John 13:34-35 (NIV) 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
When it comes to love, confusion abounds. Pick up most any magazine in any given month and invariably there will be an article giving the scoop of what real love is and isn’t. Modern psychology has also entered the fray, speaking to how we confuse possessiveness, dependency, and people pleasing with love.
Jesus also entered the fray. He had some definite notions of what love was and what love wasn’t. He said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Jesus claimed to be the source for real love, and was unique in claiming that His love actually invaded life and was expressed through us. Other religions had believed that love was a gift of the gods or that love somehow emanated from God. But Jesus gave us both the power to love and an understanding of how we ought to love. And that was new.
Jesus also claimed that love is our one and only command. Love was not one of many responsibilities we had, but the one and only. In any given situation, I may not know exactly what to do. I might be churning inside with anger, or cringing with guilt or filled with worry, but nevertheless my responsibility is to discover how I ought to love. In this all the law and the prophets are fulfilled. And that was new.
Jesus also claimed that love meant sacrifice. When He later repeated the command to love, He said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13 NIV). Love means sacrifice, and that was new.
Jesus also believed that love was the most powerful force in the world. He staked His ministry and His life on this belief. Love was the power that softened and changed hearts, strengthened hearts, and steadied hearts. Jesus believed in the power of love to change the world, and this was new.
The love Jesus offers combines head and heart and might be called answering the call of Christ to compassion, to yearn from the innermost being for the well-being of others. Compassion is a call to act based on deep felt concern and conviction. Compassion is the emotion most frequently attributed to Jesus. It is the word He used to describe that master who forgives His servant, the Samaritan who stops to help a stranger, and the father who welcomes home his son.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 17, 1985
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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