Just As I Have Loved You

After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in His spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom He spoke. One of His disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side, so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom He was speaking. So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when He had dipped the morsel, He gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now no one at the table knew why He said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek Me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 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. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for You.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied Me three times."

John 13:21-38

Perhaps the most attractive part of this passage is Jesus’ “new commandment... that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (v. 34-35). Love. That is exactly what we want to hear, but what does that love look like, and how is it a new commandment? What makes this commandment new is not that we are to love one another, which God repeatedly commands (Leviticus 19:18, 34). Neither is it new because the love it commands is modeled after God’s love for us, since God’s character is always the basis of His commands (also Leviticus 19:18, 34). What makes this commandment new is that Jesus is about to give a new, greater, ultimate revelation of God’s love: “just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” The disciples have not seen it yet, that “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us... while we were enemies” (Romans 5:8, 10). Though they have not yet seen it, we can see a few of its accents in this passage, as Jesus prepares to die for His enemies.

This commandment is sandwiched between two foretold betrayals, the first Judas (v. 21–30) and the second Peter (v. 36–38). The contrast between Judas and Peter is very interesting. We could spend time discussing what this tells us about God’s election––right before this, after washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus says, “I know whom I have chosen” (v.17), and elsewhere He says, “I know My own” (10:14) and “you did not choose Me, but I chose you” (15:16)––or we could discuss the difference between Judas and Peter––that Peter later repented because Jesus prayed for him that his faith would not fail (Luke 22:32), but Jesus did not pray for Judas––but I want to focus on what this passage tells us about God’s love for His enemies, both Judas and Peter. Indeed, at the moment, they are both His enemies.

So how did Jesus love His enemies? Again, His command to love one another in the same way that He loved us is sandwiched between two foretold betrayals by two of His best friends. And how Jesus loved them! He washed both of their feet (v. 12); He healed their friends and family (11:43; Matthew 8:14); He stilled seas for them (6:21); and for years He taught them about the Kingdom and salvation, knowing they would not understand (13:7) until He sent them His Spirit to teach them (14:25–26), except for Judas. There has never been a more patient Teacher. What’s more is now He is going to lay down His life for them because they are sinners, but they can’t even admit it. He is going to die for a man, Peter, not Judas, who He knows is going to abandon Him and deny Him in front of a lowly servant girl (the least intimidating person in the entire Roman Empire!). Jesus looks him in the eye and tells him these things, and still Peter says, “I will lay down my life for You” (v. 37). Jesus had arrogant and fickle friends. But “having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (v. 1). Later, after the betrayal and before His death, Jesus would look Peter in the eye again, causing him to weep and repent (Luke 22:61–62). When Jesus rose from the dead, He held no grudges. He did not tell Mary to go tell His betrayers, but “go to My brothers” (20:17). He made His enemies His brothers. There has never been a more gracious Savior. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

So Jesus loved His enemies, and He tells us to love one another, “just as I have loved you.” My Greek professor in seminary once pointed out to me that many popular stories are said to have a sort of “Christ figure,” someone who gives their life for others. Most of the time, the “Christ figure” dies for his friends or family. But that is not what Christ did. Jesus did not die for friends and family; He died for enemies to make them friends and family. “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). How are we ever to imitate this love? We can start by understanding it. Jesus died for us, His arrogant and fickle enemies. When you are wronged, ignored, or belittled, and you begin to harbor resentment towards someone, remember “the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses” (Ephesians 2:4–5). What did you do to deserve such love, and yet where would you be without it? If it was freely given to you, how can you withhold it from others? Only when we understand “the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7) can we begin to truly love one another. Only then can you begin to “put away falsehood” and “speak the truth,” to “to share with anyone in need. [To] let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up... [and] be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us” (Ephesians 4:25, 28–29, 32–5:2).