13:33
Having spoken in momentous terms, Jesus then addresses His disciples as “little children”. We should remember that some of these disciples were fishermen. God addresses us as “little children”. It is not all about us, but it is all about Him. The result of the fall and human rebellion is that by nature we regard ourselves as “gods”. Apart from being a foolish thing to think, it also leads us to a life of insecurity and fear, for we manifestly are not gods! Jesus has addressed them gently, and He reminds them that He is going away. At this point they did not understand this, and it would naturally arouse fear in them. Jesus will now go on to explain much of why He is going away, and its significance. It is all part of the fulfilment of God’s plans, and is good for the disciples.
13:34.35
Jesus’ going away did not signal the end of the adventure, in reality it signalled the beginning. The mission would continue, this time through the church empowered by the Holy Spirit. A new life would begin for the disciples and the defining characteristic of this new life would be love for God and for one another. Here the emphasis is on love for one another. The command is new in the sense that we are to love one another as Christ has loved us. And a key element of that was displayed when Jesus washed their feet. We cannot love one another as Christ loved us unless we love God with all that we have. And it is this love for one another that will demonstrate to the world that we are truly Christ’s disciples.
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