John 13:34–35

 P EOPLE WILL KNOW WE ARE DISCIPLES OF JESUS when we love each other. We know what love is because of Jesus. Jesus loves us. And he said, “Just as I have loved you (in the same way that I have loved you) you also must love each other.”

If we want to know what love looks like, we look at Jesus. What did Jesus say? What did Jesus do? How did Jesus act? If Jesus is our model for loving others, how did Jesus love?

Jesus fed hungry people. He fed his disciples. He fed over 5,000 at one time. He never asked if they had a job. He never questioned why they didn’t have food. He didn’t tell them to fend for themselves. He saw them hungry and fed them. ►That is love.

Jesus healed. Jesus healed the sick. People he knew like Peter’s mother-in-law. People he didn’t know like the blind man on the side of the road. Not only did he heal bodies. He healed minds. He healed hearts. He healed relationships. ►That is love.

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HOW DID JESUS SHOW LOVE? He blessed little children. When the grown-ups said the kids should go away and leave Jesus alone, Jesus got onto the adults and welcomed the children. The children sat in his lap. Maybe pulled his beard. They laughed. And he prayed for them. He also blessed the poor and the meek and those who tried to live peaceful lives. ►That is love.

Jesus loves us by promising to always be with us. Just because we can’t see him, doesn’t mean his is not here. He is with us through the Holy Spirit. Every day. When we’re happy Jesus is happy with us. When we are sad Jesus is sad with us. When we are afraid, Jesus is with us to calm our fears. When we are alone, with Jesus we are never alone. We are never without Jesus. ►That is love.

These are just some ways Jesus loves us. We learn from the Bible that Jesus loved all people. Poor people, women, outcasts, lepers, children, prostitutes and tax collectors. Jesus is the perfect model of loving your neighbor as yourself.

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1 John 3:18, 23

LITTLE CHILDREN, LET’S NOT LOVE WITH WORDS OR SPEECH but with action and truth. This is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love each other as he commanded us.

John uses a couple of arguments to get us to love others.

● We love because God first loved us.
● We love in order to become like Jesus and God.
● No one can see God, but they can see us.
● Our job is to be so loving that people look at us and see what God’s love is like.

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SO, HOW DID JESUS MODEL LOVE? Let’s look again at the ways Jesus loves us but this time, let’s think about ways we can model love to other people.

Jesus fed hungry people. We can feed the hungry. A simple way is to bring food from your house to our food pantry. Or take a plate of cookies or share your garden bounty with your neighbors. When you give it to them, don’t drop it in their arms and run. Stand and talk for a bit if they seem to want that. Be friendly. Hand out homeless bags to people you see on the street. A pair of socks, some non-perishable food, a bottle of water. ►That is love.

Jesus healed the sick. Now we can’t heal sick people, but we can pray for God’s healing. We can send a get-well card with a handwritten note. We can drive them to a doctor appointment or visit them. Take chicken soup to their home.

There is so much pain and loneliness in the world, you can be pretty sure the person next to on the school bus or the cashier at the grocery store could use a kind word, a smile, or a helping hand. ►That is love.

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HOW DID JESUS SHOW LOVE? He blessed little children. It’s easy for adults to think children should be out of the way. What if, adults, we make it a point to learn kids’ names? What if we talk to them every Sunday, really talk to them? Imagine if we pray for the church’s children/youth and preschool children by name every day. ►That is love.

Jesus loves us by always being with us. Now, we can’t be everywhere at the same time. We can’t be with everyone in the way Jesus is. But we can text people or send an email to say we’re thinking about them. We can mail them a “thinking of you” treat. We can sit with the child at the lunch table alone. We can invite the single person (age doesn’t matter) to lunch or dinner or movie. We can listen to their pain and problems. ►That is love.

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YOU WERE GIVEN HEART STICKERS. Put them on the backs of each other’s hands, saying: “God says to love other people.” The heart stickers are going on our hands rather than our foreheads or hearts because Jesus calls us to use our hands to love rather than to just think about love or feel loving.

There are many other ways we can, by our actions, show that we love Jesus and love other people. Do something to care for others this week.

— Keith Cardwell