“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35). Discipulas is the Latin word for student. Jesus Christ says that if we are to be considered His students, then we must have love one to another. But what does love have to do with being a student of Christ? “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3). To know and understand and learn of and from Jesus Christ, we must also know and understand and learn of and from God, and vise versa. But how do we come to know them? “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” (John 7:17). But what is God’s will? “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:39). “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). So it was God’s will that Christ should suffer the sins of the world, and it was God’s love that He gave His only begotten Son. So to sum up, if we are to be Christ’s disciple, then we must know God, and to know God, we must do His will, and God’s will is to love His children. Therefore, if we have love one to another, then we are His disciples, because with each act of love and service, we are doing our Father’s will and knowing Him and His Son Jesus Christ better and becoming more and more His devoted students and disciples. To know Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father is a lives-long project - if we devoted every waking moment to loving our fellow brothers and sisters with all of the energy of our soul for the rest of our lives, we would know our God and our Savior better, but to truly know and love them fully and completely and perfectly requires much more than just this life but also all of eternity. I hope that none of us ever tire of being Jesus Christ’s students and disciples, and that we never neglect our homework to know Him better by having love one to another.
