Love One Another

Why does "love one another as I have loved you" sound familiar?
Jesus said it earlier in the evening during supper: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35, see God is Glorified).

Does Jesus' command for us to "love one another as I have loved you" confine us to loving only Christians - "disciples" - as He loved us?
No: "Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’" (Matthew 22:35-39).

What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?
"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends" (John 15:13).

Did Jesus walk His talk?
Yes, and that's why He can tell us to love one another "as I have loved you" (John 15:12).

Do you walk your talk?
Think about the people to whom you've said, “I love you.” Do you love them enough to die for them?

Realistically, can we really lay down our life for other Christians, let alone for our "neighbors"?
With our human love, we can't. With the love of Jesus flowing through us, we can (example).

When did Jesus call them "servants" (John 15:15)?
"If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor" (John 12:26, see The Hour Has Come). "Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him" (John 13:16, see A servant is Not greater than his Master).

How had Jesus trained them to become His “friends” (John 15:15)?
"All things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15) by both words and actions.

What must they do to remain His friends?
"You are My friends if you do whatever I command you" (John 15:14).

Why does Jesus elevate them from "servants" to His “friends” now?
Now that their training is completed, He wants them to not only "do" but to also "know" - i.e., understand - what He does through them: "A servant does not know what his master is doing" (John 15:15).