CHAPTER 10
Observable Love

"Selfishness," said A. B. Simpson, "is in defiance of the law of Christ. . . He gave to His disciples a law of love even higher than that of the Old Testament. It is no longer 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,' but it is 'Love one another as I have loved you.' " 1

Yes, the new commandment is clear enough. "Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you, A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that. ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:33-34).

Jesus is saying something very important, exceedingly so. It is important because He said it. It is important because John emphasized it. And it is important because of the timing.

Three things happen earlier in the 13th chapter of John.

First there is the unusual expression of love in John's reporting. Kenneth N. Taylor paraphrases the opening words this way, "And how he loved his disciples!" (John 13:1, Living Bible).

Secondly, in a striking act of demonstrated humility and love, Jesus washes the feet of His disciples. Ordinarily, it would have been the duty of a slave to wash the feet of guests who had come in off the dusty streets. But Jesus insisted on doing it.

Peter's reaction always fascinates me. He wanted no part of the footwashing. "No, you shall never wash my feet!" But when Jesus explained that to refuse meant to have no part with Him, Peter changed his tune. "Lord," he said, "I'll have a bath!" Such is the force of the original language.

It was in this context that Jesus gave His new commandment, "Love one another as I have loved you."

Following the act of footwashing, there was the feast of the Passover. It was there that John leaned upon Jesus' breast - as someone has said - just because he wanted to. Such was his love for the Master. It was also there that Satan entered into Judas bodily. It was there that Jesus said to him, "That, thou doest, do quickly."

Certainly it was a tense moment for Judas, and perhaps for our Lord. Full of high drama.

Then the betrayer went out, bent on quisling treachery. But he did not go unloved, nor with his feet unwashed.

It was in this context that Jesus delivered His new commandment. As He was about to give it, He again told His disciples of His departure. "Moreover," He explained, "where I am going you'll not be able to follow." Surely nothing could have been clearer.

"So now I say unto you," "So I am giving a new commandment to you,"one translator puts it.

Incredible. But clear. The love springing from obedience to this new commandment Jesus was about to give was intended to replace His physical presence.

Love. The substitute for His physical presence. (Later, He explained that the Comforter was coming, Who would guide into all truth, The two currents of truth seem to flow together here, for the Fruit of the Spirit is love, And, as another commentator has pointed out, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance all form golden sections of the same orange - love.)

"By this shall all men know." The world would be instantly able to identify Christians - by their love. I like Schaeffer's phrase, "observable love," 2 The young people have been singing for several years, "They'll know we are Christians by our love, "

The world will know us by our love. And how does anyone know anything? Through the senses, of course.

Though some might argue that love can be smelled and tasted, we think not. But love can be heard. In January of 1972 I made one of many missionary journeys I have taken into Cree Indian territory. At a place called Peerless Lake, one hundred and fifty miles northeast of High Prairie, Alberta, I shared for two days with the lovely Indian believers. For the whole two days I talked about love. Their black eyes glistened and their hearts responded.

Because most of their conversation was in Cree I could not know what was happening. But some thing surely was. "Sakahaytin" was the word. They were going from one to another saying, "Sakahaytin"-I love you. They seemed even more responsive to the message of love than their white brothers and sisters in the outside world. And their expression of love was completely spontaneous. Six months later I saw some of them again. They greeted me as before, "Sakahaytin."

Love among Christians is to be observable. It needs to be heard - with words like "Sakahaytin."

The world also has the right to see it among us. But often they do not. If I dare to be honest with you, I have moved among evangelicals nearly all my life - and have seen very little love.

But thank God, I have seen it. As we have already mentioned in these pages, the Rev. Carmelo Terranova, Argentine evangelist and Bible teacher, was with us in the 1971 Nakamun convention.

As sometimes happens in a camp, a number of the tents and cabins were entered covertly. Around two hundred dollars had been taken and everyone was rather upset. The two boys who had done it were caught and brought fearfully to their parents. One of my preacher friends said to me, "I think we ought to go and talk straight and hard to those boys." We set out for their tent trailer with those intentions.

What a mistake we made! We took with us the man of love, Mr. Terranova. When we entered the tent trailer everyone was very uneasy. Only one of the boys was present.

Then Mr. Terranova spoke to me in Spanish. "Tell the boy to come and sit beside me." I did so. "Tell him to look up." So I asked the boy to look up; which he did. Then our dear brother, who had come eight thousand miles to show us how to love, bent over and kissed the wayward boy. With a Spanish accent he said in English, "I love you." The boy had been hard, but now there were tears in his eyes. We all were in tears. Somehow there was nothing more to say.

I, stumbled out of the tent trailer into the sunlight, nearly blinded with tears. And only one thought pulsed back and forth through my mind. "I have seen First Corinthians thirteen. I have seen First Corinthians thirteen."

Love is to be heard, seen, and felt if the world is going to know we are Christians by our love.

Barely three days after twenty-three people had been massacred in the Mindanao town of Ipil, we passed through it. Everyone was tense. People were fleeing if they were able. Anywhere - just to get away. And I felt the hatred and fear there. Everyone did.

Now if we can feel hate and fear, how much more ought the world to be able to feel the love .. that Christ intended to be the mark of the Christian atmosphere?

In talking about the roots of the Canadian revival in chapter three, I mentioned the outpouring of love at Nakamun. Mr. Terranova was preaching. Finally he said to the people, "Tell your brother beside you that you love him." He persisted until the people began to obey him. And though it seems cold and mechanical in print, in the atmosphere of that hour it was vibrant and alive, very much in the Spirit.

Suddenly something broke. Perhaps it was our Anglo-Saxon reserve giving way before the unction of the Holy Spirit and Latin persuasiveness, Though words are inadequate, there was an explosion of love. It seemed as if the camp grounds were covered with love. And who is to say they were not? Hundreds of witnesses would agree; you could "feel" it. And when revival came later to Saskatoon, we had no trouble understanding our brethren when they said, "We are wading knee-deep in love."

Now I am proposing here that the world has a right to "hear" and '.see" and "feel" Christ's love among us.

And when they become aware of the love among us, they will come easily to the feet of Jesus.

Something certainly happened to Simon Peter. To begin with, he was the reluctant disciple who could offer only friendly phileo love to His Saviour. But later in his writings the Holy Spirit obviously flows through a different man, "See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently," "Have fervent love among yourselves, for love shall cover the multitude of sins."

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1 A. B. Simpson, "Meditations in the Word," Alliance Witness, December 20, 1972, p. 22.
2 Francis A. Schaeffer, The Church at the End of the 20th Century, Downers Grove. Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press. 1970. p. 139.

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