“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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35, ESV)

Today’s passage is very short, and I’d like you to pause and read it through several times, slowly. This comes at the end of Jesus’ teaching ministry. He has just celebrated the Passover with His disciples in the upper room and He has given them symbols of a new covenant that God is making with His people. Christ’s body will be given for them, and His blood will be shed for them, but they do not understand it all yet. As Jesus draws His teaching to a close, He focuses in on a critical issue. What will mark those who are His followers? What is to distinguish His disciples in the eyes of the world? Jesus’ simple response is, their love for one another, modeled on Jesus’ own love for them.

Consider for a moment what is about to happen. Jesus knows He is going to be arrested, tried, and crucified. His disciples are about to lose their Master, and He is the only thing that holds them all together. Sure, a few of the disciples are brothers, some share a common trade (fishing), but there is nothing else that binds them all together, other than their common commitment to Jesus. I can imagine the tensions that arose at times between Simon the Zealot, who sought to end Roman rule over Israel, and Matthew the tax collector, a collaborator with the Romans. With Jesus gone it would be easy for this group to split into rival factions, fall apart, and lose their impact as Christ’s disciples. Jesus knows the dangers, and He gives them this new commandment to love one another. This love is to be deeply sacrificial, steadfast, and unshakable, like the love Jesus has shown them.

Those of us who lead Bible studies are called to be Christ’s disciples first, then to teach others. Our own discipleship is foundational, it matters to God more than what tasks we take on in His name. If this is true (and I believe deeply it is), then we must allow Jesus, through this passage, to examine our hearts and our actions to see where we are loving well and where