“34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34
The New Testament is replete with exhortations to love God as our first duty, and then to love others. It is an echo of what is contained in the moral law of God, communicated in the Ten Commandments. Jesus expatiated on this by providing what is referred to as the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would wish them to do to you.” (Matthew 7:12)
In adherence to it, when on one occasion, Jesus was asked to name the greatest commandment, he summed up both the greatest and the second greatest in these words:
“…Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22: 37-40)
This is clear enough. The Apostles of Jesus were in His company when he said these things in the Sermon on the Mount, and then in answer to the pointed question. By this teaching, Jesus had communicated the high bar God had set for humankind made in the image of God, regarding how we ought to relate to God and one another.
But on Jesus’ last night before His death, He gave the Apostles (and through them, us, believers), what He described as a New Commandment.
To be sure, I have read John 13 (and John 15) multiple times, and in that enterprise, I have understood that Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another. What I missed however, was the nuance Jesus introduced that qualified the love He had espoused throughout His ministry, and described it as a “new commandment”.
The nuance which I had missed for so long, is that on that last day, Jesus substituted the love He had described as the second Greatest Commandment with a different kind of love, a new standard, a higher bar: this love was to be compared with His love for us: “…As I have loved you…” I will be remiss if I did not point out that this was not a suggestion or recommendation, but a command for people who profess to be followers of Jesus, to do. Indeed, He said that the practice of this love is what would mark us out as His disciples. Not our long prayers, scripture spouting, visions or miracles. Our love for others.
In practical terms, what did Jesus mean by this new commandment? Having given his own love as the comparator, we need look no further. While I could go on ad infinitum, I will provide four examples of this love that we are commanded to give to others:
The love without conditions
Jesus taught us to love the unlovable:
It was not for people who deserved even His notice, much less His love, that Jesus left the glory of heaven to come to this earth, to live as a man and die a shameful painful death (Philippians 2: 6-7). Scripture says: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”, and this was to enable totally unlovable persons to not only escape the just punishment of God, but to inherit God’s eternal life: “… For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
The love that acts
In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan – a total stranger who showed love to a person in need, never mind that that man was a Jew who would ordinarily hold the Samaritan in contempt. The Samaritan, coming upon this man in distress, acted to his own inconvenience: he placed the man on his donkey, took him to an inn, gave him medication, and made financial provision for his care.
The love that serves
Jesus was all about service. He taught His disciples that in the Kingdom of God, service was what constituted greatness in a person. On that last day, at the Passover dinner, He washed the feet of His disciples and told them to do likewise to one another. Indeed, in Luke 22:27, he described Himself as a servant: “…but I am among you as one who serves.”
The love that forgives
In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus told the story of the Prodigal Son – a parable in which a father who had been rejected by his rebellious, profligate son, forgave him and embraced him completely, when even the son had no illusions that he deserved nothing less than rejection as a son.
As Jesus hung on the cross, condemned to a shameful painful death by crucifixion by people He had healed, fed, taught and helped in many ways, and even as he looked into the face of His heartbroken mother, Jesus prayed that the people who had condemned Him and who were jeering, be forgiven for what they had done, and were doing to Him.
The love that costs
In the parable of the Good Shepherd, Jesus described Himself as the Good Shepherd who would lay down His life for His sheep, and in John 15:13, speaking of what He would do for mankind, He stated that “greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”.
In the context of these, may we understand that when Jesus commands us to love one another, he prescribes a measure of love that goes beyond ourselves. By the nuance Jesus introduced on His last night with His disciples, loving others is no longer to be measured by what we would wish for oneself. The command is that we seek the good of others, even when it inconveniences us, or it hurts to do so.
To drive home His point on this last night, Jesus repeated Himself in these famous words in John 13:34 and John 15:12 respectively:
13:34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
15:12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
Now you may ask:
“What about me? Do my feelings not matter; how can I possibly do this when everything in me screams ‘me first’”?
“Knowing myself, practising this ‘selfless love’ is doomed to failure; should I even try?”
“How is it even possible for me to turn a blind eye on wicked people bent on destroying my life, career, reputation, much more, to actually love them?
“Is this not some kind of utopian existence, far removed from my reality, that I could not possibly take seriously?”
The answers lie in the character of God – our Father – who because of His love for us, has made provision for everything we need to be able to live well, in obedience to His commands and in conformity with His ways (2 Peter 2:13).
It is God who makes it possible for us to obey His commands and do His will: “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Philippians 2:13 (NLT)
He does this through the help of the Holy Spirit whom He has given to us to teach us, comfort us, guide us, lead us and support us.
With the help of the Holy Spirit who has poured love in our hearts (Romans 5:5), we discover depths to our hearts we did not know we had, reserves of compassion we can draw on beyond our natural inclinations or strength. We can therefore do all things through Christ because He strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).
Through the help of the Holy Spirit, we can love the unlovely and unlovable; we can act in love; we can put the interests of others above ours and serve them; we can forgive when we are wronged, we can let go of past wrongs and move on in our relationships in love, and yes, we can inconvenience ourselves for others because we ourselves are the recipients of God’s grace and mercy.
Ask for the help you need in prayer.
