A new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.
Jesus called it 'new.' Love wasn't new — but the standard was. As I have loved you.
The episode in a glance.
- 01The Old Testament already said 'love your neighbor' — this isn't a brand-new topic.
- 02What's new is the measure: 'as I have loved you.' Jesus is the standard.
- 03He said it the night before he died — knowing exactly what his love would cost.
- 04Christian community is recognizable by this love, not by its statements.
Read along.
At the Last Supper, hours before his arrest, Jesus told his disciples, '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.'
Love wasn't a new subject. Leviticus 19 already said 'love your neighbor as yourself.' So why does Jesus call this commandment new?
Because the standard changed. The old measure was self: love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. The new measure is Jesus: love them as I have loved you.
And he said it right before the cross. He knew exactly what 'as I have loved you' would look like — humility, patience, washing feet, going to the cross for people who'd run.
Then he adds, 'By this all people will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.' Not by your theology. Not by your music. By love that looks like his.