Jesus gives them a new command. Love one another. Now, the command to “love one another” isn’t new, it dates back to Leviticus and the command to “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” What makes this command new is that Jesus tells his disciples to love “as I have loved you.” The command that Jesus gives is that we must love as he loves, we are being called to be like him.
This is no easy task. Most days, it seems like the most impossible task there is. And yet, it is Christ’s new command. Love as Christ loves.
Christ loves by giving his whole life. God loved the world so much, that he sent his son. Sent him into danger, into vulnerability, into the riskiness of human skin. Sent him to show us a new way of life. Sent him to show us what love looks like. That love looks like healing. That love looks like forgiveness. That love looks like someone who will listen. That love looks like someone who will speak the truth. That love risks being hurt. That loves takes up a cross. You cannot make your number one priority both loving others and protecting yourself. Jesus is our ultimate example in this. How much we are willing to give of ourselves marks how much we are willing to love. Our purpose, as Christians, is love.
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