Setting a New Standard

by Katie Harding on July 15, 2024

“Were you invited?” Those were the words my children heard every time they called home and asked if they could eat lunch or dinner with a friend’s family. I was teaching them to never invite themselves and to always wait for an invitation to be extended. With the consistency of those three words, I was setting a standard of behavior for them to follow. But I never realized it stuck until a recent visit with our daughter and her family. Our oldest granddaughter who was playing at a neighbor’s house called to see if she could stay for dinner. Without hesitating, our daughter asked, “Were you invited?”

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminded those on the hill that the Law and the Prophets also set standards of behavior, like plumb lines for how the Jews were to treat one another. They included guidelines for treating their neighbor, the neighbor’s wife, and their neighbor’s children and servants.

Two of these guidelines are very familiar. In fact, we say them quite often: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself,” and “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The intent of these guidelines was about loving and doing for others, but in reality, the standard for how we perform these actions is based on our own desires. Do for others the same way you would like them to do for you. Love others the same way you love yourself. This means how we treat people on any given day can change on a whim, depending on how we feel about ourselves and how we feel about others.

So, before Jesus’ death, He set a new and constant standard. No longer would our love for self set the standard of our love for others. “A new command I am giving you,” Jesus said. Love others and do unto them as I have loved and as I have done unto you. In those moments, before and after the Passover meal, Jesus not only changed the standard, but He became the standard. As I have loved, you love. As I have done, you do. Love others that way and that much.

Today, almost two thousand years later, Jesus' standard still remains. In the same way that He loves us — extending grace, offering forgiveness, granting mercy, coming alongside, and showing compassion — let us love others. As Jesus does for us, let us go and do likewise.

“For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you…Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13:15, 34).