Scripture Daily

Context No. 3480 of 4322 · John

Context · Reflection

John 13:31-38: in context

31When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him immediately. 33Little children, I will be with you a little while longer. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you can’t come,’ so now I tell you. 34A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” 36Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you can’t follow now, but you will follow afterwards.” 37Peter said to him, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for me? Most certainly I tell you, the rooster won’t crow until you have denied me three times.

At the Last Supper Jesus gives what he calls a new commandment: love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. And he names the mark by which the world will recognize his followers: by this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Not by their arguments, their success, or even their correctness, but by their love, the world would know them as his. And then, poignantly, Peter boldly vows to lay down his life for Jesus, and Jesus gently tells him the truth: before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Peter's confidence in his own devotion outran his strength; he did not yet know his own weakness. The love Jesus commands is the love he first showed, and it lies beyond our own resources, as Peter would soon painfully learn. We can only love one another like that because he first loved us, and pours that love into us.

Is love for others the mark of my life by which people would recognize me as Jesus' disciple, and do I depend on his love in me rather than on my own confident resolve?

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