It was after Jesus had eaten his last meal with his disciples, and after he had washed their feet and told them he would soon be leaving them, that he instructed them regarding their continuing relationships with one another; “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35).
Several days earlier, one of the Pharisees, an expert in the law, tested Jesus with this question, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus said that there are two commandments that top the list. The first and greatest commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. … And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” He then added, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40).
I understand Jesus to be saying that these two commandments are the foundation for all relationships within His Kingdom. God prioritized these two commandments in his earlier Old Testament instructions to His chosen people. He then sent Jesus to teach and model “in person” how these commandments are to be acted-out in everyday living.
This is the backstory to my understanding of God’s message to prophet Isaiah, “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.” (Isaiah 28:16).
Throughout his three-year teaching and healing ministry, Jesus consistently spoke of the need to love God and others, and he daily modeled that compassionate, sacrificial love to his disciples and followers. And now, just several hours before his arrest and crucifixion, he restates, as a command, their need to love each other — no exceptions, no excuses, and no conditions.
And just in case they may think about trivializing the “meaning” of love, he raises the bar to its highest level and gives them a particularly challenging definition of sacrificial love: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34).
In other words, the measure of love we share with others must reflect nothing less than the measure of “amazing love” we have received from God through Jesus. What has come to us from God should and must, in like quality and quantity, flow through us and out to all others!
Also, our actions of loving ALL others will be what sets us apart from the world and authenticates our declaration of being a Christian. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35).The only distinguishing mark ever given in Scripture regarding who is a Christian is their ability to love others in the same manner as Jesus loves.
So, if you believe, as I do, that Jesus is the “precious cornerstone for a sure foundation” then I think we can accurately believe that God’s two greatest commandments make for a rock-solid foundation, and that Jesus’ teachings and modeling of God’s sacrificial (agape) love, is the cornerstone for building our (house) life in the present “here and now.”
This understanding of scripture brings to life all of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” as recorded in Matthew, chapters 5-7; as well as His concluding parable of the “wise and foolish builders.” “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Mt. 7:24-25).
Harry Stack Sullivan writes in his book, Conceptions of Modern Psychiatry, “When the satisfaction, security, and development of another person become as significant to you as your own satisfaction, security, and development, love exists.” I believe this is a good definition of married love, and a most excellent definition of Christian sacrificial “agape” love.
For Jesus, Paul, and all the apostles, to be a follower of Jesus, building God’s Kingdom on earth, requires a transformed heart that will daily live a lifestyle of loving God and others. They consistently taught us that a transformed heart will be evidenced by the outflow of God’s love in our relationships with fellow believers, and in shaping our attitude and behavior towards all people, including enemies. Ouch!
Yes, it may hurt, but the world needs to see our Christian identification in BOTH words and works. May be do so in every opportunity.
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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – October 12, 2022
Ray M. Geigley
Healing Rays of Righteousness 
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