Reflect: The block of teaching recorded in John 13:31–16:33, is known as Jesus’ farewell discourse. In these chapters, Jesus instructs His disciples about loving one another, the significance of His upcoming death, resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Let’s focus in, and reread, John 13:34-35. The new commandment, in these verses, is that Jesus’ disciples are instructed to love other people the way Jesus loved them—serving them like a slave would, even to the point of laying down their lives for others. It is in this new way of living that others will know His disciples are followers of Christ because they love each other unto death, like Jesus loved them. The Greek word Jesus uses for love in verse 34 is agape. It means to have a strong, non-sexual affection and love for a person and his goodness, as understood by God’s moral character; a sacrificial love that voluntarily suffers inconvenience, discomfort and even death for the benefit of another without expecting anything in return. When my husband and I became parents, we couldn’t take our eyes off this wiggly little 6lb. 11oz. love of our lives. Our precious newborn could only cry, eat, spit up, wake us up from sleeping and require lots of diaper changes. But, our love for him was unconditional. We gave to him, adored him and expected nothing in return. That was the closest moment that either of us had experienced an agape type of love. It’s easy for people to have an agape love for a newborn, but Jesus wants us to have this love towards other adults and our teenagers too, even if at times they have infantile behavior.