Sunday May 2, 2010 John 13:31-35

Greetings, I’m sorry I missed last week. The week was just crazy busy for me, thankfully this week is somewhat slower but not by much. Our text for Sunday is in John. I know the sermon series isn’t following the lectionary so maybe you can use this as a bible study until they come back to it.

V31-32 In these two verses Jesus uses the word glory and glorify a lot. He is announcing his impending departure to his disciples. He uses the term Son of Man for himself. By using this term he is claiming to be the true Israel superseding the former one. Jesus will be glorified by his obedience to God in going to the cross as a servant. By doing this he will glorify God and God will glorify Jesus by the resurrection.

V33 He calls them little children which would have been said by a father. He explains to them that he will be with them only a little longer and then be gone. They will try to find him but won’t be able to. He is referring to his crucifixion and return to his Father.

V34 He now gives them a new commandment. They are to love one another just as he has loved them. This is to be the model for their lives and supersedes the Mosaic ones given at Mt. Sinai. If they keep this one by doing so they will keep all of the others. Keep in mind that Jesus loved even his enemies and lay down his life for all so this is a call to a much higher standing than following the former laws.

V35 By the disciple’s extravagant love to all, the people will know they are his followers.

Jesus set the bar higher than it ever had been before. In the Old Testament the Jews were told to love their neighbors but most likely their neighbor was a fellow Jew that thought like them and lived like them. That isn’t really much of a stretch. We still observe this today. Our neighbors are those who match our lifestyles closely. It’s isn’t too hard to love people similar to yourself. But what about an enemy? A Lawyer wanted to test Jesus so he couched a scenario and requested to know who his neighbor was – The parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus told the story so at the end the hated Samaritan was a better neighbor than the man’s fellow Jews who left him for dead. The point was to whom are you a good neighbor? The Samaritan put his life on the line for a man that most likely he hated and hated him back. He saw the man’s need and helped as he could. So the question is: Who are you a good neighbor to? People like yourself or are you willing to extend neighborliness to all different kinds of people? If we are going to be Jesus’ disciples we are called to this higher standard of compassion.