I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you, this, all will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.

John 13:34–35, New King James Version

 

Today is Maundy Thursday.

This day gets its name from the Latin word "mandateum," which means "love." It commemorates the occasion when Jesus issued a new commandment, stating that our ability to love one another is genuine proof that we belong to Him.

Remember that it was the most difficult night of Jesus' life when He told His disciples to love one another. It was on this night that Judas betrayed Him and Peter denied Him. Nonetheless, Jesus was eager to love and suffer for them. In other words, Jesus did not give us this commandment when it was convenient for Him, but He demonstrates the importance of this commandment through His own example.

Let's be honest about this.

Because we are afraid of being hurt, rejected, or misunderstood, we are often hesitant to love unconditionally. In addition, some people are difficult to love. It's easy to fall in love with the lovable, but it's a different story with the unlovable.

The real reason we find it difficult to love some people is that we can be biased, picky, and discriminatory. We want them to earn our affection in some way. And if they don't, we can easily justify not loving them. We can't love people based on our emotions or expectations because they are inconsistent and unpredictable. This is not how God communicates with us. He shows us His love by sending Jesus to die for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8).

In the Old Covenant, love was defined as "loving your neighbour as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18; Mark 12:31), but in the New Covenant, Jesus went even further with His new commandment to "love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12). In other words, loving others is an active expression of our faith in Christ. Moreover, Jesus is not requiring you to love someone through your own strength or ability. Rather Jesus is calling us to rest on Him to love others as much He loves us.

People will recognise us as Christians, not because of our theology or style of worship, but because of our love for one another. As a result, we must continue to receive God's love in Christ in order to continue to give God's love through Christ.