This is my command: Love Each Other.

THIS IS MY COMMAND:  Love Each Other.
John 15:17.

This command was so Important to Christ that he said it not once, not twice, or three times but five times in the upper room during the Passover known as the last supper. As I read it, the first three mentions in John 13:34-35 was the introduction.  Returning to verse 33, Jesus tells his disciples, “Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going.”  I find it humorous that Jesus is calling his disciples “Dear Children” It makes me wonder if, since the Passover was known as a celebration, Christ wasn’t getting a tad frustration.   This was his last teaching before his death.  And I can see the disciples acting out of the traditional spirit of Passover, a celebration, and Jesus wanted to be serious.

So after calling them Children, He gave his commandment to them in verses 34-35 “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Then a little while later, he said again in John 15:12, “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.”  I see Jesus trying to bring reality into light by telling them to “Love each other in the same way I have loved you.”

THIS IS MY COMMAND:  Love Each Other.
Jesus
John 15:17.

So now let’s go back a couple of verses:

“You show that you are my intimate friends when you obey all I command. I have never called you ‘servants’ because a master doesn’t confide in his servants, and servants don’t always understand what the master is doing. But I call you my most intimate friends, for I reveal everything I’ve heard from my Father. You didn’t choose me, but I’ve chosen and commissioned you to go into the world to bear fruit. And your fruit will last because whatever you ask of my Father, for my sake, he will give it to you! So this is my parting command: Love one another deeply!”
John 15:14–17.

Jesus looks around the room and calls the men in that room “Friends,” not casual friends but intimate friends. He has spent three years with these men, sharing his desires with them. The last thing he shared is that he is giving his final command that they are to love each other just as he loved them. And they should go into the world and “Bear Fruit.”

This brings me to my second point.

We are all familiar with the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentlenesses, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” I like how Brian Simmons portrayed the Fruit of the Spirit in The Passion Translations.

But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions:

A joy that overflows,

A peace that subdues,

Patience that endures,

Kindness in action,

A life full of virtue,

Faith that prevails,

The gentleness of heart, and

Strength of spirit.

Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.
Galatians 5:22-23

For me, Mr. Simmon’s method fits well with Jesus’s “Love Each Other”  Jesus tells us to “Love Each Other,” Paul says to “Live in Harmony with one another.”

Jesus told us to “Love each Other.” James told us to “Pray for one another.”

Jesus told us to “Love Each Other,” and Peter told us to “Show hospitality to one another.”

Jesus told us to “love each other”  the writers of the new testament gave us lots of ways to show that love to each other:

Be at peace

Wash one another’s feet

Be devoted to one another

Honor one another

Stop passing Judgement

Accept one another

Instruct one another

Greet one another

Wait for one another

Have equal concern for one another

Serve one another

Carry each other’s burdens

Put up with one another

Be kind and compassionate with each other

Forgive each other

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs

Submit to one another

Consider others better than yourself

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