“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.” – John 13:34
A New Mandate
Maundy Thursday. When we celebrate Holy Week this day is often overshadowed by Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Yet on this day, when Jesus celebrates the Passover with His disciples and institutes the Lord’s Supper, He also gives us a mandate. Maundy is from the Latin word mandatum from which we get our English word mandate. To give a mandate implies authority and power. To submit to one can seem condescending or restricting. In the realm of religion, we tend to associate commandments with the Law and not grace. So why now? Why does Jesus give us a new mandate between the cup and the cross?
Out with the old, in with the new? In Leviticus 19:18, the Israelites were given the command, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The Jews wanted to limit this to loving their fellow countryman, but in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus “shamed” this interpretation. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus would often say “you have heard that it was said…., but I say to you.” After quoting a commandment, Jesus would put it in a new light. Murder isn’t just an action, it is anger in the heart. Likewise, an action isn’t necessary for adultery, all it takes is a lustful look. Bottom line, God is concerned not just with our doing, but more importantly with our being. What we do is dictated by who we are. What we can become, is dictated by what Christ has done. Jesus does nothing apart from the Father.
“So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.'” – John 5:19
A Humbling Lesson
On a prior Passover, Jesus taught a lesson on authority by cleansing the Temple courts. For His “final” Passover, Jesus taught a lesson on servanthood by cleansing the Disciple’s feet. The whip of cords gave way to a towel. The old temple was about to become obsolete, the eternal Temple was about to be destroyed so it could raise again. The Jews asked Jesus for a sign, Jesus left the Church a new Commandment. The commandment was preceded by an example.
Despite the reluctance of Peter, Jesus washed the feet of all of the Disciples, including Judas. The humility Jesus demonstrated is visible to all men. It is an example all can appreciate. The New Commandment is another story. Jesus did not give the disciples the Commandment until after Judas left. John records that after taking the bread from Jesus, Judas “immediately went out. And it was night.” Judas belonged to darkness and not light. The commandment to love one another as Jesus loves is only for True Disciples. In a sense, it is our sign to the world. “By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
Another Helper
How can we love like Jesus loved? We can’t, apart from the Father. After leaving an example of love and humility, Jesus gave the New Commandment. The commandment was followed by a promise of empowerment. “If you love Me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:15-17).
Maundy Thursday. Jesus washes feet. Jesus shares a feast. He gives a New Commandment. He promises the power to fulfill it. Before the Spirit is sent, however, Jesus must go back to the Father. The cross must precede Pentecost. “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7).
A Love Lesson
For the disciples, separation, and sorrow must precede the Spirit. But their sorrow would turn to joy. A joy, “no one can take from them” (John 16:22). They were promised a joy like they had never experienced because they would be empowered to love like they never had before. First, they had to witness the greatest act of love possible. The cross was on the horizon. Love was carrying Jesus to it.
“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:12-13
May we love one another as Jesus loved us. May we abide in Him and submit to the power of the Spirit in us. May we learn from the lessons Jesus taught us on Maundy Thursday. No time like the present to humble ourselves and pick up a towel. As you come to the foot of the cross, look at the feet of your Savior. He who humbled Himself and washed the feet of His disciples humbly died on the cross and had His feet pierced for you. May we follow His mandate of Grace.
“Whoever says, ‘I know Him’ but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.” – 1 John 2:4-6.
“Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.” – 1 John 3:18