TEXT: JOHN 13:34-35 (CSB) – ““I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Recently I came across a story about a Catholic priest who was assigned to a new parish. He wanted to know what the people of his new congregation were really like, so he decided to go to the village early for a “look-see.”
This priest felt he could get a more accurate understanding of his people if he went among them “incognito.” So, dressing like a beggar, lingering among the market-place, and never letting on who he really was, he studied his people as they transacted their day-to-day business. One day he found himself talking to a prim, proper lady, who considered herself WELL-SCHOOLED in the truths of the Bible. Quite naturally, the conversation turned to religion.
In an attempt to display her “vast storehouse” of biblical knowledge and at the same time prove his ignorance of scripture, the lady asked, “How many COMMANDMENTS are there?” The beggar/priest replied, “I believe there are eleven.” “Eleven?!” she repeated back, obviously horrified at his incompetence. “Why, you know nothing about religion at all! Begone, beggar man! Why should I spend my time with such as you?”
Well, you can imagine the look on that lady’s face when she came to church the following Sunday, only to discover that this beggar was her new priest! But what REALLY stunned her, though, was the SERMON he preached that morning, which he entitled: “The Eleventh Commandment.” His text came from the words Jesus spoke in the Upper Room the night before His crucifixion. They are recorded in John 13:34-35.
In Matthew 22 Jesus said as much when He said that “ALL the law and the [teachings of the] prophets” hang on-or rely on our love for God and our fellow man. You see, if we truly love God, we won’t profane His name….we won’t worship other things….we will have no other gods but God. We’ll also eagerly keep the Sabbath because we love being in God’s presence. So it is love that motivates us to obey the commands that relate to our relationship with God.
And…it is also love that compels us to adhere to those laws that relate to our relationship with our fellow man. Our love for our parents prompts us to honor them. If we truly love our wives and husbands we won’t commit adultery. If we love our neighbors we won’t steal from them or lie to them or want what is theirs….and we certainly won’t kill them.
So you see…..love is indeed that motivational force that helps us keep all the laws of God. Romans 13:8-10 puts it this way, “He who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does not harm to its neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
That great preacher of yesteryear, C. Campbell Morgan said, “Every breach of the decalogue is a violation of love….”
So, over the next few days, what should we learn from our study of this love text?
Well, first of all, we should note that this is a COMMAND…not a SUGGESTION.
Jesus is not saying here, “I’d PREFER that you love one another” or “It WOULD BE NICE if you could love one another” or “TRY to love one another.”
No….Our Lord is using the imperative voice here to issue a command. With the same force and authority that God said, “You SHALL NOT kill or steal or commit adultery,” He is saying here, “You MUST love one another as I have loved you.”
It is easier to see that this was a commandment, when we remember the context in which it was issued.
Jesus uttered these words on the night of His betrayal and arrest.
He knew that the cross was only a few hours away.
His time with the disciples was short.
So, this was no time to mince words.
It was a time for final, no-nonsense orders!
It’s like the instructions a father gives when he is about to head off to war and before he goes, he gathers the family together and orders his eldest son to…“Take care of your mother!”
This commandment obviously had a great impact on the Apostle John for he writes more about love than any other New Testament writer-with the possible exception of the Apostle Paul.
In his 1st Epistle, John used some form of the word “love” a total of 51 times. So, it is not surprising that he became known as “the apostle of love.”
So, the first thing we need to realize is that loving one another is a requirement for all disciples of Jesus. It’s not optional.
So, consider today – do you love God completely ALL the time? And, do you love your neighbor as Jesus COMMANDED.
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