Thoughts

John 13 – A New Commandment

Remember when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was? Do you remember His answer? He quoted from Deuteronomy 6, which we also read today: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Did you notice the new commandment that Jesus gave the disciples in John 13 today? He said,”And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

How is this different than “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”? It is different in a very fundamental way. 

There is a difference between “my neighbor” and “other believers.” My neighbor means  non-believers as well as believers. It really means anyone I come in contact with. There’s a really good article at gotquestions.org that talks about this.

When Jesus gave this new commandment, He said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Remember the setting. This is Jesus having his final dinner with the disciples.

So how did He love them? He loved them not as He loved Himself, but more than He loved Himself. We are to love each other more than we love our own selves. We are to love sacrificially, forgivingly, patiently, and every other way He loves us. 

This takes love to a whole new level, because honestly, sometimes I don’t love myself very much. So setting the bar at loving my neighbor as I love myself is not putting it very high. But loving more than I love myself is.

And that could be a very difficult task indeed, if not for the way Jesus changed the words. Instead of love your neighbor, he said love each other. See, if I love my neighbor, and he continues to be a nincompoop to me, then it’s hard to keep doing it. If I love him as Christ loves me, and he’s a nincompoop, it’s humanly impossible. With God loving him through me, by the power of the Holy Spirit…that is the only way I con love my neighbor.

But if we love each other as Christ loves us, then the command is much easier. If we treat each other as more important than ourselves, then the love of God will be evident to all around, because that kind of love just doesn’t happen outside of God’s love. And that’s why Jesus said, “If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciple.”

Yes, believers can and do have differences. But we share so much in common, if we are truly His, then we…with His help…should be able to overlook those differences. 

John 14 – One Way

It wasn’t all that long ago that tolerance was supposedly at the top of the list of political correctness. But we all know that that has been put aside. Today “wokeness” supersedes all other forms of thought. At least that’s what gets the most media…both mainstream and social media. To buck that trend publicly is asking to be labelled as participating in “hate speech” and that’ll get you cancelled. 

So when we say out loud, in public, what the Bible teaches, we find ourselves in opposition to the woke. And when we say that Jesus is the only way to God, we’re called close-minded hate mongering bigots.

“How,” they say, “can you say that there is only one way to God? Surely there are many ways, many roads.” (At least the ones who claim to be spiritual. Of course, many of the woke deny God’s existence.)

But when they talk about there being many ways, or paths to God, our reply only needs to point to what Jesus said in today’s reading: 

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

We are not narrow and exclusive. Jesus is. No one comes to the Father except through Him. Their argument is with Him.

You want to talk about many ways? Many roads? In Matthew, Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.”

Yes. The way to God is exclusive and narrow. That’s the bad news.

The Good News is that God loved the world so much that whoever believes in Jesus will be saved. The world. Whoever. All are invited. Good news, indeed.

John 15 – He Was Hated First

Considering what Jesus said there, I do not think it was by chance that He said in John 15 “If the world hates you, it hated me first.”

Jesus had a good reminder for us today. He said, starting in verse 18 of John 15, “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you do not belong to the world, because I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you.”

This has never been truer than it is today, beloved. If you haven’t experienced it yet, you will. You will, that is, if you are living life according to Jesus’ commands. We are living in a perilous time, beloved. But we must not fear. We need to consider that a good thing when they hate us. 

Back in the late 60s, early 70s there was a bumper sticker or t-shirt or something that asked the question, “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

Beloved, let’s give the world a mountain of evidence! Let there be no doubt that we believe, and that this belief has made a difference in our lives. 

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 13 GNT, Ch. 14 NASB, Ch. 15 NET

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