Redefining Love

Maundy Thursday

John 13.1-17, 31b-35

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

 

Here we are. Maundy Thursday. So named because of one particular verse in our Gospel reading for this evening. The term “Maundy” derives from the Latin mandatum, meaning “commandment,” reflecting Jesus’ words to his disciples that we just heard: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.” Jesus goes on to further clarify this simple yet oh so difficult commandment by adding, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 

Two thousand years later, we might be tempted to look at Jesus’ statement and think this is a no-brainer. Of course we should love one another. After all, the greatest commandments, according to Jesus himself are to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and to “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22.37, 39). Although, he did not make this up on his own. His statement is a blending of commandments contained in the Old Testament books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus. So, this is nothing new. It has been around for thousands of years. Why then, did Jesus feel a need to give an allegedly new commandment that was really a reiteration of ancient ones? Ancient commandments his disciples, as devout Jews, would have already known.

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