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Love 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)
          One of the ideas that has been wandering through my mind over the past few months is the idea of community and commitment – which I’m currently suspecting are the same thing. Today begins the exploration of that topic with the first of the “one another” passages. The first thing that needs to be addressed is linguistic. There are two words used in Greek to express the idea of “another.” The first describes another of the same kind, and the second, another of a different kind.
          In today’s passage, the another is another of the same kind. Some may resent the “us against them” interpretation, but that interpretation is not supported by the text. It does not say, “Love only one another who are like you.” Loving one another (of the same kind) is a great start place, but it doesn’t have to be the final destination.  
          Some might think that loving others of the same kind is too easy. It’s like loving yourself. If that were true, all our nuclear families and communities would be happy places filled with love, but that’s not the case. Loving “those folks, out there” is easier, because there’s some distance involved. Those folks aren’t in your face day after day, with the same irritating habits and failures they had yesterday.  And those irritating, failed people who are like you tend to be aware of your failures, whereas one of another kind might see you as heroic.
          As I think of this idea in the context of community and commitment, the first issue that comes to mind is who the others of my kind are. Jesus was speaking to the disciples, so that must be the primary set of one anothers that we’re supposed to love. It’s not the only set. Make a list of your “anothers of the same kind,” starting with your fellow Christians. Include family, friends, co-workers, fellow residents. Between you and God, which are your top five? Three? One? How are you doing at loving them? Do you have the courage to ask your #1 priority how they think you’re doing? I’ve got some thinking to do.

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