CoA Week 2
~Company of Angels~"...You have had a clear picture of Jesus Christ crucified, right in front of your eyes..." -Gal 3:1
Weekly Bible Reading
John 13:31-34
When he had gone, Jesus said:
"Now has the Son of man been glorified,
and in Him God has been glorified.
If God has been glorified in Him,
God will in turn glorify Him in Himself,
and will glorify Him very soon.
Little children,
I shall be with you only a little longer.
You will look for Me,
and, as I told the Jews,
where I am going,
you cannot come.
I give you a new commandment:
love one another;
you must love one another
just as I have loved you."
Where is Jesus going?
Compare and contrast the New Commandment with the Great Commandments from the last reading.
Why is it so important for us to live out this commandment?
For Memory:
"I give you a new commandment:
love one another;
you must love one another
just as I have loved you" (John 13:34)
Labels: Company of Angels, St. Andrew's
posted by Gregory at 4:02 p.m.
1 Comments:
Right before Jesus' crucifixion, He takes the time to prepare His disciples for life without Him. He tells them first off, that where He is going (the Crucifixion) is to the glory of God, and to His own glory, despite all appearances to the contrary.
Then He gives them a "new" commandment. It's the same, really, as the Great Commandments from last week, but heightened. God did something new in the Cross, and that is echoed in the new commandment. Just as God's covenant with the Israelites under Moses came with new Commandments to them, so does the New Covenant through Christ's Cross come with a new commandment. While the old Law said love each other as we love ourselves, the new one says that we must love them in the same way that Christ loves us!
That means that we are without excuse in our love for others. Even those who hate themselves have an external, objective standard of love--the Cross.
But the Cross also reminds us of how Christ loves us--and that love for us should help us to realise that we are of infinite value to God, and so strengthen our self-love.
The root for love is God, in Christ, sacrificed for us!
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