John 13:31-35
Love One Another— As I Have Loved You!
When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (NIV1984)
Dear fellow worshipers of our living Lord and Savior,
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
In one of my previous congregations I had two members who were sisters. Like many siblings they tended to “banter” with each other. I was told that this was something they had done ever since they were little. One time one of the sisters asked me, “Is there a passage in the Bible which says that my sister has to love me?” I smiled and quoted part of our text for today, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
When we look around in our world today we see that love is in short supply. Here in our own country there is “no love lost” between a number of different groups who oppose each other. Just watch the evening news, read the signs and listen to the chants of the protestors. While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is being portrayed as an effort to “liberate” the Ukrainian people, this war is not only devasting cities all across Ukraine, but it is also devastating any good will that may have existed between the people of Ukraine and the country of Russia.
The fact that there is animosity between various groups of people in this world, the fact that there is conflict between various countries in this world does not surprise us. Sin always creates both conflict and animosity. What does surprise us is when people who claim to be Christians harbor that same kind of animosity in their hearts and reveal that same kind of conflict in their lives.
For that reason, today God the Holy Spirit gives us an opportunity to closely examine our own hearts and our own lives. As we continue to bask in the glory and the joy of Easter Sunday let’s listen very closely as our risen Lord and Savior says to us: Love One Another— As I Have Loved You!
Do you remember when our dear Lord spoke the words recorded here in our text? John answers that question when he says in the opening words of our text, “When he was gone, Jesus said….” Those words automatically bring us back into the Upper Room on Maundy Thursday. There in the Upper Room Jesus showed His disciples the “full extent of his love”— by washing their feet. (John 13:1) There in the Upper Room Jesus revealed that Judas would betray Him. There in the Upper Room Jesus said to Judas, “What you are about to do, do quickly” (John 13:27). Knowing exactly what Judas was in the process of doing, knowing exactly what Judas’ act of betrayal would bring to Him, Jesus says to the rest of His apostles, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.”
How does Judas’ act of betrayal bring “glory” to Jesus? How does Jesus’ bloody and agonizing death on the cross (Pointing to the cross) bring “glory” to the heavenly Father? We can answer both of those questions from two inseparable perspectives. First, Jesus knew that Judas’ act of betrayal would result in Jesus being “glorified” as this world’s only Savior from sin. As the apostle Peter proclaimed to the religious leaders in Jerusalem, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Jesus also knew that Judas’ act of betrayal would result in the “glorious” truth that Paul proclaimed to the Philippians, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).
That truth dovetails perfectly with the second perspective from which we can answer the questions, How does Judas’ act of betrayal bring “glory” to Jesus? How does Jesus’ bloody and agonizing death on the cross bring “glory” to the heavenly Father? This second perspective highlights the fact that all of this comes down to— love. It is the agape love found in that well-known passage of the Bible, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have ternal life” (John 3:16). Look at it this way, my friends. In Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, suffering, crucifixion and death the Lord God lovingly fulfilled all the promises He made to fallen mankind— including the promise He made in the Garden of Eden, the promise to send Someone who would “crush” Satan’s head. Jesus’ suffering and death is the sacrifice that was necessary to complete and replace the endless sacrifice of animals that God’s people were required to make ever since the days of Moses. Jesus’ suffering and death is the fulfillment of all the Messianic Prophecies that God had made through His servants the prophets. Jesus is the One who would lovingly bear our iniquities. Jesus is the One who would lovingly set the captives free. Jesus is the One who embodies God’s eternal love for us. Yes, God’s love for us finds its “glory” here at Jesus’ betrayal. Yes, the “glory” of the heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation for this world is that His own Son would be betrayed, would suffer and would die for us, in our place, as our Substitute.
This eternal, deep, self-sacrificing love of God comes to us today in those two familiar ways. God’s holy Word proclaims Jesus’ “glory” as it assures you that through faith in what Jesus has done for you (Pointing to the cross) you are saved, you are guaranteed a “glorious” life in His “glorious” heavenly Home! Jesus’ “glory” also comes to you on a very personal level in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Here at the Lord’s altar you see and taste and experience the “glory” of receiving Jesus’ true Body and Blood as His visible tangible guarantee that all of your sins are completely forgiven!
When we understand how Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, suffering death and resurrection “glorify” both the Son of Man and the heavenly Father, then we will joyfully embrace the “New Command” that our dear Lord and Savior has given to us: “Love one another… as I have loved you.” What makes this command “new”? What makes this command “new,” my friends, is the foundation upon which it is built. Through Moses God had given His people the command, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). Now Jesus takes that command to love others and makes it deeper and fuller. Now Jesus commands us, His disciples, to “Love one another as I have loved you”!
Think about what that command means, my friends. Our crucified and risen Savior has given to each and every one of us an important, lifelong, critical task: to love one another with all the glory of His self-sacrificing love. Our crucified and risen Savior also gives us the power to love in this way through the love that He daily showers upon us. This is what our crucified and risen Savior calls each and every one of His disciples— and that includes us— that is what our crucified and risen Savior calls us to do!
Unfortunately, Satan is calling us too, isn’t he. When God calls us to repentance, forgiveness and love, when God calls us to deny ourselves and to serve others in love, Satan sings another song, a Siren Song. Satan calls us to focus on enjoying the good things of this world, to take life easy, and to put ourselves first. Satan’s goal is to lure us back to where we were before God showered His glorious agape love on us. He wants us to turn away from God, to turn away from God’s will and turn in to ourselves. Satan knows that if he can lure us to turn away from God and from His will, then we’ll start choosing which people we will love and which people we won’t, who deserves our help and who doesn’t. Our decisions will be based not on whom God calls us to serve, not on who is in need of our help but who can do the most for us. To rescue us from getting mesmerized by Satan’s Siren Song our crucified and risen Savior says, “A new command I give: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
As we strive to follow the “New Command” our risen Lord and Savior has given to us we will have a glorious impact on the people around us. Look at what our Savior says in the closing verse of our text, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
As Jesus’ glorious agape love fills our hearts in ever-increasing measure that love will become more and more visible in our life. When other people see that our goal is to simply love others— not only those who love us but even those who don’t love us, even our enemies, when other people see that we are willing to put aside our own selfish desires and lovingly serve others, when other people are able to see and to hear that we are “different,” they may start connecting the dots between what we do and what we say with who we are— His disciples! (Pointing to the cross) Once they start connecting those dots we will have a wonderful opportunity to not only explain to them why we are “different,” but also share with them Who makes us “different!”
Before we close today we also need to make one more very specific application of our Savior’s words, “Love one another… as I have loved you.” The fact that Jesus spoke this “New Command” to His disciples in the Upper Room on the night before He died to pay for the sins of the world, reminds us that our risen Lord and Savior expects that we will let His “New Command” have a powerful direct impact on our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ. When it comes to earthly matters, when it comes to the things that pertain to this world, we may not always agree with each, but we are to love one another— just as He loves us! (Pointing to the cross) Even if our personalities clash, even if we disagree about things such as politics we are to love one another— just as He loves us! The way that we treat each other, the way that we talk to each other, the way that we talk about each other is not only one of the most powerful ways to show our love and thankfulness to Jesus, but it is also one of the most powerful ways to serve as His witnesses in this sin-darkened world.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” We all, of course, know that none of us is perfect when it comes to fulfilling this “New Command.” Just as it is only through His work (Pointing to the cross) that we are saved, so also it is only through Him that we can love one another as He has loved us. Through His suffering, death and resurrection our dear Lord Jesus receives “glory” beyond measure. Through His fulfilled Plan of Salvation for this world our heavenly Father receives “glory” beyond measure. May God grant that as disciples of Jesus the way in which we strive to follow His “New Command” to love another will indeed be done with a heart that always says:
To God be the glory!
Amen
