Thursday, April 2nd | Daily Devotion
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“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” –John 13:34-35
TRANSCRIPTION:
Good morning. Grace and peace be unto all of you, my Father’s children.
It is Thursday of Holy Week — and we are drawing close to the cross. Today the church calendar marks this day as Maundy Thursday. That word Maundy comes from the Latin mandatum — meaning mandate, or commandment. It is the day of the new commandment. And at its heart, it is the day we see what atonement, repentance, and restoration ultimately produce: love.
We find it in the Gospel of John, the 13th chapter.
Jesus opens this evening — His last with His disciples before the cross — by getting on His knees and washing their feet. Take a moment to hold the weight of that. These are the very men who would betray Him, deny Him, and desert Him before the week was over. And He washes their feet. That is not sentiment. That is a declaration of the kind of love that does not wait for worthiness before it gives.
After the washing, after the breaking of bread, He speaks. And what He says is not a reminder of an old commandment — He calls it new. A new mandate. A new identifying mark for everyone who would follow Him: love one another as I have loved you.
Every time we come to the Lord’s table, I find myself returning to this. Communion is not only about our repentance before God — it is also about how we stand before one another. If there is unresolved conflict with a brother or sister, we are called to address it before we approach that table. Because before we can fully receive the forgiving love of Christ, we are asked to extend it to each other.
But what strikes me most about this commandment is what Jesus says it will produce: recognition. By this all people will know that you are my disciples.
Not by church attendance. Not by scripture memorization. Not by the volume of your worship or the length of your prayers. He says people will identify His disciples by how they love one another.
That is both a beautiful standard and a convicting one. Because we have built so many other benchmarks for what makes someone a Christian. We measure by political alignment, by doctrinal precision, by which side of which debate someone lands on. We point at one another and say, you cannot be a Christian if you — and fill in the blank.
And all the while, Jesus is saying: the ultimate identifier is love. That is it. That is the mark.
I find that both comforting and sobering — especially when I encounter people who can quote Scripture with genuine fervor and in the same breath condemn a brother or sister for holding a different interpretation, a different background, a different understanding. The things we do in the name of Christ ought, above all else, to be loving. Especially toward one another.
That is the mandate of this day. Not a suggestion. A commandment. And it was given by a man on His way to die for the very people who would fail to keep it.
God bless you. Have an incredible Maundy Thursday — and prepare your heart. We are approaching the highest and holiest moment of the Christian year.