Okay on the one hand…
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.
John 13:34
And on the other….
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Leviticus 19:18
Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the almighty
Job 6:14
Psalm 41:1
Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the Lord delivers them in times of trouble.
“How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
Psalm 82:2-4
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.
Proverbs 3:27
Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.
Proverbs 14:31
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity
Proverbs 17:17
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 1:17
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8
This is what the Lord Almighty said: “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.”
Zechariah 7:9
And that is just a small sampling of the many, many examples of Old Testament commandments to love one another.
So…. Is Jesus, wrong? Did he forget? Skip these lessons in Hebrew School?
Certainly, certainly not.
After all, Jesus has said multiple times in his ministry before this last supper scene that we should ‘love our neighbor.’ Jesus knows the law. The Disciples know the law.
It is us, I am afraid, who do not know the law.
In this moment Jesus is speaking specifically to his disciples, his closest followers, telling and showing them how they will make it through the trying difficult times ahead. By staying united. Staying together.
When we are confronted with big external stresses and fears, it is tempting for us to turn on each other. Argue about which of us is the purest, who we should follow, who caused all this mess! Instead of banding together.
It is not an accident that the physical representation of this kind of love is foot washing. A humbling and less than dignified act that requires the participants to acknowledge they are not superior even as they acknowledge their love for each other.
In that sense, it is a new commandment. Not for all humanity, or Christians, or the Jewish people, but for communities of faith working through difficult times.
Have you ever noted this behavior in yourself, or people you care about? A tragedy affects a family, a church, an organization, a movement - and there is an immediate push to identify who is at fault within the community and strive towards some kind of ideological purity. Often this strife can mean the end of the Church, family, or movement.
Rather than fighting over who is the greatest, the purest, the rightest — perhaps our move should be to reach out in humility and love to each other, re-develop the bonds of affection that have perhaps atrophied or gone slack so that we are able to work as a community of love to overcome those stresses and pressures that seek to pull us apart.
Jesus knew his disciples would be pulled apart, so he wanted to prepare them with the antidote. And prepare us as well. That antidote is love. Humble, sacrificial, love.