Commanding Love

The disciples must have been on the edge of their seats.

With a build up like that, how could they not be.

Jesus goes on at length about how he has been glorified and in the process that has given glory to God and how he won't be with the disciples for very much longer and where he is going they cannot come and so he is leaving them with one commandment.

They've got to be just dying with anticipation when he says that. "I give you a new commandment..."

I picture a pregnant pause.

Just long enough to capture everyone's attention, to make sure they were really listening, really ready for what he was about to say.

And lets be honest, he could have said anything right there.

He could have said, "Preach the good news to the ends of the earth!" or "Obey everything I ever told you!" or "Be perfect in all your actions as God is perfect!" or "Write all this stuff down so that other people will know about thousands of years from now."

He could have said anything right there, but what he said was, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another."

The he continues "Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

And nothing has ever been the same.

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John 13:31-35 -- The New Commandment

When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’