Jesus Revealed Pt. 13 - No Greater LoveНамуна

A New Commandment  

Thoughts on the Passage

Judas is gone. Jesus now opens His heart to His disciples. We now hear some of the most important teachings of Jesus. He gives what we call the “upper room discourse” – and it summarizes much of what Jesus taught, opens up our understanding to the heart of God, prays a powerful prayer of blessing and dedication over His disciples. From here to the end of chapter 17 we listen in as followers of Jesus and let these words of Jesus fill our hearts. It is some of the most beautiful teaching in the whole bible.

Jesus starts out a little differently. He starts by telling the disciples that He will be leaving them. This causes confusion though because they think that Jesus should be setting up His kingdom here on this earth. Jesus makes it clear that this is not happening now. He is finishing the task for which He came and then He will return to the Father. He gives them the standard to follow when that happens – love one another.

A new commandment – but really an old one from Moses in the old Testament. Love one another. God instructed Moses to have the Israelites walk in this truth when the nation was first established. Jesus called it the second most important command of the Word of God. Now Jesus starts this great message to His disciples with the message God gave to His people Israel – love one another. It is just really simple though – just be people who walk in love for one another.

Love one another.

Application

We quickly focus on what separates us. It is natural. It is wrong.

Ethnicity, education, understanding of the bible, economic standing, or a host of other things can quickly get in the way of showing God’s love. Today, let’s look for a brother or sister that we would not normally seek out – and express God’s love to them. Remember the 5 love languages and speak them to that individual.

-- Words of Affirmation.

-- Acts of Service.

-- Giving a gift.

-- Quality time.

--Physical touch or closeness.

Time to Pray

Father, I am settling in to listen with the other eleven disciples to hear the words of Jesus. I want to be more than a hearer of His words, I want to be a doer of His words. So today, I want to practice showing God’s love to people – expressing Your love through the 5 love languages. It is what I know will show Your love and so I choose to do it today. I know that there will be times I have no desire to show it – and people I struggle to show love to. I ask for the heart of Jesus for all of Your children. Jesus loved Judas and died for his sins. Jesus loved the Pharisees and died for their sin. Jesus loved the world and died for their sins. So strengthen my heart today and help me grow my heart to look like the heart of Jesus just a little bit more today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.