Jesus said to his disciples, "A new commandment I give you: Love one another, as I have loved you" (John 13.35).

However, most people take the words of Jesus out of context. Jesus does not say to the disciples to have warm, gushy feelings for each other. Jesus does not say to the disciples to stay in abusive relationships. These are not symbols of the love Jesus is talking about. In fact, I often hear preachers and lay people say that Jesus is refering here to his sacrificial death on the cross. But notice something interesting about the text: Jesus speaks in past tense, before his crucifixion.

"Love one another, as I have loved you."

If we take this text and understand it in context before the crucifixion, what on earth could Jesus mean? We need to think about this in our Christian lives. I firmly believe we need to re-evaluate our whole theology, because the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior does not begin with the crucifixion. The true sacrifice of our Lord and Savior begins with his birth!

I want you to think about this for a moment, dear children of faith. People say there could be no resurrection without crucifixion. But there could be no crucifixion without putting on our flesh, walking in our shoes, and choosing to become one of us. Our whole theology begins to change if our sole focus is taken off the cross, and focused on the total work of Jesus the Christ.

In what ways did Jesus love the disciples before the crucifixion? Let us look at some possibilities.

1. He demonstrated to the disciples patience, first and foremost. Now I want you to really do a character study on the disciples. Even after Jesus was crucified, the disciples did not get it. Jesus told them plainly all along what was going to happen, but the disciples refused to listen. Yet Jesus was patient with them, realizing that they will come around sometime - and they did!

2. He demonstrated to the disciples persistance. Jesus was persistent in his vision and mission to the people. As the Son of God, his vision was to restore people to God, hoping that none would perish, but that all would come to repentance (2 Peter 3.9). Repentance is not simply being sorrowful for one's sins. Anyone can be sorry that they have done wrong. Western culture is saturated with guild and an inner sense of wrongdoing. However, repentance has anotehr element to it. It involves changing course. It involves turning away from one thing and turning towards another. This was the vision Jesus had

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