“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)
Jesus spoke these words after he had washed his disciples feet. He gave us the command to love one anther, just has he loved us and as an example he took the role of a slave and cleaned the filth from their calloused heels and from between their toes.
It is good that Jesus gave us an example of what he meant by love. We tend to think of love as an emotion, a strong feeling of fondness for another. Romantic notions of being overwhelmed with attraction lead us to believe we don’t have much control over love – we fall in it and if things get difficult we talk as though it left us. Against this Jesus gives us an example of love that displays itself in active service to others. He washed their feet, at other times he fed the hungry (even when he was exhausted and grieving the cruel death of his cousin John and probably didn’t feel like serving), and he spent time with rowdy children, anguished widows, and the sick. And he said this was how other people will see that we are his followers.
Notice what displays us as his followers. It is not that we adhere to the right creed, or that we have a T-shirt or bumper sticker, or that we refrain from certain vices – but that we lovingly serve our brothers and sisters. Right belief is essential to our faith, there’s nothing wrong with a fish on your bumper, and should exercise moderation. However, it is the difficult act of loving one another, regardless of how we feel, that evidences a living faith in our hearts. The simple, spontaneous acts of sharing food with a sick neighbor, giving a ride to a fellow church member, or checking in on someone who’s lost a loved one reveal a heart like Jesus, a heart that put others above himself.
During first centuries Christianity spread phenomenally in the Roman Empire, despite opposition and even persecution. One of the means of this amazing spread was that the Church showed remarkable acts of loving service and generosity to everyone. One of the last pagan emperors who tried to renew the worship of Roman gods complained that “The impious Galileans [i.e Christians] support not only their poor, but ours as well. Everyone can see that our poor lack aid from us.” Which is to say as the gospel was proclaimed and Jesus was lifted up, the lives of his disciples proved that they truly believed in the “Son of Man” who “came not to be served but to serve”. (Matt. 20:28)
Does your life evidence a belief in the one who made himself nothing and took the form of a servant? (Phil. 2:7) You probably wouldn’t have to look far for an opportunity to love someone by serving them.
