A NEW COMMAND

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are My disciples.

John 13:34-35

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

In the 22^nd chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, we read this question posed to Jesus by a Pharisee that the scriptures tell us was an expert in the law. The legalistic religious leaders of Jewish society who were in company with the law expert waited anxiously for Jesus to reply, not because they were interested in learning something but rather so they might find yet another thing to criticize Him with.

Jesus wasted no time in responding with an answer, drawing from a book of the law, the book of Deuteronomy as he replied:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”

Then He added this from the book of Leviticus, another one of the books of the law:

“And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

How did the Pharisees react?

Well, we don’t read that they did at all which adds credence to the fact that Jesus had answered the question with such perfect surgical expertise that there was no room for any rebuttal.

Jesus made it clear that the greatest commandments were centered on love, first loving God with every fiber of one’s being, and then loving others as you love yourself. And it had to progress in that order.

Why?

Because before someone could love themselves properly, and then in turn love others properly, they had to first be all in when it came to loving God. For when they did, when every part of them loved God just as He loved every part of them, then, and only then, would His love be the same as their love. And then, a person could love their neighbors in the way that God expected, with the same love that He could provide.

This is how God’s people were to love and as Jesus made clear, it was a command. This simply meant that it wasn’t optional.

So with this already established by Jesus, we fast forward to the final Passover meal He shared with His disciples. Jesus knew that His earthly ministry was coming to a close and He would suffer and die within the next 24 hours but that didn’t stop Him from providing some final guidance to His faithful chosen followers. Part of that guidance is found in our text today, verses 34 and 35 of John’s Gospel as we find Jesus saying this to His disciples:

“But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are My disciples.”

Here we find a command that doesn’t appear to be new at all on the surface.

Jesus essentially took the greatest commandments mentioned earlier and reworded the direction, placing Himself in the place of where God was before. And we know that Jesus had proclaimed that He was one with His Father so there is no real distinction when we use one in place of the other. Both God and Jesus loved perfectly and in order for a person to love as they should, to love as God and Jesus expected, then they would need to let the love of God and Jesus to be their love. In other words, a person would need to allow God and Jesus to love others through them, essentially becoming an instrument or vessel of God and Jesus’ love.

So why say it was a new command?

I think the answer comes from what Jesus tagged on at the end:

“If you love each other, everyone will know that you are My disciples.”

You see, this wasn’t discussed before. There was no mention by Jesus that if a person carried out the greatest commandments properly then others would identify them as being of God or godly people.

What Jesus was getting at here is that if a person was truly going to be identified as a Christian, someone who was a disciple of Christ, then they would be identified that way by the love they showed one another.

Jesus knew the disciple faced some difficult days ahead after His death. Emboldened by their false assumption that they had successfully eliminated Jesus, the Jewish religious authorities would next turn their focus to eradicating any followers Jesus had and that would put His specially chosen disciples at great risk. They would need to depend on one another and have each other’s backs, and this would require them to love and care for one another. Jesus felt confident they would do just that if He commanded them to do so and so He did just that.

These words from Jesus brought a hymn to mind. They wonderful lyrics go like this:

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love

We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we'll guard each man's dignity and save each man's pride
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love.

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand
And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love

In a world where we see so much disunity, can we see the simple way back to where the Lord Jesus not only expects us to be, but commands us to be?

For it’s time that Christians start to love one another as Jesus loves them and then make His love their love as they go forth and love others. It’s time for all Christ disciples to follow Jesus’ new command and show everyone that their truest, purest identity lies in Him and Him alone.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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