This reflection originally appeared in Daily Grace: The Mockingbird Devotional, Vol. 2:
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. (John 13:34)
What are the old commandments? Simply flip through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, where you’ll find the likes of these: “Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.” “Do not mate different kinds of animals.” “Do not turn to mediums or wizards.” These commandments are specific, weird, and — with a few exceptions — pretty do-able.
But Jesus announces a “new commandment,” the very heart of his ministry. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. Sounds good, but he does not mean “treat others with kindness and respect, and smile at people on the sidewalk.” He means be prepared to die for others, even your enemies. After all, that is how Jesus demonstrated his love.
This commandment has all the combined force of the old ones plus some. Not unlike when Jesus said, “Be perfect,” or “Do not worry,” this “new commandment” is pure, holy, good, and patently impossible to follow. Author Muriel Spark points this out in a brilliant passage from her novel, The Comforters:
The demands of the Christian religion are exorbitant, they are outrageous. Christians who don’t realize that from the start are not faithful. They are dishonest; their teachers are talking in their sleep. “Love one another … brethren, beloved … your brother, neighbours, love, love, love” — do they know what they are saying?
To Jesus, Peter swears, “I will lay down my life for you!” (v. 37), but immediately Jesus questions him: “Will you …?” (v. 38). Shortly after this, Peter fails to live up to his promise; in fact, when it really counts, he denies knowing Jesus at all.
If the “new commandment” outs us as sinners, then we have all the more reason to praise Jesus, because he loves when we do not. When we deny him, he goes to the cross. When we run away, he stays. When we resist, he loves. And “His mercy endures forever.”
This is hard teaching, but true. We don’t even come close and don’t have the emotional feeling most of the time. Why do we even think we have progressed? I’m undone.