A New Commandment

John 13:31-35

31 When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.

33 “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.

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.”

I took a quick trip to Ohio this past week. My sister-in-law was expecting their third child and springtime on the farm can be quite busy. So when I got the call Monday that they were heading into the hospital, I packed my bag and drove north. You know, in case they needed me. No, they wouldn’t need me to help deliver the baby, nor would I have any interest in being in the room for that. But I wanted to be available to help watch their four-year-old twins. I wanted to be available to help with the chores around the farm. But one of the main reasons I went was to help my brother work on his house, which he has been renovating for the last few years. He has been trying to insulate and hang drywall in the upstairs, making room for their now family of five.

So I drove to Ohio, babysat, did a little work, and got a little messy. How much do you think I got paid for a couple days of labor? It cost me a couple of tanks of gas just to get there and back! But I did eat pretty well, being paid in cookies and mom’s meat loaf. If it wasn’t about the money, why did I go? Because it is family, and among us brothers, this is how we say we love one another. I’m not good at saying the words, nor am I a gift giver. But in this situation, I showed my love for my family through acts of service.

Today we are going to be looking at our passage from John’s gospel, especially verse 34, which says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

Can we really command someone to love another person? That seems a little forced. What does Jesus mean by this commandment, and how does this look today?

The first thing I want to mention this morning is something we already know. I have spoken on this in detail before, and you have probably heard others share about this as well. But by way of review, please recall that the Greek language offers us a much more thorough understanding of love. The New Testament uses four different Greek words that we translate into the word love, and the ancient Greek language would have had as many as six words to convey the concept of love.

Clearly, the English language is lacking in this area. I use the same word to describe the way I feel about my family of origin, my wife, and ice cream. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this new commandment from Jesus was not to love one another in the same way I love ice cream.

The three most-common Greek words we translate into love are agape, philia, and eros. Eros is the love of physical attractions. This is where we get the word “erotic.” Philia is often understood as familial love, or friendship. When we combine the word for brother, adelphos, with philia, you get Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Agape is sometimes translated as charity. It is a selfless love, a self-emptying love. This is the love of service to one another.

When I went to help my brother hang drywall and watch his older children, this was a combination of philia and agape. Because I love him…well, like a brother, I offered gifts of service.

One way to differentiate between these kinds of love is to note that eros and philia are feelings. Agape is an action. Things like a person’s external appearance will affect whether or not we have eros for another. A person’s personality and actions may affect whether or not we have philia for them. We can’t always choose whom we are attracted to, or feel friendship toward. You’ve heard people say, “I’m just not into you.” But because agape is an action, we choose in a different way. We choose whether or not to perform acts of agapic love.

Keep these concepts of love in mind as we back up and look at the context for this passage.

John 13 starts with the disciples gathering with Jesus in the Upper Room to celebrate what will become known as the Last Supper. John tells the story a little differently than the other gospels, and includes an aspect of this evening’s events the others leave out. John begins by telling us that Jesus knew his death was coming, and he also knew that Judas was going to be the one to hand him over to the Romans. Just after our text we find that Jesus also knows that Peter is going to deny even knowing him three times. So what do you do when you are surrounded by twelve of your closest friends, knowing that at least two of them are going to turn on you? You wash their feet.

Jesus takes on the role of a servant and performs this act that is below his station in life. Then, in verse 14-15, he says, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

In the Mennonite Church, we have tried to keep this practice alive. Often on or around Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, we have Communion and Foot Washing services. We don’t do this because we think that Jesus was concerned about our personal hygiene. No, we do this as a metaphor for serving one another. Just as Jesus took on a role as a servant and washed his disciples’ feet, we too are called to humbly serve one another. This will take on different forms at different times. Many have made service their professions.

If you look at the occupations of Mennonites, you will find many teachers and nurses. These are people who don’t get nearly enough appreciation for the work that they do. I went on a field trip with my daughter’s 1^st-grade class a few weeks ago, and the teacher was a snack-carrier, nose-wiper, fight-breaker-upper, and an educator. Nurses do more than just give medications and take your vitals. They are touching things that I sure don’t want to touch, and seeing things I sure don’t want to see. I think it is wonderful that these people are incorporating acts of service into their work. And while not all nurses or teachers are Christians, many that I know are. Jesus said that his disciples should do as he did. That means we all need to grab a basin and a towel and serve one another.

I’ll offer a real-life event that I believe reveals the essence of footwashing and service. For several months we collected funds and contributed money to our newest church plant, Iglesia Cristiana Shalom Nuevo Comienzo. As I’ve shared before, we as a district were able to raise funds to support the pastoral staff for two years as they begin meeting as a congregation and move toward self-sustainability. The church officially launched on March 30.

Two Fridays ago, on May 10, this new church, which is still considered a “church plant,” not even a fully-established church, reroofed a house for a woman in their community. You know, they’d been meeting for almost six weeks. So what do you do to celebrate six your six-week anniversary, to celebrate six weeks of ministry to the Latino population of Augusta County? You put a new roof on for some lady in need.

Jesus served his disciples by bending low, Iglesia Shalom served their neighbor by climbing high. Jesus commanded his disciples to serve one another. And he just didn’t tell them to do it, he served others as well.

I come back to verse 34, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Can we really command someone to love someone else? Not if we are talking about eros love. Can you imagine forcing someone to find another person attractive? It doesn’t work like that! We also can’t command someone to find some sort of kinship or friendship with another person, so philia is out. But remember, agape isn’t a feeling, a chemical reaction, or synapses firing in your brain. Agape is an action. Agape is the selfless giving of one’s self to another. Agape is charity, agape is service to another with no expectation of reciprocity. Jesus can command us to serve one another.

Guess which word Jesus uses in verse 34 when he commands his disciples to love one another? Yep, he uses agape. Jesus couldn’t command us to be attracted to other people or even to like them. But you don’t have to even like someone to serve them. I sometimes joke that we don’t have to like everyone, but we do need to love everyone.

Consider that Jesus taught us to love our enemies. He never said don’t have any enemies, but their status as an enemy doesn’t change how we treat them. We still love them. Even when we don’t like someone, we still love them. When Jesus tells his listeners to love their enemies, you know which word he uses there? Yep, he uses agape.

I think that most Christians are at least familiar with John 3:16. Even if you don’t know the reference, the verse is familiar to us: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

But I think that we also need to be just as familiar with 1 John 3:16, which says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

Want to guess what word John uses there to compare love to the self-giving life of Jesus? Yep, he uses agape. If you want to know what agape love looks like, look at Jesus. Look at the way he sacrificed his reputation to eat with the tax collectors and the sinners. Look at the way he sacrificed political and religious power by siding with the oppressed and the weak. This new commandment from Jesus is to love one another with the agapic love that leads us to serve one another. This new commandment is the commandment to serve each other.

Now notice that Jesus doesn’t stop there, he goes on to make agapic love the marker of being his follower. He says in verse 35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

I’ve shared before that I came up in a very conservative form of Anabaptism. Very closed-off, very insular. People married within the church, worked on their family farm or in their family business, and in many situations, attending a worship service in another denomination was even discouraged. I assume that there was a fear that people would be mislead if they heard a convincing sermon in another church. There was always, and I assume there is still to this day, a suspicion of anything and anyone from a different denomination.

I bet there are some here who can relate.

As I wrote this sermon, I was reminded of a practice from this little conservative Anabaptist sect in Ohio. When someone from outside the church was mentioned in a conversation, and people wanted to know if they were a Christian, the phrase that was commonly used was, “They profess to be a Christian.”

The conversation might go, “Hey, Bob is a nice guy. Is he a Christian?”

“Oh, he professes to be a Christian.”

What that conveys to me is that Bob claims to be a Christian, but because he is an outsider, we can’t say for sure. His dress doesn’t quite match ours. His theology is different from ours. He claims to be a Christian, and I’m not saying he isn’t, but I can’t say for sure.

What did Jesus say in verse 35? “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Jesus didn’t say that they will know whether or not you are his disciples by how long or how short your hair is. Jesus didn’t say the length of your skirt, or lapels on your jacket will show the world whether or not you are a Christian. Your status as a disciple isn’t caught up in having the right theology, or adhering to the perfect doctrine. This isn’t about following all the right rules, or going to the right church. Being a disciple isn’t about what translation of the Bible you use, or if you vote Republican, Democrat, or not at all. Jesus gave one criterion for his disciples: they will know you are my disciples if you love with the same sacrificial, agapic love that Jesus showed us.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying how and if you vote, where you go to church, and your theology don’t matter. I’m saying that they are not to be how we discern who is and is not a disciple. And I would go further to say that these things are to be determined on the basis of Christian love.

Recall that when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he boiled all the laws down to love God and love your neighbor. Your theology, voting record, and choice of church should all come out of the command to love God and love your neighbor. By the way, what word do you think Jesus used to describe this kind of love for God and neighbor? Yep, it is agape.

Remember that the very essence of God is love. As we are reminded in 1 John 4:8, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

What word do you think John uses here to describe God as love? You got it, God is agape.

If you want to know if someone is a Christian, ask yourself if they are loving. Are they loving God and loving their neighbor? Are they serving people, giving of their selves, giving of their time? If so, they are following Jesus’s new commandment: love one another. By this we shall know who is a disciple of Jesus Christ.