This verse from the Gospel of John is one that has been resonating in my brain since Maundy Thursday, though I’m not entirely sure why. I mean, is it just me, or is the idea of being commanded to love strike you as odd, perhaps even somewhat off-pitting. It doesn’t seem that hard to understand, but isn’t love an emotion? How can anyone—even Jesus—command us to feel an emotion? That doesn’t make a lot of sense. Love takes time, nurture—right? You can’t just flip a switch and turn it on/off. Nevertheless, Jesus issues this command to His disciples, “Love one another like I loved you!” It’s a practice that is supposed to go hand in hand with following Christ, in fact, it’s so necessary that Jesus goes on to say others will know we belong to Him because we do it.
So maybe there’s more to this. Maybe this is a different kind of love. Well, of course it is—and we know it. Most of us are familiar with the term agape, as the kind of love of which both Jesus—and Paul—speak. Is it easy—not really, but yet so often we don’t even try. We may pretend to—that is, we’ll be nice to people. We “love” our neighbors, our fellow believers, as long they don’t ruffle our feathers, hurt our feelings, disagree with us, or let us down in some way … but the first time we see their flaws, we cut bait and run. Most conflict between believers is caused because they fail to love one another as Christ first loved them, or worse, they stubbornly refused to.
When I think of how Christ loved me there’s no escaping the image of the cross. Christ loved me so much that He when to the cross in my place. Scripture teaches that “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). How about that? Christ died for us “while we were yet sinners.”He didn’t demand that we clean ourselves up before He went to the cross. He died for us in spite of all our flaws and imperfections. And He commands us to love one another in the same way! Ever wonder how to respond when a fellow believer hurts your feelings or lets you down in some way? Christ tells us to respond in love … and He role-modeled that love for us on the cross. When you love your Christian brothers and sisters and remain devoted to them through thick and thin, the rest of the world will know the One to Whom you belong. John 13:34 isn’t a suggestion…it’s a command.