HOST: Ron House
SPONSOR: Start2Finish
When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
We are familiar with Jesus’ command in this text concerning our loving one another. It is that mutual love that Jesus points to as the identifying mark of His disciples (Christians). But how is loving one another a “new” command? Under the old covenant, God’s people were bound together by heritage. They had a common father in Abraham and a common history as a people and nation. It was these bonds that held them together and sealed their devotion to one another. They were taught to love God and to have a love for mankind in general, but the kind of love that Jesus refers to in this passage was not commanded. Under the new covenant, disciples of Christ would come from all different backgrounds and heritages. There would be no common bloodline except that of Christ. Their bond was to be found in the love that Christ showed for them and in the love that they had for one another. The deep, mutual, brotherly love that Christ taught and desired for His church was new and would set them apart from the rest of the world. That love among Christians is still a command, and should still be a special identifier of God’s people wherever they are.
How do we demonstrate the kind of love Jesus commanded?
Don’t forget to pray and have a great day!
