NOTES for Joh 13:34-35

The Savior's words about love as a new commandment may at first glance seem somewhat strange. What, after all, is new here? In the gospel era everyone knew that the essence of the Torah came down to two commandments: love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. This was a commonplace of the rabbinic tradition of that era. So what is new in Jesus' commandment about love? First of all: it is the love of the Kingdom. Love one another as I love you - this is the main meaning of the commandment Jesus gives. But what does the love of the Kingdom mean? The Bible says a great deal about love. And if we reflect on all that is said, we can conclude that in the Bible love is first of all a relation.

An intention directed toward a person or toward God. First of all will, not emotions and not reflections. But also relations in the sense in which people say that they unite people with one another. Love is the striving for communion; hatred is the unwillingness to commune. And if there are no relations, no intention, then there is neither love nor hatred. But the medium within which communion takes place remains natural in our world. Psychic. And the psyche is part of nature, though a very special part.

And our communion in this world remains in many respects a natural process because of the medium in which it takes place. Intention as the basis of communion is spiritual, while the medium is natural. In the Kingdom, however, everything is different. Natural structures exist in themselves according to the laws of nature. But the Kingdom is not nature; its structure is formed by relations. The relations of its inhabitants with God and with Christ, their relations with one another, and finally the relations of Christ Himself with His heavenly Father as the foundation of the Kingdom, form its, the Kingdom's, structure.

But the nature of the Kingdom, or rather what replaces nature in it, is love. God's breath, filling the Kingdom, becomes love in it. And all relations in it are possible only as relations of love. Love is the medium of the Kingdom, in which all interactions among its inhabitants take place. And the meaning of the new commandment Jesus gives is precisely that His followers should live in this medium. That they should abide in the Kingdom. Together with Him. This new life is Christianity.

The Lord has given us a new commandment (see John 13:34), a commandment that did not exist before in the Old Testament. We may recall the commandment to love our neighbor (see Lev 19:18), but it is not the same thing, as Jesus Himself says. It is a new commandment. But what is the difference? In both cases, after all, the Lord calls each of us to love... In the second case, however, He speaks of mutual love—love for one another. “Love one another”: Jesus addresses these words to His disciples, to a community of people, precisely because mutual love requires effort from everyone. We cannot shift everything onto our neighbor, thinking that it is hard for us while he, as a Christian, is obliged to love. Yes, these words were spoken to a group of people so that no one could turn away and pretend not to know or understand what was meant. This is how the Lord turns us toward one another, making us open ourselves and labor as we hear His voice: “Love one another.”

Jesus has gathered His disciples for the final meal, the meal of the covenant. He gives them a new law unlike the old one. His commandment concerns love within His community. It is so easy, after all, to love those who share your beliefs, your brothers...

But the Lord tells them that one of them is a traitor. His commandment now becomes almost impossible to fulfill: how can they love one another if any one of them may suddenly prove to be an enemy? Each tries to distance himself from the dreadful stigma of traitor, but Jesus stops them. He predicts that they will all prove unfaithful—and very soon, before morning.

The disciples, and after them all believers, are not divided into good and bad, faithful and unfaithful. They are united by one human weakness and one incomprehensible commandment: to love one another without trying to guess who will prove to be an enemy, and to imitate the love of the Teacher, who loves them unconditionally.