“I give you a new commandment: love one another; just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13:34).

Jesus offers a new measure for love. He says"just as I have loved you." at the very moment when, for love, he gives everything. “Before the Passover celebration, Jesus, having loved his own who were in the world, showed them the full extent of his love” (John 13:1). He begins by washing their feet while saying, “I have given you an example” (verse 15).

Then, deeply troubled by the fact that one of the Twelve, the apostle Judas, is going to betray him, he still keeps on loving him,expressing that love by handing him a piece of bread: “He took it and gave it to Judas” (verse 26). And finally, the gift of an example and the gift of a piece of bread culminate in the gift of the commandment: “I give you a new commandment.”