Love one another (John 13:34,35)

Why, on this occasion, does he call the command to love one another a new command? 

I believe the key is found in verse 30 of John chapter 13. The narrative informs us the Judas has left the gathering of disciples. Now Jesus is alone with only 11 disciples. In this setting he tells them: 

"A new command I give you: Love one another." 

Because he is speaking to a particular group of people we can deduce that Jesus is talking about a different kind of love than he had previously mentioned. 

He is commanding his disciples to love each other in such a noticeable way that everyone will know they are his disciples by their love for each other. 

Since Jesus gave this command his disciples have splintered into groups who often cling to a particular truth and exclude or denigrate others who have a different perspective. To illustrate this, there are approximately 44,000 denominations in the world today. Yet despite all of the differences of opinion, on what we might call secondary issues, all disciples of Jesus agree on who Jesus is, what he has accomplished, and what he will do in the future. One would think this agreement on the main point of Christianity would be enough for us to love one another regardless of what identifying label we have chosen, or others have chosen, to express our/their family of believers. 

It is high time that we lay down our passion for the nuances of our particular expression of faith and begin to love other disciples as Jesus has commanded us to do. 

I have come to realize that F4L has a role to play in rallying disciples of Jesus to love one another. As we do discipleship training around the world we find broad representation from various denominations and faith expressions coming to learn how to disciple the people they are responsible for. Everywhere we go the need is expressed in the same way by every church leader - "we need help with discipleship." Perhaps this common need will be a catalyst for fulfilling the command of Jesus to love fellow disciples in such a unique and noticeable way that people who do not know Jesus will be drawn to him because of our love for one another, despite our differences of opinion and expressions of our faith. 

K R Paton