The Eleventh Commandment

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you,  that you also love one another.”
John  13:34  (NKJV)

Did Christ’s disciples need a new commandment?   Jesus knew  the time was coming when He would be betrayed into the hands of His enemies. Death on the cross loomed ahead. Leaving to His discciples  a new commandment  was essential. The  rivalry and self-promotion would have to cease if they were going to be able to  do the  work ahead of them. They needed to love one another in order to carry out the Great Commission.

I have heard  Jesus’ new commandment to love one another  referred to  as the Eleventh Commandment.  Like the disciples, we  all  know about the Ten Commandments, which many times get only lip service. This  new commandment does not do away with  the Ten. Christ came to magnify the  Ten and so gave His new commandment because of   the heart’s  greatest need—love  for one another.  Do we, like the disciples,  need this new commandment?  The words of a popular song in the nineteen-sixties sum up the need.

What the world needs now
Is love sweet love
It’s the only thing there’s just too little of
What the world needs now
Is love sweet love
No, not just for some, but for everyone

That need is  greater than ever  today.  In this season  when savage words are being hurled across the  social, national, political, and religious fences that we live behind, it is apparent that this new commandment that Jesus gave His disciples is meant for such a time as this. In his famous exposition on love, the  apostle Paul  pinpointed the main elements of  this Christ-centered  love:  “love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up” (I Corinthians 13:4). Love, then,  does not look down on anyone.  It is never rude,  is not quick to throw a temper tantrum. It is kind.  The enemy of love is not hate, but selfishness. The heart that loves  opens up to others; it opens up in acceptance, not mere tolerance

The new  commandment meets us right where we’re lacking in our relationships.  I recently listened to a  prayer program on the radio and was struck by one of the requests for prayer: “Pray for a husband and wife to love each other.” Shocking, isn’t it?  Evidently, others could see that the two didn’t have love for each other, so someone requested prayer for them.

, Jesus’  prayer identified the disciples’ need—love for one another. Today His prayer “that you love one another”  is directed right at us.  Let us embrace the “Eleventh Commandment. Let’s love one another.

Always,

Judith
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“Where there is hatred, let me sow love.”
St. Francis of Assisi