Can we possibly love like that?

 

“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)

I guess the question to ask here is: Can we really love one another as Jesus has loved us? He was/is God, we are not. So how can we love like Him? As much as Him? After all, He gave His life for us. Are we prepared to do the same?

Let us consider what is love. In Greek, one of the languages the Bible was written in, there are different words for love:

Philia (φιλία):

This word translates to "friendship" or "brotherly love". It's a dispassionate, virtuous love between equals. This is where we get the word bibliophile meaning lover of books, or Anglophile, lover of the English.

 

Eros (ἔρως):

This type of love is characterized by passion, desire, and often sexual attraction. It's the kind of love that might be felt between romantic partners. That's where we get the words erotic and erotica.

 

Storge (στοργή):

This refers to the love and affection between parents and children, a natural, instinctive bond. It's often described as a feeling of tenderness and warmth. 

 

Agape (ἀγάπη):

This is the highest form of love, often seen in a religious context, especially in Christianity. It's a selfless, unconditional love, the kind that God is believed to possess for humans. 

 

This is what Jesus is talking about here. Are we prepared to love one another, to care for one another, unconditionally, no matter what, to the point of giving our everything for someone else? A stranger? An enemy even. Remember, He said love your enemies as well as your neighbour. Are we prepared to go to that length?

 

Or is it perhaps that we are incapable of such love because we are not Divine as Christ was/is Divine?  

After His Resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples at Lake Tiberias. As they sat on the shore eating together, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Take care of my lambs.”

Three times Jesus asked if He was loved by Peter, and each time He said, “Take care of my sheep.” (John Chapter 21).

This is the kind of Agape love Jesus was speaking of. "Do you care for Me, (and my sheep/followers), so much that you'd be prepared to give up your life for Me and for them?"

Of course, Peter proved that he was prepared to go all the way to being crucified upside down for Christ.

We may not be asked to go to such extremes. But it should not stop us from trying to love one another as Jesus loved us.