“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

What is the one characteristic of a disciple of Jesus Christ which shows others that this one is a disciple of Jesus? To answer this question, we must first look to Jesus and why He came to us. That answer is found in the simple truth of the good news Jesus brings to us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Paul describes this love. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) God’s heart is open to us, not because we do what is right, but because we have sinned. His desire is to restore our relationship with Him which our sin destroyed. His love would be expressed through the death of Jesus Christ. His ability to restore our relationship is seen in Jesus’ victory over death in the resurrection. All because of God’s love.

As Jesus prepares to go to the cross, He would celebrate the Passover with His Disciples. As the evening meal was being served, He would teach them about being a servant by washing their feet. Later, He would comfort their hearts with the hope of eternity in the Father’s house. Between these events, Jesus would give them a new commandment. This commandment was given to the Disciples and all who will follow as disciples of Jesus Christ. It is a commandment for the church. He said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) Love is the reason Jesus came, it is also the reason Jesus sends us to the world to build His church.

This is the core of Jesus’ teaching found in the Sermon on the Mount. “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24-25) The ability of each follower of Jesus to be usable in His hands is the love one has for God and the love that is offered to fellow believers. According to our Savior, this is how our witness will go out into the world. It will be seen as we love each other.

Jesus had asked Peter, do you love me? Peter may ask us, do we love each other? “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Peter 1:22-23) Paul would add, “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Ephesians 4:15-16) John said, “For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. . . . We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other.” (1 John 3:11,14)

Let us love one another, in order for the world to hear and observe the Good News. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:17)

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block