By this shall all men know

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 (NIV)
 
What made this command new? “Love your neighbor as yourself” was part of the Mosaic code, explicitly recorded for the first time in Leviticus 19. Jesus himself identified it in Matthew 22 as second in importance only to the commandment to love God. So how was this different?
 
The key is in the next sentence. “As I have loved you…” gives a different depth to this instruction. Jesus, their master and teacher, had just humbled himself to wash their feet. The next day He would be nailed to a cross. The call to love on that self-sacrificial level was truly something that had not been previously imagined.
 
The command was to be lived out in the context of the church. Not in a vacuum, not in isolation, not “under the radar”, but as openly observable evidence to the world that those who claimed to be followers of the Master would reflect His image. The example of the early church was not to be an anomaly or a quaint recollection of days gone by. It was to be normative, a pattern to be modeled. The implementation varies from place to place and age to age, but the template remains constant.

 
It’s hard. The enemy tempts us. Culture divides us. Personalities compete. There are a thousand things to fuss about. Even at our best, the busyness of our lives dictates that we have to be intentional if we want to maintain contact and know one another well enough to care. But that’s the expectation. Not a request. Not a suggestion. Not a nice idea. A new command. Let’s show the world.
 
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.  –Acts 2:42-47 (NIV)