Read John 13:31-35. Circle the words that stand out to you. What is the Lord saying to you?
31 When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Reflections on the Word.
Most Christians know the Greatest Commandment in Matthew 22:37-40. We can almost cite it by heart. We heard it in sermons and studied it in Bible studies. Jesus cites Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 in answering the question, “What is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘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.’”
In the Passover Meal, Jesus gave His disciples a new command. Jesus said this in John 13:34, 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Is John 13:34 different from Leviticus 19:18 or are they the same? At first glance, it appears they are the same since we are to love one another. But wait, there is much more. The original question to Jesus’ famous response in Matthew 22:36-40 is: What is the great commandment IN the Law? Jesus answered that question according to the Law of Moses. However, when Jesus gave His new commandment to His disciples, He doesn’t tell them to love one another according to the Law. He says that we are to love one another as I have loved you.
The standard is not loving one another as ourselves but loving as Jesus loved us! It’s much deeper, much wider, and even broader. It’s sacrificial love, not a love of the letter of the Law. If Jesus loved us according to the Law, we would all perish in our sins, forever separated from God. But His love for us enabled Him to take our sins upon His own body and pay the penalty of our sins when we were still enemies of God.
Is there a limit to our love for others? Or, is your love and my love for others like Jesus’ love? I must admit, often times I have a tendency to love others like I love myself, not as Jesus loved me. What about you?
If we want the world to know that we are His disciples, we must love as Jesus loved us. It’s not good enough to love others like ourselves, even the non-Christians can do that! If we love as Jesus loved us, they will witness Christ’s love and know that we are His disciples.”
-Kingston