A New Commandment

We had Stake Conference today, and one of the members of the Stake Presidency made a comment that I thought was very interesting...

In the Gospels—and the rest of the New Testament for that matter—the commandment is often given that "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Mark 12:31). We often think of this as one of Christ's key teachings, but this commandment wasn't actually something new. Christ gives the Parable of the Good Samaritan when elaborating on the greatest commandments in the law: to love God with all our heart, might, mind and strength; and to love our neighbors as ourselves. As Jesus states, these are the greatest commandments in the law, and the latter is actually found in the book of Leviticus (Lev 19:18).

On the night of the Last Supper, Jesus gave a new commandment—like unto the one found in the old covenant—but elaborated and expounded upon it: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (John 13:34). Isn't that interesting to think of this commandment as expounding the ancient commandment to love they neighbor as thyself?

In class a couple weeks ago we discussed the Sermon on the Mount, and the difference in the approaches that Jesus took in interpreting the law to those of the Pharisees. The Pharisees took the law given them through Moses and build restrictive structures around it, such as the many "traditions of the elders" concerning Sabbath day observance. Jesus, however, sought to attack the problem at the roots. He taught the people that they needed a change of heart, because as long as the desire to sin still existed in their hearts then the underlying problem was still there.

I think this principle is shown in its ultimate form in this new commandment. Rather than simply loving others because we would like to be loved, or not doing mean things to them because we wouldn't want to have them do mean things to us, Jesus commands us to love one another as He loves us. At our stake conference meeting last night, Elder Stone of the Seventy said, "For some of us there will only be one question at the day of judgment: Did you learn to love?" When we can see one another as the Savior does, and share that same unconditional love that He has for us, then we have truly experienced the change of heart that we need.