Love One Another

 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13: 34-35)

In the upper room, on His last night with His disciples before His crucifixion, Jesus gave them much to digest. Some have called this time "the last board meeting with the Chairman". He was giving them their marching orders, knowing that He was about to leave them. He was preparing them for what they would face shortly.

In the middle of instituting the Lord's Supper, washing feet, calling out Judas and promising to send the Holy Spirit, Jesus gives them this "new command" to love each other. Had He never taught them to love before? Sure... but I believe that He is giving them a bigger, a deeper and a larger command. He knew he was to leave them shortly... He had seen their jockeying for position in the Kingdom and He knew they needed a bigger idea of love to sustain them.

So He open their minds to the idea that their love towards one another should look like His love for them. They were about to face the world without Him. What would sustain them through the difficult times, the persecution, the dying? Love. "As I have loved you, so you must love one another". How? As Jesus had loved them! Let's pull over and park here for a minute... the example of love that they were to follow was the example of Jesus leaving heaven, becoming a man, giving up everything for them, going to the cross, suffering and dying... for them. (open your Bibles to Philippians 2, read verses 1-11 and just let it sink in for a moment) This was the example that He had given them and now He tells them that they are to love that way.

Next, Jesus tells them that this love "would do" something that nothing else "could do". When the world, when men see this kind of love, this self-denying, giving, caring, putting others first kind of love, they would see Jesus. By their love for each other, the world would know that they are "His" disciples. Something about their relationships would be so different that people would be able to identify them as followers of Jesus.

This wasn't to be some... "love you bro" kind of thing. This was a "I will live for you, but if I have to, I will die for you" kind of thing. This is the "get you up in the middle of the night" kind of love. We have to understand the difference that Jesus made in their lives, the kind of love He demonstrated before we will ever understand what He is commanding. It was and is "new". It is not the same love as we see in the world! This is the "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me" kind of love found in Matthew 25.

Jesus commanded the apostles to teach "us" to obey all things He had commanded them... so, while the command to love like that was given to them, it is also given to us. You and me! We are to love others like Jesus loves us. (thinking time here) Here is the question for you and me... Do others know we are His disciples by the love we show in our lives? Does anyone think I am different because of the way I love? Does anyone see you as different by your love for them?

Casting Crowns asked it this way...

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?

What about it? Are we keeping His "new" command? Let's talk about it and then let's do it.