Have you ever wondered what Jesus meant when He told the disciples, "They will know that you are my disciples by your love for one another...?" I love this phrase by Jesus because this was right about the time that Jesus was predicting His betrayal by Judas to John (the beloved Disciples) and predicting His denial by Peter three times and Jesus' life was seriously fixin (yeah, that's a Texas term...), to get rough, I mean really rough, but He wanted to leave and send them with the ultimate example of what He wanted to leave behind, His love for them so that they would love one another.
Have you ever thought about how hard that must've been for the Disciples to hear? That the man they had grown so close to, shared fellowship with, loved one and were loved by, eaten many meals with, stood up for (Peter...and the sword...let's just say the man who had his ear cut off, probably wasn't the biggest fan of Peter but was a fan of Jesus...wouldn't you be if He put your ear back on?). Anyway, these guys had given up their jobs, their families, their livelihoods, their friends and everything else that was precious and valuable to them to follow this Jesus and now He was leaving them...can you feel the pain they were feeling? OUCH!
But, the coolest part of it all is that Jesus gave them an example, He didn't leave them with nothing, He actually had been showing them since the time He came into the flesh in John 1:14, to the time of His betrayal and even to the time on the cross how to love genuinely. How awesome it was that Jesus had not only talked about it but showed it and challenged them to show it to everyone else...so the question is this, DO WE REALLY LOVE EACH OTHER? He told us the world around us would know Him through our love for one another...Grace and peace.
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