Who is ‘one another’?
by Jo Corney
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another (John 13:34).
Read John 13:31–35
Love is a blessing in day-to-day life. It’s experienced in various forms. The love we consider in this devotion is the love of Jesus towards us that we then offer to one another.
As I write this devotion, I’ve found it helpful to be reminded of the ‘new commandment’ Jesus gave. It has led me to contemplate the kind of love he was referring to – the love of Jesus, which we as Christians know through our relationship with him. From this relationship, we are called to show and give that same love to others.
The words of Jesus in this reading prompt our actions and responses in this love – see the phrases ‘… should love one another … have love for one another’. This is the living and holding of love towards others, specific to the love of Jesus for humankind.
We know that the commandment to love was not new – it is mentioned throughout the Bible. The greatest commandment is to love God, and the next is to love our neighbour. But then we have this commandment of Jesus – ‘a new commandment’. It is not just about love, but loving as Jesus loved.
Limiting myself to my own resources, I feel overwhelmed by this commandment. I am also aware of my human frailty, tendency to make mistakes, misjudge and get tired (and all that goes with that). Given this, how do I participate with integrity in ‘loving one another’?
John 13 shows the scene in the upper room where human frailty abounded, but also profoundly present is the love of Jesus, who predicted betrayal and disbelief among his disciples but washed their feet anyway. Giving grace, respect, care, dignity, honour, acceptance and welcome were attitudes in Jesus’ love in action to these people. Offering these in our behaviour to others is part of how we love one another as Jesus has loved us.
Loving others as Jesus loves is not only about our giving of love to others, but also our receipt of this love from others as they offer this to us as ‘another’ loved. Indeed, our ongoing immersion in this love is through our relationship with the source: the Triune God.
Every blessing to you.
Loving God, thank you for this experience of being loved and loving others, which has its endless resource in you. Please help us offer, accept and grow in this love that is from you. In the name of Christ, we pray, Amen.
Jo is a wife and mum who serves in various roles in her local Lutheran church and also in chaplaincy as the assistant director of Chaplaincy and Ministry Development for Lutheran Services.
- Click here to read previous devotions.
- We are also posting them on LCA Facebook, making it easy for you to share them with family and friends.
- Sign up to receive Daily Devotion in your inbox every morning. If you’re already doing that, please encourage others to sign up. Click here for the link.
