He put down the basin, unwrapped the towel from around His waist and sat down at the table. Washing the feet of His disciples was not distasteful to Him, He wanted to do it to show each one how much He loved them. Later He said to those who gathered at the table with him, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another (John 13: 34).
Loving as Jesus loved is no small thing. We want to think there are more important and significant things to do for Him, but not according to Him. Loving as He loved was so important that He framed it as a command and took the time, not just to teach it, but to live it.
WHAT’S NEW?
So, what was new? The new commandment sounds a lot like the old commandment. But His command to love as He loved raised the bar. Washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus gave the disciples a powerful example of what He meant when He commanded them to love as He loved. Throughout His three-year ministry, Jesus consistently showed the disciples what it meant to love as He loves.
A CLUE
How did Jesus love? A constant feature of His love was loving others as individuals. The Rev. John Claypool says this so well. He remarks:
Jesus loved each one he had ever met as if there were none other in all the world to love…. Instead of never seeing the trees for the forest, as the old adage goes, Jesus reversed that process and never failed to focus on the particular and the unique in each human being. This represents an extraordinary commitment and discipline, especially because, even in Jesus’ day, he came in contact with many, many people and, therefore, must have found it tempting to lump people together in categories, in classes, and to allow the forest mentality to blind him to the genuine uniqueness of each human being.[i]
[i] Claypool, J. R., May. 9. 2004. Loving as Jesus loved. Day1, https://day1.org/weekly-broadcast/5d9b820ef71918cdf2002418/loving_as_jesus_loved, accessed 8.2.2023.
Jesus did not let the ‘forest-mentality’ rule His interactions. He dealt with persons as individuals. In the meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, He knew her troubled history and used that history, not to condemn her, but to draw her to the truth. Jesus knows all our histories and uses that knowledge to relate to us in a personal way.
When first meeting Nathanael, who would later become one of the twelve, Jesus addressed him in a personal manner, speaking of him as one in whom there was no guile (John 1:43-50). For Jesus, Nathanael was not just another curious seeker, but a distinct person with unique qualities. Jesus paid attention and it paid off. Nathanael’s initial skepticism evaporated as Jesus personally engaged him. Could this be said of our encounters with others?
Jesus invited the socially unacceptable, tax collectors, prostitutes, beggars, into His circle, not just to tolerate them but to enjoy their company. Human love often tolerates, but Godly love welcomes.
ANOTHER CLUE
Jesus’ interactions were never about Him. He removed Himself from the equation, making each exchange about the other person. Dining as the guest of a Pharisee who withheld the common courtesies of the day, neglecting to wash Jesus’ feet, give Him a kiss, or anoint Him with oil, Jesus used the situation, not to call attention to Himself, but to foreground our relationship to God’s love.
Jesus spoke directly to Simon, the Pharisee:
“Simon, I have something to say to you. So he said, “Teacher, say it.”
Jesus told a parable about two debtors, one who owed a large amount and the other a small amount, but the creditor freely forgave both. Jesus asked Simon, who loved the creditor the most, prompting the Pharisee to choose the one who owed the larger amount. Jesus then directly contrasted Simon with a woman who has been on the sidelines of the dinner party. He pointed out that this woman had anointed His head with oil, kissed His feet and wiped them with her tears while Simon had offered none of these courtesies. Jesus ended his address to Simon by saying the woman’s sins were many, but the one who is forgiven much loves much while he who is forgiven little, loves little (Luke 7:40-48).
Impervious to offense, Jesus removed His ego from the situation, allowing God’s love to take center stage. His gift of love to the unacceptable woman is obvious, but what about the Pharisee? Would it have been more loving to let him continue in his arrogant deception? Was it not an act of love to bring him face to face with the fallacy of His pretentious opinion of Himself and others? If Jesus had made the occasion about vindicating Himself, He most likely would have stirred up anger and self-righteousness in Simon, but instead, He introduced a moment of self-reflection. Jesus calls us to love others like this, removing self-interest to allow His love to bring forth perhaps what we do not anticipate.
THE PAINTING
The paired forms repeat but it is repetition with difference. New coloring and novel orientations distinguish the repeated forms. The contrast between the duplicated forms and the original form produces a sense of liveliness and energy that would be absent if the repetitions were made to exactly match. When we love as Jesus loved, we emulate the underlying principles of His love but with difference because He has created us to be distinct in our reflection of Him. As with the painting, the variance produces vitality. Each time Jesus’ love enters a situation, there is new life because it is not a formula or a rote repetition. His love involves itself with the uniqueness of each person and their circumstances.
IMAGINE IF
Imagine if You allowed Jesus to love You as though there were no one else to love, making it all about You? Would it produce an arrogant, narcissistic, obnoxious individual? It may seem so, but consider the disciples, the Samaritan woman or the prostitute who came to dinner. Jesus’ love transformed them into ardent followers who only wanted to become more/more like Him. Take a chance. Let Him love you as though there is no one else for Him to love.
RECEIVING
This is a conundrum. We learn to give by receiving. We love Him because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). Learning to love as Jesus loves occurs, not by taking a pledge, making a vow, but by receiving. In His parable, the ability of the debtors to love was directly related to the amount love they received. As has been said, we can’t give away something we don’t have ourselves. Experiencing His love will transform us, spilling over into our relationships.
A fearsome New York City gang leader confronts a rural Pennsylvania preacher telling him that if he came back, he would kill him. The undaunted preacher replies, “You could cut me up into a thousand pieces and lay them in the street. Every piece will still love you.”[i] This is Jesus’ love. We can refuse it, deny it, ignore it, scorn it, but we can’t stop it.
[i] David Wilkerson, The Cross and the Switchblade (New York: Jove Books, 1962), 91. The gang leader, Nicky Cruz, eventually showed up at one of Wilkerson’s youth rallies, gave his heart to the Lord and became a passionate, dedicated follower of Christ.
Lord Jesus, unless we experience Your love for ourselves, I doubt that we will be able to love others as You love. Teacher John Piper strongly agrees saying, “We must first be gripped by Christ’s love for us.”[i] “We must put it before our minds at the beginning of the day (he loves me), and then again at midmorning (he loves me), and then at noon (he loves me), and then at mid-afternoon (he loves me), and then at supper time (he loves me), and then before bed (he loves me).”[ii] Lord, if we actually practiced what Piper recommends, would it not radically change us?
[i] Piper, J. (March 19, 1995). Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?, https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/who-shall-separate-us-from-the-love-of-christ, accessed 8.6.2023.
[ii] Ibid.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It was time. He sat down at the table with His twelve apostles and said, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer… Luke 22:15).” Fervent desire, did you catch that? Fervent! He was intensely looking forward to what would be a horrific experience. His blood-covered cross would have love flowing all the way down it. The sacrifice would cost Him more than anyone, other than the Father, could comprehend, not just physical torment, but a labor of the soul. It is not an exaggeration to say it would produce the most radical transformation to individual human life ever conceived and it was only possible through love. No other impulse could compel Him to leave this table and walk into the hands of His waiting accusers.
We Believe in Him; We Believe in His Love
Sydney Walker
August 5, 2023
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