Example!

Example!

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

John 13:34 NLT

If Jesus calls this a new commandment, it is important that we consider if there was an old equivalent. A little context: Judas had just stepped out from among the disciples, to pursue an evil agenda to betray Jesus to the Pharisees for 30 pieces of silver. He had followed Jesus for 3 and a half years, yet all he took away was the purse of the disciples and a greedy heart. No wonder the words of today are spoken to the disciples who were left when Judas had stepped out. This instruction is for those who remain in and with the Son. 

It is called a new commandment because there is none like it. It would be the first time Jesus would be advocating a code of conduct for all who would follow Him. God had always required men to love God and to love their neighbours, but even with the best of intentions, there was no inner strength to comply. The coming of Jesus signified a new phase; a new beginning; a fresh start. No longer would I be required to comply with a rule that I had no strength of mine to live by, but now I had a Master who could supply all that I required to enable me live by his dictates. And it is a love that flows out of a relationship with the One called Love Himself. The old command to love flowed out the law, but the law could only command the action; it could not command the heart. This is what the new command was given to address. 

That is why the command is for those who have experienced this love also. You cannot give what you don't have. For all who claim to know and follow Jesus, the standard is what He has set and that is what He commands. It is not a negotiation, which gives you alternatives or options. You are either a disciple, living in obedience to the leader, or you are on the outside, living by your own standards and principles. My allegiance will always be revealed by my daily choices. And the one way to know that this is for people with allegiance to Christ is by the next verse: By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

My life is my story about Jesus and His work in me. When men look at or relate with me, what kind of love reflects in what I do and how I do it? Am I living by the old way of doing things, or am I aligned with the new commandment, the One that asks me to love simply because I have received the same love, and God is glorified by it? And as I know, obedience in itself is a sign that I love the one who commands and I know he is glorified when I love as He has commanded. His time of favour is here.