Family traits are sometimes easy to spot. He looks like an Anderson, she talks like a Jones. Sometimes they will have similar interests and hobbies, similar ways in responding to different circumstances. Sometimes it is easy to spot members of different fraternal organizations or other groups. You might hear someone say that they could tell that a certain young man had been a Boy Scout when he was younger just by the way he acts. How about telling if one is a Christian or not? Can others determine that you are a Christian just by being around you, without you having to say anything? In our Gospel reading for today Jesus said that there is a way others can tell if we are His disciples or not. Let’s take a look.
As our Scripture opens, Jesus and His disciples are in the Upper Room. Jesus had a short time earlier washed His disciples feet. And though not specifically recorded in the Gospel of John, the Last Supper had probably just finished. In the opening verses of our passage John says that “he had gone out” (vs. 31). This refers to the betrayer, Judas Iscariot. He left the group to betray Jesus to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious authorities. What Jesus had to say in the next verses and several chapters was for believers, not for the unsaved.
Now that the Betrayer was gone, Jesus began a discourse for the remaining disciples that John recorded in the remainder of Chapter 13 through the end of Chapter 17. Jesus first spoke about how He was now going to be glorified (vs. 31-32). What did Jesus mean here, as within the next few hours He was going to be betrayed, arrested, beaten and flogged, and then crucified? How was that being glorified? Jesus was, indeed, referring to His coming death, burial, and resurrection, which would occur in a matter of a few hours. We might not consider Jesus’ death and burial as glorifying. Yet it was through this that God’s immense love and mercy were shown, when Jesus’ shed Blood redeemed mankind from their sins, and made us sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father. Jesus glorified God in His death, and God glorified Him in His resurrection.
Parents are generally proud when their children are good and obedient to them. They are especially so when it might be something difficult that they had to do. Jesus glorified God, too, by His perfect obedience to the Father. And because of that obedience, God was pleased to glorify His Son.
Jesus then proceeded to tell His disciples about a new commandment that He was giving them (vs. 34-35). This commandment was that His believers and followers are to love one another. This command to love one another went beyond anything said in the Old Testament. This was to be a sacrificial love, modeled after Jesus’ love for us. This type of love can only come through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.
We are told here that the Lord wants us to love one another, our fellow believers, just as He loves us. How did Jesus love us? He loved us so much that while we were still sinners, before we might have changed our life around, He died for us (Romans 5:8). Do we love our fellow believers, even when they have wronged us, even before they confess or apologize, and try to make it right? If we are going to love them just as Jesus did, then we need to. Yet too often, what do we see in church? Mrs. Smith won’t talk to Mrs. Jones over something petty. Harry and Bill nearly come to blows in the parking lot over something equally as petty. Churches split apart over ridiculous reasons.
Our love for other believers should be evident to the world. In words and deeds, a believer should show love to all those around. Do they see that in us, or do they see bickering, fighting, and jealousy? A Christian’s love for others should be obvious. As followers of Christ, our love should make us stand out in a crowd. The method Jesus gave us to preach His message to the world is through love. The world does not know we are His disciples through all the many church programs we are involved in. It is, as Jesus says here, through our love for one another.
Jesus loved us unto death. In loving one another, we are loving Him. In loving our believing brothers and sisters, we are loving the objects of His tender love. Jesus was a living example of God’s love, just as we are to be living examples of Jesus’ love. Our Christ-like love will show the lost world that we are His disciples.
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