Rev. Dr. Neil Thomas

Yes, Jesus said, it is this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Then, he added, there is a second that is like the first: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Both of these commands are tall orders: to devote oneself entirely to God and to honor, respect, and care for others as you do yourself. That is asking a lot, and it demands a lifetime to put those precepts into practice. But according to John, even that is not enough: “as I have loved you,” that is how we are to love one another. Further along in the Farewell Discourse, it becomes even clearer: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:12–14). The outpouring of Jesus’ life is the example to which we are called. Sit with that for a while. Reflect on the enormity of it. If the Word made flesh, the only begotten Son of God, could wash the feet of his friends, who are we to calculate who is worthy of our care or respect?