Scripture: John 13:34-35
[Jesus said] “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, ed so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Thought for the Day: The community of John was heartbroken. Written by people kicked out of their synagogue for following Jesus, The Gospel of John is a remarkable glimpse into the difficulties many early Proto-Christian communities faced because of their deep devotion to Jesus. Their writing is often an impassioned plea for unity in spite of differences, a pained request for reconciliation instead of retribution.

The Johannine community had quite literally suffered a divorce. Once part of the larger Jewish community, they had been banished; sent away to be forgotten and never spoken of again. Keep in mind that people would have been part of this community for many generations. This wasn’t just simply leaving a church to find a new one; this was leaving everything you’d ever known behind—including family members. It was a painful, gut-wrenching separation that cut very deeply on both sides. Jesus’ command to love one another must have been bittersweet, as easily applied to those left in the synagogue as to those who left to follow the teachings of Jesus.

In spite of our differences, in spite of our deepest wounds, conflict can only be resolved by love. Even when we disagree, separation is never the answer. We have to love each other—complete with our life-scars, differences of opinion, whether we eat meat or veggies, whether we are gifted in words, or mechanics, or poetry or prose. We must begin to truly love one another. Because anything else is heartbreaking.

Prayer: Break my heart in a new way, Holy God—not because I have lost anything, but because I have found you. Fill my heart with so much love that it bursts; so much love that I cannot help but love every other human on the planet, despite our sometimes vast differences. Amen.