A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. – John 13:34
I have read this verse countless times; yet, I always read over it and never let the full impact of this command hit me. Jesus wasn’t just using rhetoric to make some eloquent speech. He was giving a command to his disciples so that they would obey it. It wasn’t a nice suggestion that Jesus was making – it was a new commandment. So, since we’re to obey this commandment, how did Jesus love? He laid aside the glory that he had with his Father (John 17:5) and humbled himself by becoming a man (Philippians 2). He loved on the poor and the sick (Mark 5:38-43). He washed his disciples filthy feet and as their Master he served them as though he were a slave (John 13). He offered himself up by his blood as a dowry for his Bride (Ephesians 5). These are only a few of the ways that Jesus loved the inhabitants of this world during his time spent among them; yet, it is already evident that we miss the mark by light years. Oh that God will continue to make his children holy and sanctify us into the likeness of Jesus.
