JOHN 13:34-35 – A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
THEME OF THE DAY: OUR ID CARD. The ID card for the Christian is love. From today’s scripture Jesus said we would be known as His disciples by our love for His people. Are we? Do we have a reputation of loving God’s people in our thoughts of them, actions toward them, conversations with them, and attitudes about them? To love Jesus is to love His people. So, how do we carry and use our ID card of love? Jesus would tell us in today’s scripture. It is not a script, a quick method or how to list. He gave us the example. Himself. Read it again . . . A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. How did He love them and loves us, as an example?
First, the fullest possible extent – Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end (John 13:1). It is easy to read the end of the verse “he loved them to the end” and just assume it means the end of Jesus’ life on earth. The setting is the Upper Room Discourse that is leading to Jesus’ death, but that does not capture the context of the Lord displaying humble love by the washing of feet. The end means “to its fullest possible extent” which is infinity. Jesus loves us to the maximum love can and that with a continuing permanence. It knows no end. And that is what our ID card points us to; the practice of love with another that knows no limits.
Next by humble and impartial love – During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.” When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you (John 13:2-15). Here is the familiar account of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. Never lose sight that Judas, His betrayer, received the same act of humble love as Peter and the rest of the disciples. Lesson? Our ID card reads, “No exceptions.” All are loved regardless if they have hurt us or not.
Finally, by a love that never lets go despite failings, even betrayals – Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times (John 13:36-38). It wasn’t just Peter who denied the Lord. All the disciples did, and sadly, we sometimes do, maybe not verbally, but by sinning. And what do we get? Love. Yes, Even in failing times. Don’t forget this truth when people fail us!
Love is our ID card. Carry it and practice it. It is what makes us His people.
PRAYER: “Father, control me by the love of Your Son that all people may see Your Son through me.”
QUOTE: “To profess to know Christ but lack love for any of His sheep is self-deception.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim