When he had left, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. (If God is glorified in him,) God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, 'Where I go you cannot come,' so now I say it to you. I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (Jn 13:31-35)
Here in chapter 13 Jesus speaks about the Son of Man being glorified. Till now he was speaking about the Father being glorified and the Son of Man being lifted up. Now he puts the two things together. For Jesus the coming events are unveiling of God’s glory. As Jesus completes his ministry, the glory of God dawns. So the vocation and completion of one’s ministry reveals God’s glory.
Jesus gives a new commandment. But the commandment of Love is central in many parts of the Old Testament (Lev 19.18). The newness in this is the mode of this love, the depth and type of this love. Jesus says love one another in the same way as Jesus has loved. So the love is all about the other person.
The newness is that in the love there is no importance given to the one who loves. The importance is given to the one who is loved. This love has to be like that of Jesus’. He was ready to lay down his life for the other, he was ready to wash the feet of the other and he was ready to offer his body as food for the others.
