Jesus wasn't updating an old rule with a minor revision — this commandment was a completely different quality of love, modeled after his own sacrificial love rather than the older standard of loving your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus isn't asking his followers to feel warmly toward each other — he's calling them to make a daily decision to lay down their own needs for someone else, the same way he was about to lay down his life for them.

The love Jesus showed — sacrificial, unconditional, all the way to the cross — is not just the inspiration for how we love others, it's the exact standard we're called to match.

Jesus isn't suggesting love as a good idea — he's officially placing it into their hands as a binding gift they are now responsible to carry.