“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:34)
How is this a new commandment? It would seem that this instruction had been given in the Old Testament that you were to love your neighbor as yourself. “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:18) Jesus applied this to anyone that you came across that needed help. (Luke 10:30-37) We should do this with great care and vigor. This principle is the guiding rule in our charity work today.
In this new commandment, Jesus is speaking in a more intimate context. Love for each other is given as one of the fundamental aspects of his kingdom. There is a special love for other believers that is to be expressed in our care and concern. Love for each other would be the identifying mark of the followers of Christ. It would not be our clothes or bodily marks. It would be the care that we give to each other.
Jesus gives us the standard by which we are to live. We are to match him in his love for the disciples. The disciples knew exactly how he had loved them because they had experienced it.
He spoke kindly to them, concerned himself heartily for them, and for their welfare, instructed, counselled, and comforted them, prayed with them and for them, vindicated them when they were accused, took their part when they were run down, and publicly owned them to be dearer to him than his mother, or sister, or brother. He reproved them for what was amiss, and yet compassionately bore with their failings, excused them, made the best of them, and passed by many an oversight. Thus he had loved them, and just now washed their feet; and thus they must love one another, and love to the end.
-Matthew Henry
This love for each other must be ever ready, freely given, and constant. It must also extend to the protection of each other even unto death. Most often applied in times of persecution.
The reputation of believers is wrapped up in the love that we show to each other. From it, the world will wonder at what they see expressed. Understanding that love for self is overridden by the love expressed for others. In this, we reflect the nature of God and are obedient to the will of God for us.
The love of God sent His only begotten Son to the cross. (John 3:16) The Love of Christ went to the cross with Joy. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) He humbled himself to become a man, he humbled himself to wash his disciple’s feet, and he humbled himself to give his life a ransom for many. There is no greater love than that.
Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the Skies of parchment made; were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade; to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from Sky to Sky.
– Frederick M. Lehman