If Jesus Himself gave you a new
commandment, would you consider it? I’m
talking about if you were one of the disciples and He was sitting right beside
you. Or would you say, ‘but that’s not the
way we used to do it’ or ‘you can’t change it up now.’
The time was perhaps 28 AD and Jesus was
teaching the crowds as He typically did.
And as was typical, some religious scholars (Pharisees) were trying to
trick Him into saying something wrong that He could be condemned for. They asked Him what the greatest law was and
this was His reply:
Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is
the first and great commandment. And the second is
like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Mt. 22:37-39
I’d like to
point out that this was spoken to non-Jesus believers. As Christians, we also spout these verses off
as the ultimate in commands from Jesus, but the truth is, that He gave His
followers a new commandment that makes the old one null and void to us
concerning each other. It was at the
time of the last supper. He
fellowshipped with the twelve in the upper room, they ate, and Jesus humbled
Himself as a servant to wash their feet.
Judas left, and soon after, Jesus gave the new commandment that would
replace the second command above:
I give you a new commandment, that you love one
another. As I have loved you, you should also love one another. By this all
shall know that you are My disciples, if you have love toward one another. Jh. 13:34,35
Suddenly, it
is not longer good enough for us to love each other as much as we love
ourselves, but now we must love our brother and sisters in the Lord as much as
Jesus did. This is love beyond what we
have for ourselves. This is agapao love,
the same love the Father, the Son, the Spirit have for us. Jesus didn’t want us to be satisfied to be
like the unbelievers, but He gave a higher standard of love for us to strive
for.
And so, when
we look into our brother or sister’s eyes, do we ask ourselves if we love them
as much as we love ourselves, or do we remind ourselves to love them like Jesus
does. That is unconditional love (in the
state they are in), full of mercy, grace, compassion, patience, and kindness,
with open hearts and walls torn down, willing to humble ourselves, serve and lay
down our lives for them.
‘Cause that is how Jesus loves us!
And that is how the world will know we follow Him!