A New Commandment
John 13:34
NLT“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
'Maundy' Thursday is named from this verse. The foot-washing was called the maundy from Mandatum novum do vobis, its antiphon's first words (Herbert Thurston, Catholic Encyclopedia, 1912).
Herbert Thurston, 'Washing of Feet and Hands', The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 15 (New York, 1912)
Jesus' instruction to his disciples to love one another as he has loved them.
More context
Jesus gives a 'new' commandment not just to love others, but to love them specifically as He loved them—with radical, self-sacrificial devotion that becomes the identifying mark of His followers.
Light
It establishes self-giving love as the primary defining mark of Christian discipleship and community.
Shadow
Christ's measure of love can feel impossible, leading to guilt or to a merely superficial community.