An Old Commandment Understood In a New Way

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:34

I was pondering over these verses and it wasn't until today that Jesus' words "New Commandment" created a problem for me. Loving one another is not a new commandment!!

We don't have to go back very far to find it; only two thousand years earlier we find the command "You Shall Love thy Neighbor as yourself". Lev 19:18. (see right there it is )
I was stumped until I read the next verse. Perhaps it is a "New Commandment" in the sense that what is new is we are now to stand out as Jesus' Disciples by the way we love one another. I could be wrong here, but what made the Jews stand out was in their practicing Jewish Festivals and sacrifices and they inherited the "Land". So what now characterizes the Christian as a, real disciple of Jesus, is not in how he practices his religion or what country he is affiliated with, but by how much he loves his brother(s). Possible?

That being said, I wonder if a problem we have with loving our brother is not that he commits evil acts. We all agree with these in the sense that we've either committed the same evil act or at least thought about it. I wonder is it for the good deeds that our brother commits that we tear him apart (metaphorically speaking). While considering that, ponder the reason behind the Death of Abel (Gen 4). Cain hated and killed his brother because of the good that he did and not due to some evil act.

"Fellowship is the sharing of the divine life and communion of the father and the Son"
R.W. Orr

Well said Mr. Orr. In my own words I would add ; Discipleship is modeling the divine life by sincerely loving the Father, the Son, and one another.