Jesus last words command us to prove our love for God by loving one another...

In the weeks leading up to Easter, we are going to look at the final conversation that Jesus had with His closest followers before His death, which are recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in our Bibles called the gospel of John. Wednesday, we looked on as, at the very time when the Jewish people were celebrating God’s past deliverance from an evil nation; at the very moment that you think He is going to kick out the Romans, Jesus turns to you and basically says “I love you guys, you are my spiritual children, but I am only here for a little while and then I am out of here. And while you are going to look for Me, just like I said to the self righteous religious people who oppose Me, I say to you guys as well, you can’t follow Me where I am going. I am leaving and you cannot follow”.

Now today, here is a question: how would you have responded? What would you be thinking and feeling? What words would describe what would be happening in you as a disciple? Confused. Frustrated. Betrayed. Hurt. Rejected. “What! What do you mean that we cannot follow you? We left everything to follow you. We leveraged everything to follow you.” And it is in this context that we see Jesus make an amazing statement that reveals for us a timeless truth about how we are to live our lives as followers of Jesus. So let’s look at that statement together in John 13:34:

 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another,

Now when Jesus states “a new commandment I give to you” it is not that God had not commanded the Jewish people to love one another. In the Old Testament, the Jewish people were commanded to love one another. And you had heard Jesus say that the most important thing that matters to God is that we love God with our total being and love our neighbor as ourselves. So why does Jesus say that this is a new commandment? How does this commandment make the disciples feel any better about the fact that Jesus is about to leave them? And how are we supposed to love one another?

I mean, can you imagine the disciples? “O.K. Jesus, you just told us that you are bailing on us and then you give us this new command to love one another. Jesus I got a question? What do you mean we are supposed to love one another? How are we supposed to love one another? What did we miss? Jesus provides that answer with the very next phrase:

even as I have loved you, that you also love

one another.

Even as I have loved you, you also love one another? So we are to love others in the way that you have loved us? Yup. You see, Jesus knew something that the disciples did not know. As the disciple’s heads and hearts were awash with questions and raw emotion as a result of Jesus statement that He was leaving, Jesus knew the plan. Jesus knew that the plan was for Him, just a few hours later, to be arrested by a mob that was led by Judas, who had betrayed Him. Jesus knew that He was about to allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life.

You see, this is Thursday night and tomorrow would be Good Friday, where Jesus would be crucified. And Jesus knew that three days later the plan would be that He would be raised from the dead. Jesus knew that, 50 days after His resurrection, these disciples would gather together in a room where God would move in a supernatural way to create the new community called the church. And this new community called the church would be the vehicle that God would use the reveal His love to the world. This is why Jesus says the following in John 13:35:

 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples,

   if you have love for one another."

Notice what Jesus did not say. Jesus did not say "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love the right doctrine and theology." Jesus did not say "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for the ideas about God." Jesus did not say "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love doing things for God in order to earn favor with God." That is not what Jesus said. Instead, Jesus said that all men, in other words all humanity, whether religious or irreligious, whether near or far from God, would arrive at the conclusion that you are a disciple; that you are a follower of Jesus who knows and does what Jesus knows and does, by your love for one another.

And it is here that we see Jesus, in His final words to His closest followers, reveal a timeless truth for His followers. And that timeless truth is this: Jesus last words command us to prove our love for God by loving one another. Just as it was for the disciples, we prove our love for God by loving one another. You see love is a verb. And we prove our love for God by loving one another.

The church has been divinely designed by God to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His love to the world. And God’s love is most clearly revealed when followers of Jesus love one another. When followers of Jesus love one another like Jesus loves; selflessly, sacrificially, with our total being, we experience genuine and authentic community that is a word picture of the love of God to the world.

And it is that word picture that provides the opportunity for people to not simply hear about the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. It is that word picture that provides the opportunity to experience the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. And you consider yourself a follower of Jesus, here is the question: What does your love for one another prove about your love for God? Because Jesus last words command us to prove our love for God by loving one another. So how are you doing? How are we doing?

You see, while those who do not consider themselves a follower of Jesus are off the hook, if you are a follower of Jesus, this is not a suggestion. Instead this is a command, a mandate. If you are a follower of Jesus, you are to prove your love for God by loving one another, even as Jesus loved you.

So how are you doing?