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. John 13:34
At first, I wonder, “What is so new about this? Haven’t we been commanded to love before? Isn’t that the Golden Rule?”
But no this isn’t the Golden Rule— to love others as ourselves, this is a much higher standard. Our love for ourselves is fraught with misconceptions, instability and double-mindedness, and is often includes bulwarks against past hurts. Big ugly cement walls. And that is pretty much how we do love our neighbor. Inconsistently and with lots of foolishness tossed in.
But this new commandment is radically different. Not to love our neighbor as myself, but to love him exactly in the same way as Christ has loved me, kneeling at my feet in tender service with no reservation or position, in all wisdom and grace and mercy. THAT is how I am to love my neighbor.
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
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