us and transforms us, the love projected to the whole creation of God, also called Agape; but John also warns us that love also has a perverse side, the love for oneself.
Love in the Christian faith is of great importance, because love defines our relationship with our neighbor and with God, we serve our own ambitions or we serve the common good.
We see an antecedent to the teachings of Jesus already in the book of Deuteronomy, in the old testament: "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" Deuteronomy 6:5. But with Jesus, love is not a commandment, but an invitation to live freedom in a new way.
Because for our Lord Jesus love is a spiritual gift, a perfection from above, that must come accompanied by mercy (kindness, gentleness, compassion), piety (constancy, firmness, devotion), wisdom, and continuous improvement: "But go and learn what this means: ´I desire mercy, not sacrifice´" Matthew 9:13.
For Jesus love is not a question of masks or appearances, but a choice, we live in the light or in the darkness of our own hearts. The good love illuminates, teaches, inspires, and alleviates suffering; instead, the love directed towards apparent goods (for example money), oppresses, divides, and in the long run brings ruin and destruction.
This is how the apostle John expressed this truth:
"Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them" 1 John 2:9-11.

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