Episode Transcript
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
1 John 2:7–8 (HCSB)
Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old command that you have had from the beginning. The old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
CONSIDER THIS
John sounds a bit like Master Yoda today—Passing away the darkness is. Already shining the truth is now.
How can something be both new and old at the same time? Nothing stays new. In the season of spring, everything is new again, but it never stays that way. Early spring always reminds me of my favorite poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost.
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
The command John continues to drive home is not new. It’s actually an old command. Even when Jesus told his disciples he was giving them a “new command” (John 13:34), it was still as old as Leviticus (see 19:18).
In the old days, they wanted to interpret this text about loving one’s neighbor as they loved themselves in the sense of what is required to fulfill one’s obligation to the law or their duty. It’s why the Pharisee pressed Jesus with the question, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). He wanted to know the boundaries or limits of this law concerning neighbor love. He was looking for an interpretation. Rather than giving an interpretation, Jesus told the now-famous story about the good Samaritan. Instead of opting for what is required, Jesus chose to emphasize what was possible.
Yet I am writing you a new command, which is true in Him and in you . . .
When Jesus taught his disciples the meaning of love, he didn’t render an interpretation. He became the interpretation. He washed their feet. This command to love others is an old commandment, but every time someone dares to obey it, things are made new. In organizations, relationships, communities, and even nations, the love of God revealed by Jesus Christ and now manifested in and through his people makes things new.
Holy love means treating people extravagantly, according to their best interests, rather than handling them according to the calculus of our best interests. Jesus’ death on the cross was clearly not in his best interest. He asked for the cup of suffering to pass him by, yet for the sake of love, he became “obedient unto death” (Philippians 2:8 KJ21). As a result, the new creation broke in on the old, broken one. Everything is being made new. The old is passing away. The new is breaking forth. Every time we love others as Jesus has loved us, even in the smallest of ways, the new creation is extended further. This, in effect, pushes the darkness back. As we will see tomorrow, this is what it means to “walk in the light, as he is in the light” (1 John 1:7).
Passing away the darkness is. Already shining the truth is now. Stay gold.
THE PRAYER
Lord Jesus, thank you for making all things new. Thank you for making me new. Fill me with fresh faith to grasp this unshakable truth—your love is making me new. I welcome the power of your holy love to make me the kind of person whose love makes others new. Yes, Lord, you can do this. I pray in your name, Jesus. Amen.
