“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
John 13:34–35 (NLT)
This Easter, I want us to see what Jesus put in front of His disciples before He ever went to the cross: “Love each other. Just as I have loved you.” Love wasn’t new—Moses already commanded it. What’s new is the measure. The bar is no longer “as you love yourself,” but “as Christ loves you.”
And Jesus doesn’t say that from a distance. In this chapter He gets up from the table, takes the lowest place, and washes their feet—showing love that goes low. John says He had loved them all along, and now He loved them to the very end. That’s the kind of love He’s talking about: not a feeling to manage, but a life to pour out.
By the time He gives this command, He’s already committed to the cross. He said He wouldn’t ask the Father to rescue Him from that hour because He came to fulfill His purpose. When He’s lifted up, He will overthrow the enemy and draw hearts back to God. This is why Easter matters: the resurrection doesn’t just prove He’s alive—it proves His love went all the way.
So Jesus says our love for one another is the proof to the world that we belong to Him. Not church services, not symbols, not what we claim. Love like His. I’ve got work to do. We must go low, look up, and go loud with praise—extending grace, giving, serving, encouraging—because He has provided everything we need. So what is holding you back from loving others the way Jesus loved us? Let it go, pick up your cross, and love one another.