Jesus says, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another even as I have loved you.”
Notice who Jesus was addressing when he gave this commandment, His disciples, people who were already part of his family, people who had experienced his grace, people who were in a relationship with him.
The new command tells us, “Do this if you want to glorify God.” Do this, if you want to praise God, do this if you want to serve God. It is not a command to qualify us for the kingdom, it’s a command to us as members of God’s family, so that we can give glory and honor to Him because of his great love for us.
“God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that who so ever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” God acted, he gave, God loved us, and Jesus is saying because of that love, because of God’s love for us, we are to love one another to reflect God’s love in our lives, to give honor and glory to Him.
Notice, Jesus doesn’t give any formula for how to love, he says only, “Love one another even as I have loved you.”
Maybe in that short phrase is the clue we might be looking for in how do we love. How does Jesus love us? He made a commitment to us. His love is genuine, honest, caring and compassionate. His love is there, it is not turned off and on by fleeting passions or emotional highs. Jesus’ love has a responsibility to it. We are responsible, we are accountable for our action of love. There is freedom in the word love, but also a responsibility, a commitment, a sense of pride, a sense of value, a sense of dedication to someone, some principle, some value or truth that we hold high. It is our relationship to Jesus, our faith in him that lets us love our neighbor. It is the values, the worthiness, the acceptance he has for us, that allows us to love our neighbor.
Jesus is asking us to take that relationship we have with him very seriously and then from that we can learn and see how we respond to the brokenness of our neighbors. From our relationship with Jesus, we learn how to love our neighbor in a way that is authentic, in a way that accepts that person. We have been accepted by Jesus, in a way that looks for not what can I get out of my act of kindness, but what can I give to that person to make that person’s life one that has a sense of wholeness integrity and worthiness to it.
Jesus doesn’t give us an easy formula to follow. He doesn’t spell out in concise terms what it means to love one another, but through his life, his deeds, his words he does give us an example, a sign, a clue, a road map to follow.