John 13:31-35
Jesus on His Departing and Love
31When he was gone, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. 32If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
33"My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Jesus tells us in verse thirty one that he was gone...The he is Judas...Judas will betray His Teacher...Now Jesus begins His farewell discourse (here and) for the next four chapters...
Jesus in the next few hours will be arrested...He will be glorified...God will glorify Jesus in Himself...Where He is going the eleven disciples cannot come at this time...We can gather from these verses that the Father and Son are spiritual...They are from another dimension... Knowing this should give us hope...There is something better, much better...So much better, we can only imagine...Jesus tells them in chapter fourteen one through fourteen that He will prepare a place for them, then will come back, and then take them with Him (to this better place) we call heaven...
Then Jesus who has already spoken so much about love, teaches us more...He has taught us the two greatest commandments are to love God with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds...Then we are to love our neighbors as ourselves...He also has taught us to love our enemies...Now in verse thirty four, He tells us He is giving us a new commandment: Love one another...As I have loved you, you must love one another...By this (love) all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another...
Jesus is telling them, if they cannot get along after He has been glorified, it will be more, if not very difficult to teach others what He has taught them...Jesus tells them that this command is new...Love must exist in the villages, towns, and communities...Love is to exist everywhere...Is this new?...Did the eleven disciples listening think this is new?...Maybe it is...Jesus is telling us we are to help others...We are to do the best we can for God, for our neighbors, for our enemies, and for one another...
Love is the key...Jesus is the door... When the door opens, we have the truth...Everything is possible, inside the door...Heaven is there...