Finding Joy in Sacrificial Love by Naomi Fuller
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (John 13:34)
My grandmother is the epitome of love. Her patience, empathy, and care are always evident. Many of my earliest childhood memories revolve around her—from having tea parties under the kitchen table to learning how to knead bread by hand, every moment spent with her was pure joy. When my brother and I were toddlers, one of our favorite games was tying her up with sewing thread. (It sounds terrible, I know—but she loved it.) We would weave the thread around her and the furniture in the room so intricately that when my mom arrived, she’d have to cut my grandmother free. As the years have passed, I’ve seen her kindness reflected in the ways she serves others sacrificially.
Yesterday, we read from Matthew about Jesus’ call to “love our neighbors as ourselves” (Matthew 22:39). But in today’s passage, Jesus gives a new command, a call to something greater— to love others as Christ loves us. The commandment to love wasn’t new, but the extent of love was redefined through Jesus. In a world that makes it hard to love ourselves, the magnitude of this call is even more needed today.
To fully understand this, we must first acknowledge Jesus’ love for all of humanity. The gospels reveal that Jesus’ love was not contained to his followers. He loved everyone--even those whom society considered outcasts, who wanted nothing to do with Him, or persecuted Him. There’s nothing we can do to make him love us any less. His love is unconditional.
And here in John 13, we are called to love others with the same breadth. How can we even begin to measure up? Simple answer: follow His example. Earlier in this chapter, after Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, he called them to do this. The highest person in the room performed the lowest task . . . proving that we are never above serving others. No matter how anyone treated Jesus, through sacrifice and humility, He loved them.
Why is it so hard for us to show this same love? Is it pride? Anger? Stubbornness? How can we integrate the love of Christ in a nation filled with hate and opposition? What if we flip the script and choose to love those we find hard to love. Choose to offer forgiveness to those we don’t think deserve it. Choose to honor the opinions of others without the need to fight back. When we imitate His love, Christ is revealed IN and THROUGH us.
To follow His command, we must allow Jesus’ sacrificial love to pattern our lives. And when we do, joy will follow—just like it did for my grandma.