Practicing Jesus’ “New Command”
Today, Easter Monday, is celebrated as a public holiday in many countries around the world.
As I was thinking about this Easter Monday’s Listening on the Journey … blog post, one thought kept surfacing.
During Holy Week, the portion of Scripture that stood out to me above all the others were words Jesus spoke only hours before he knew he would be crucified.
After washing his disciples’ feet and revealing Judas Iscariot was the one who would betray him, Jesus spoke these words to his remaining eleven disciples:
“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other” (John 13:34-35 MSG).
What would happen, I have asked myself this Easter season, if I, along with people worldwide who identify as Christians, loved one another in the same way Jesus loved his disciples?
How might the landscape of the world change if followers of Christ loved one another even when ethnicity, cultural norms, or political preferences clashed?
What would be different if we loved one another despite denominational differences?
What would change if we were willing to reconcile around commonalities and not cling to and feel we must defend our need to be “right?”
Since last Easter, I have read several impactful books. One of the most significant was Streams of Living Water – Essential Practices from the Six Great Traditions of Christian Faith by Richard Foster. In it, Foster explains how throughout the history of the Christian church, various traditions of emphasis have emerged. Each is important, but rather than unite the Church, they have instead created isolated Christian communities.
In the book’s introduction, Foster says, “Today a mighty river of the Spirit is bursting forth from the hearts of women and men, boys, and girls. It is a deep river of divine intimacy, a powerful river of holy living, a dancing river of jubilation in the Spirit, and a broad river of unconditional love for all peoples. As Jesus says, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water’ (John 7:38).”
If you, like me, long to live out the “new command” Jesus left with his disciples in a manner Richard Foster describes, I believe Streams of Living Water may expand your understanding even as it has mine.
Blessings to each person reading these words on Easter Monday,
