The New Commandment

I want to paraphrase a large chunk of John chapter 13.

I'll do that for a little while, and then I'll turn to our text this morning, Matthew chapter 5, verse 43 to 48.

But I want to paraphrase John chapter 13.

What's happened in John's account is that Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem and they've gone up to the upper room to have a communion, to have a Passover meal.

Communion would come later, but Passover meal known as the Last Supper.

And you would know how this works.

They go up to the upper room and it says that the evening meal was in progress.

In John 13 verse 1, it says that Jesus knew that his hour had come.

He knew that his hour had come, and having loved his own, he loved them to the end.

Isn't that beautiful? I love the NLT.

It says, having loved his own, he was now showing them the full extent of his love.

So he knows his hour has come.

He knows he's going to demonstrate love to them.

And he says this, and he also knew...

That his father had placed everything under his power, under his authority.

He knew the authority that he had.

And he knew that he had come from the father and that he was returning to the father.

And so he gets up from the meal.

And I want to say this, this is a little mini sermonette.

This is just for fun.

You've got to know those three things.

You've got to know that now is the hour for the world to know just how much we love them.

Now is the time for that.

We're going to know what Jesus knows.

We're going to know that all power and authority has been given to us in the name of Jesus because of Jesus.

I want to paraphrase a large chunk of John chapter 13.

I'll do that for a little while, and then I'll turn to our text this morning, Matthew chapter 5, verse 43 to 48.

But I want to paraphrase John chapter 13.

What's happened in John's account is that Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem and they've gone up to the upper room to have a communion, to have a Passover meal.

Communion would come later, but Passover meal known as the Last Supper.

And you would know how this works.

They go up to the upper room and it says that the evening meal was in progress.

In John 13 verse 1, it says that Jesus knew that his hour had come.

He knew that his hour had come, and having loved his own, he loved them to the end.

Isn't that beautiful? I love the NLT.

It says, having loved his own, he was now showing them the full extent of his love.

So he knows his hour has come.

He knows he's going to demonstrate love to them.

And he says this, and he also knew...

That his father had placed everything under his power, under his authority.

He knew the authority that he had.

And he knew that he had come from the father and that he was returning to the father.

And so he gets up from the meal.

And I want to say this, this is a little mini sermonette.

This is just for fun.

You've got to know those three things.

You've got to know that now is the hour for the world to know just how much we love them.

Now is the time for that.

We're going to know what Jesus knows.

We're going to know that all power and authority has been given to us in the name of Jesus because of Jesus.