After sharing his Last Supper with the disciples, John 13 records that Jesus washed the feet of all twelve of his disciples. All were present for the Last Supper; all, including Judas who would betray him, Simon Peter who would deny him, and the rest of the disciples had their feet washed by Jesus. And then Jesus mentioned that someone, one of them, would betray him. Judas, after his plan was disclosed, left the Upper Room and Jesus began what some call his "farewell speeches."

The context of this scenario intrigues me. Jesus knew he was facing the cross; he realized the plan was coming together, and he would be dying soon. John devotes a significant portion of his gospel to the last days of Jesus’ life; chapters 13-19, which comprise one-third of that gospel, detail what happened on what we call Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. And do you know why the Thursday before Easter is called Maundy Thursday? Because that was the time when Jesus gave the gathered disciples a new mandate, "Love one another, as I have loved you." "Maundy" comes from the Latin word for mandate which is "mandatum." Jesus offered his disciples a new commandment, a new mandate, a new Law.

The necessity of laws determines what is acceptable behavior and what is unacceptable behavior. To be sure, society will fail if it's people reject law, for that is anarchy. But law can only go so far. While the law can govern our conduct, it is powerless to dictate to us what we think and feel. Thinking and feeling are private issues, even beyond governmental control. We may think a law is invalid; some have felt saddened because of the perceived injustice of a law, but what people think or feel about any law is not a crime. The action is what breaks the law, not the thought or the feeling. The eleven disciples who heard these words from Jesus’ lips understood the perplexities of the Jewish Law; the stringent requirements were almost impossible to follow; they had witnessed Jesus’ reaction to the Pharisee’s interpretation of the Law, so I’ve got to think that they were stunned to hear Jesus say, "I give to you a new commandment: love one another." Isn’t it strange to command someone to feel anything? No one can command anyone to feel, because we choose to feel. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Our feelings are our own, yet Jesus commanded his disciples, and I would extend that commandment to us, to love one another."

So with the disciples, did Jesus have power over their thoughts and feelings? Were they marionettes on a string and as the Grand Puppeteer, could Jesus dictate to them how they would feel and think? Absolutely not. But I have to say that often a positive feeling will result after I have offered a good deed to someone. There are times when my feelings for someone prompt and motivate me to act accordingly. If I like someone, I will act nicely toward them. Most times, my feelings about someone dictate my corresponding actions.

But for me there also some times when my actions change my feelings. If I extend grace to someone whom I do not know or don’t necessarily like, I find that hardened feelings for that person soften. If I act lovingly to a person, the feeling of love has a better chance of following rather than if I don’t act lovingly. And if I act lovingly enough, if I actively try to love others with a Jesus-kind of love, this extension of love becomes easier to offer to the next person, and my feelings begin to change. That’s the kind of love which Jesus commands his followers to exhibit. The more we offer a selfless, what I call a Jesus-kind of love, the more second-nature this extension of grace becomes. Over time, actively loving another person becomes more natural than not showing love to others.

Jesus’ command is not that we like one another. That certainly would be nice, but to like or not to like is rooted in our emotions, and emotions do not respond to commands. The love of which Jesus speaks is a way of acting toward one another that says, "No matter what, I want "good" for you, and I will work to find "good" for you and others." During our Wednesday night Adult Bible studies, I have asked the question, "Is love a feeling or an action?" While the answer is, "Yes," the kind of love mentioned in the new commandment given by Jesus in the Upper Room is definitely an action.

And just what is the standard against which our love is to be measured? Jesus said, "as I have loved you." That makes the commandment new. While Leviticus 19:18 instructed people "love your neighbor as yourself," in his earlier teachings, Jesus had expanded this commandment when he said, "You have heard it said love your neighbor and hate your enemies, but I say to you, love your enemies too." Now the criterion for this new commandment is one step beyond loving our enemies. Jesus told his disciples to love one another "as I have loved you." The selfless love which Jesus exhibited was to be the new standard. Actively extending love to someone, especially to those who would betray, deny, and desert him, was the type of love that would identify people as followers of Jesus.

What’s so new about love? Love has been around since before there were people to inhabit the earth. We know we are to love people, and we know we are supposed to show that love. Most of us have good intentions, but we are evaluated by our actions, not our intentions. We may have a heart of gold, but then, so does a hard-boiled egg.

What’s so new about love? Everybody loves somebody. What’s new about the kind of love that Jesus commands us to offer is that we are called to show the love to people who have the desire not to return that love to us. That is when the Christian life becomes a bit more difficult.

I’m teaching a class for children on Sunday evenings. I have told them that it is easy to become a Christian; all a person has to do to become a Christian is to believe in Jesus, to ask Jesus to come into his/her heart. It is much harder to be a Christian, to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, to act like Jesus wants us to act. Some might think, "This is not what I signed up for. I thought being a Christian was being nice to people, and I thought I got to determine who would receive my generosity." Being a Christian means actively loving others, no exceptions, as Jesus does. Jesus’ love knew no limit, as evidenced by washing the feet of the disciples before they committed their unloving acts.

What’s so new about love? About this commandment, Jesus said, "Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for one another." And for those who know Jesus, aren’t you grateful that Jesus’ love for you and me is no longer new? Thanks be to God for the great love of Jesus Christ.