Bill's Thoughts

A NEW COMMANDMENT

Meditations on the Cross, 13

"A new commandment I'm giving you  - that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you love one another.  By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34, 35)

These words of Jesus, spoken to his 11 disciples in the upper room on the eve of his crucifixion, are often quoted and have been paraphrased, even put to music.  (We sang them often during the 70s.)  But what was Jesus referring to when he said, " ... as I have loved you"?  Our thoughts usually go to the cross when we think of the greatness of his love - but these words were spoken before he went to the cross!

Jesus had previously often quoted Leviticus 19:18 which he referred to as the Second Great Commandment: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  By "neighbor" of course, he was alluding to anyone who might have need of love, i.e. our fellow human beings, but in this "New Commandment" he was narrowing the field to "one another," by which he means his hearers' fellow disciples.  And he has raised the standard of love from  one's normal self-love to the love he had shown them..

I believe that John (who refers to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved"), the author of this story and an eyewitness to the events, gives us some clues in the preceding narrative.

John tells us that at this point in time, at what is usually referred to as "the Last Supper," Jesus had full knowledge of what was going to happen to him within a few short hours. He  knew "that his hour had come that he would depart from this world to the Father ... the devil already having put into the heart of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot that he would betray him ... that the Father had given all things into his hand, and that he had come from God and was going to God ..."  (13:1-3)  And yet, though all these matters, good and bad, were occupying his mind, "... having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end!" (13:1)

And then Jesus performed a strange act.  He "... got up from supper and  laid aside his garments, and taking a towel, tied it around himself.  Then he put water into the wash basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples and to wipe them off with the towel which was wrapped around him."

I'd suppose that every eye was fixed on Jesus, as he went from one reclining man to the next, speaking strange things to one of them, Simon Peter, but otherwise silent.  Washing the feet of the dinner guests was an act usually performed by a servant, or (I'm told) if no servant were available, by each dinner guest on the next guest to arrive.  But no one had done so.  Perhaps as they entered they had been engaged in deep conversation; perhaps they had been at this time even involved in the dispute mentioned by Luke in his account (Luke 22:24ff) "as to which one of them was the greatest."

I would imagine some consternation and confusion among these twelve men.  After all they were disciples of the man who recently had ridden into Jerusalem and was hailed by the crowds as "The King of Israel."  He was the Rabbi they had followed for three years, the one they referred to as Lord.  And here he was - naked on his knees on the floor,  performing the act of a common slave!

John continues his narrative, telling of Jesus confrontation with Peter, the brief discourse on washing one anothers' feet, the prediction of Judas' betrayal.  And then the chapter comes to a climax in the words quoted at the beginning of this post.

Jesus' words and actions are loaded with symbolism.  Everything he does has significance.  Leaving aside his discourse on foot washing (a later post?) we see him in a sense, acting out a parable of his incarnation.

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Philippians (2:6-8) tells his readers in a beautiful piece of poetry of the preincarnate Christ:

            "Who being God in form

            did not consider equality with God something to be clung to
            but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
            becoming in the likeness of humans
            and being found in outward form as a man,
             he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death
            - even death on a cross."

This I believe, is what Jesus was illustrating for them - and for us - by his actions. He had laid aside his garments at the table, as he had done at his incarnation.  He had taken the role of a slave, there in the upper room, as he had in Bethlehem.  And as he would do on the cross the next day.

And though some may disagree, I believe that there on the floor in the upper room Jesus was totally naked.  Nakedness in the Bible in some sense symbolizes shame Genesis 3 tells us that it was when Adam and Eve sinned that they first realized their own nakedness.  Was Jesus in his nakedness identifying himself with that pair in their nakedness and shame?

And the next day in Golgotha he would hang naked as the soldiers gambled over his clothing.  This was the final stage in his obedience, his shame, his humiliation.

And yes, he took on himself not only the shame, but also the guilt of those men in the upper room; and he took on our shame and guilt as well.

And he makes a demand of us, of all who have taken advantage of his grace by placing our faith in him.  We are to love one another as he has loved us.  That's quite a demand. Are we willing to "empty" ourselves, to face humiliation, to bare ourselves to one another (though not literally), for the sake of our brothers and sisters in Christ?

[Of course this isn't the end of the story.  See:  What's in a Name]