The Platinum Rule (John 13:31-38)
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Here's what Brandon Robertson, author of Queer and Christian had to say about my upcoming book, the Edge of the Inside Releasing March 31st quote, Jeremy Jernigan has given us a gift with the edge of the inside, a tender, honest, and deeply thoughtful companion for anyone navigating the wilderness of deconstruction.
This is a guidebook for the spiritually disoriented and a balm for those who feel alone on the journey. If you'd like to read a copy before it comes out, we'd love to have you join our book launch team. You can find out more at edge of the inside.com or at the link in the show notes.
jeremy_2_03-06-2026_134427: Welcome to another episode of Rebuilding Faith.
These are 10 minute Bible messages for people with questions and doubts. Last week, we saw Judas put his plan of betrayal into motion, and when that kicks off, Jesus realizes. He's in his final moments with his disciples. And as you can imagine, when you know that this is the [00:01:00] situation, you begin to realize, what do I wanna say before the cross happens?
And he knows the cross is coming and he uses these final moments with his disciples in some powerful ways, and we're gonna explore what he does next immediately after Judas has left. We find this happening in John 13 verse 31. As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said the time has come for the son of man to enter into his glory and God will be glorified because of him.
And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will give his own glory to the Son and he will do so at once. Now again, as we saw last week, the timing of when Jesus says things and how Jesus does things is significant. So here we have Judas, leaves the room, sets the cross up in motion, and then Jesus says, now is the [00:02:00] time for me to enter into my glory.
Now, this is not what most of us associate with the glory of Jesus. We tend to associate glory after the resurrection. We assume after Jesus has risen, then he has entered into His glory. That's not the way Jesus sets it up here, that Jesus seems to associate his glory with the cross, and so as Judas puts the cross into motion, that's when Jesus says, now's the time to enter into my glory.
Now the resurrection is God's vindication of this as glory, that the cross was indeed a moment of glory. The resurrection proves that, but the resurrection isn't the glory itself. There's something about the cross that Jesus saw uniquely revealing the glory of God. Verse 33, he says, dear children, I will be with you only a [00:03:00] little longer.
And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can't come where I am going. So now I'm giving you a new commandment. You can imagine them wondering what on earth is coming here. He says, love each other just as I have loved you. You should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
Now, this is powerful here and I think we often. Overlook the significance of what Jesus is saying. Now, I would assume most of us are familiar with the golden rule, the idea to do to others as you would want them to do to you. This is something you see with Jesus and this was an increase on what had already been.
They would often view this in the negative, don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you. And Jesus says, Hey, we're gonna go beyond that. We're going to proactively do to others. What we want [00:04:00] them to do to us. And indeed this would make the world a better place if we all lived by the golden rule.
For sure, the world would be better. But notice here, that's not what Jesus is saying. When he has a new command to give them, he says something different. Now, this has been referred to as the platinum rule because it goes beyond the golden rule here. Jesus says, I want you to love others. As I have loved you, not just treat others the way you want to be treated.
No, no, no love people the way I have loved you. It takes it up a notch even more, and if the golden rule would make everything better, the platinum rule would change the world forever if we were to love people. The way that Jesus has loved us, we would fundamentally change society as we know it. And this is the new command, [00:05:00] the new instruction that Jesus gives them.
He ups the ante by reminding them of all that he has done for them and saying, go and do accordingly. What you have seen me do to you. I want you to go love people that way. Verse 36. Simon Peter asked, Lord, where are you going? And Jesus replied, you can't go with me now, but you will follow me later. But why can't I come now Lord?
He asked, I'm ready to die for you. And Jesus answered, die for me. I tell you the truth. Peter, before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me. Now this is going to play out, but Peter has the right motives and the wrong theology, right? He's got the right motives.
He's got good heart here, but he's got the wrong theology. He expects Jesus to be the Messiah by force, and he is [00:06:00] willing to join Jesus in this. He's willing to die if it comes to that. For Jesus to take his Messiah, roll by force. But that's not what Jesus has in mind. As Greg Boyd has written like most Jews of his time, Peter believed that the Messiah would be a military leader who would not suffer, but rather would vanquish his enemies.
It also explains why Peter appeared so courageous when Jesus was performing miracles. But became cowardly after Jesus's arrest. His false expectations of what Jesus was going to accomplish were shattered, and that is what we see happening here. We might say that Peter is about to go on a deconstruction journey.
I mean, this is like thousands of years before we use that phrase, right? But that's what Peter's gonna go on. He is about to have [00:07:00] his whole theology, his whole worldview, all of his ideology is going to go through deconstruction. And if you have ever been on a deconstruction journey, you know that this is not necessarily going to be fun for Peter.
This is going to be hard, but Peter's faith will survive, but not before it completely collapses first, and this is often what we find on these deconstruction journeys. Now, I want to close with something that Jesus says here that, again, is so simple and so obvious in one level, and yet it is desperately missing from our world today.
Verse 35. Jesus says this, your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. Such a simple idea. And yet notice the standard that Jesus sets up your love. For one another. [00:08:00] Now, this is in the context of the platinum rule that we would love as Jesus has loved us, we have been given a model in which to follow, and Jesus says, now you are to love everyone else like that, which means my friends, it's not the theology, it's not the size of our church.
It's not how much we pray or read our Bible or seeing some worship songs. It is only the way that we love that proves that we are disciples of Jesus. Jesus goes, yeah, you want to be my real followers. It's not gonna be taking something by force. It's not gonna be your willingness to die. No, it's gonna be, are you willing to love others the way that I have loved you, which is a great reminder for us today when Christianity gets attached to all sorts of things.
Look nothing like Jesus, that [00:09:00] we are to be the people of love. See, Peter is willing to be a disciple through boldness, through his courage, and through his willingness to die. But all of that is gonna fail him once he realizes that this route that Jesus has picked is gonna be a route of suffering.
This is not going to be something, some display of force in the way that Peter is imagining, and he's gonna have to learn that being a disciple of Jesus is ultimately about choosing to love others the way that we have been loved. So the question for you and I today is, are we disciples of Jesus? Not because we say the right things or believe the right things or attend the right church.
But because we love others the way that Jesus has loved us. I'll see you next week on Rebuilding Faith.
