John 13:31-35

It is very early on the day before Thanksgiving later this morning my little sister and her son will come to my home! Today I will cook in preparation for tomorrow. I am so very grateful to God for all the people that He has placed in my life…praise be to His Son, Jesus Christ!! His love covers a multitude of sin…

To God be all glory!

The words ‘gratitude’ and ‘grace’ come from the same root word, gratia in Latin... ‘Grace’ is a theological word, one with profound spiritual meaning. Grace means ‘unmerited favor.’ When I think of grace, I particularly like the image of God tossing gifts around—a sort of indiscriminate giver of sustenance, joy, love, and pleasure. Grace—gifts given without being earned and with no expectation of return—is, as the old hymn says, amazing. Because you can neither earn nor pay back the gift, your heart fills with gratitude. And the power of that emotion transforms the way you see the world and experience life. Grace begets gratitude, which, in turn, widens our hearts toward greater goodness and love.” SabbathMoments 

Henri Nouwens... “Every time we decide to be grateful, we see new things to be grateful for. Gratitude begats gratitude just as love begats love.” 

John 13:31-35

31 So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. 32 If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. 33 Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” The New King James Version

Jesus understands that He must suffer in order for His role as the Son of Man to be fulfilled and for God to glorify Him.  Because Jesus allowed God’s will to be done when presented with the option of stopping the person who would betray Him, God makes Jesus great. 

The new part of the commandment is that Jesus’ disciples are instructed to love other people the way Jesus loved them—serving them like a slave would, as He does in this scene, even to the point of laying down their lives for others. The indicator of a Christian is the way they treat others. Faithlife Study Bible

Jesus would be revealed as the divine Son of God and Savior of the world by His death and resurrection, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. God would be glorified in Him in that God’s love, truth, and righteousness would be revealed in what Jesus was doing. 

The time had come for Jesus to announce His departure to His disciples. Little children is an expression of tender affection used nowhere else in the Gospels. The command to love was new because Jesus gave it a new standard. Moses said, “Love your neighbor as yourself”. Jesus said the new standard was as I have loved you. Jesus gave His disciples the example of love that they were to follow. 

Unbelievers recognize Jesus’ disciples not by their doctrinal distinctives, nor by dramatic miracles, nor even by their love for the lost. They recognize His disciples by their deeds of love for one another. The NKJV Study Bible

Leviticus 19:18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

1 John 2:5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

1 John 2:7 Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.