As I Have Loved You

It was the last night. Jesus knew it, even if the disciples didn’t.

The supper was done. The basin was still wet from washing their feet. Judas had just slipped out into the dark. And with only hours left before the cross, Jesus gave them one command:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)

On Thursday we talked about the first half: love one another. Today I want to sit with the second half, because that’s where it gets hard.

As I have loved you.

Not as you feel like it. Not as they deserve it. Not as far as your patience lasts.

So how did He love them? He washed the feet of men who would scatter before morning. He broke bread with the one who would betray Him. He fed them before the darkest night of their lives.

I learned a little of what that looks like years ago, as a foster father.

We had a brother and sister in our home. The boy was about five. They had been removed from their mother, but the system hadn’t followed its own rules, so one afternoon we got the call: have them ready to go home.

We were just sitting down to dinner. I was in my Scout uniform, due at a Scouting event that evening. Then the social worker arrived, in a hurry. She was late for a date and wanted the kids in the car right away.

I thought they’d be excited to see their mom. But that little boy had been listening. He tugged on my uniform and asked, “May I have dinner first? My mommy never feeds us dinner.”

The social worker started to say no.

I said, “Yes, you may.”

When he went back inside, I looked at her and said, “These children didn’t mess up. You did. And they’re going home with full stomachs.”

Within a couple of months, they were back in our home.

That’s what “as I have loved you” means. Love doesn’t wait until it’s convenient. It stops the hurry long enough to feed a hungry child. It sees the person in front of it.

And here’s the grace in it: we can only love that way because He loved us first. The cup gets filled before it ever gets poured out.

Who in your life is hungry right now, for food, for kindness, for someone to slow down? What would it look like to love them the way Jesus loved you?

Love one another. As He has loved you.

Grace. Always grace.