AN OLD OR NEW COMMANDMENT?

By David Woodbury

When questioned as to which is the greatest commandment, Jesus restates the Old Testament command to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:39 - NLT) A very simple straight forward statement, or is it? Often there is complexity hidden in simplicity, and if we are courageous enough to tease it out, we may gain a greater understanding of the heart and mind of Jesus.

Just prior to his crucifixion, Jesus’ words at the last supper take on quite deep and meaningful implication and we can see a connection with the greatest commandment. He is facing betrayal, and certain death, so there is a sense where this is a deathbed declaration. So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. (John 13:34-35 - NLT)

There is a similarity in the sentiment; love each other, but Jesus openly declares: I am giving you a new commandment. In what senses can it be new? The Apostle John in his first pastoral letter also restates the commandment; however, he gives us new insight into the way in which this is a new commandment: 7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. (1 John 2:7 – NLT)

John was certainly not writing a new commandment, in fact, it was as old as the time of Moses when God was giving him instruction for the nation of Israel. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:18 - NLT) Among all the austere hygiene laws and laws of punishment and retribution, there is this commandment of compassion: love your neighbor as yourself. With that, it would seem that there would develop, at some level, a mindset of love and compassion. However, so focused on the law were religious leaders that love and compassion took second place.

This is reflected in the narrative of the Pharisee, and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14. A Pharisee and a tax collector came to the temple to pray and the Pharisee reflected the loveless and compassionless mindset of the people in his self-righteous denunciation of the tax collector. I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income. In fact, it was a common mindset among the religious leaders and there was a callous and self-righteous saying among them: there is joy in heaven when one sinner is obliterated from the earth.

It may well have been this callous and loveless attitude that Jesus had in mind when he told the parable of the lost sheep and he concludes this parable with the words: There is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away (Luke 15:7 - NLT). We need to keep this in our minds when we read the words of Jesus at the Last Supper in John 13:34-35. So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples (John 13:34-35 - NLT). What does he really mean to imply to His disciples? Did He want them to feel some sort of warm emotion for each other? Or was there something more significant that He is trying to get through to them?

If we step back a few verses we get a very practical object lesson of what Jesus really means when he asks His disciples: Love each other. Just as I have loved you. If we look at what has just taken place, He has taken the place of a servant and, in humility, has washed the feet of His disciples. He then takes His place again at the table and says to them: You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet.

The washing of feet is purely symbolic of what Jesus is trying to convey to His disciples. Reading through these verses we note some very practical actions of Jesus as He ministers to His disciples:  So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. (John 13:4-5 – NLT)

ü  He is intentional about showing practical love

ü  He puts the needs of others above himself

ü  He intentionally assumes the mantle of humility

ü  He is willing to serve

ü  He treats His disciples with esteem and respect

Obviously, the command to love others is not new since they look back to the time of Moses. However, a thing may not be new in time, but rather it can be new in understanding. Jesus is trying to impart the values of the kingdom to His disciples; values which are dramatically new and different from the mindset of the religious leaders of the day.

Jesus has not only set a significant and radical standard of love, he has demonstrated that this love is something actionable, practical, and capable of being directed through our own cognitive processes; that is to say, it has more to do with thoughtful actions than human emotions. It’s as if Jesus is saying, both to His disciples and all who will follow as believers: When your love for each other displays itself in humble, thoughtful and actionable deeds, it will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

It is this teaching, and the teaching of Jesus to which the Apostle John is looking back, and he goes on to point out that Jesus not only taught the commandment, he lived it out, even to the point of death.