He loves us unto the end
Easter or Holy week is upon us, and I am meditating on the Love God has given to the Church, and us in specific. From the gospel of John, the beloved we read John 13:1-5 Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
John by virtue of being with Jesus for three plus years was keenly aware of the love Jesus shared with His disciples. Contrasting this, our world shows precious little of the true. Of course, there is the self-centered what can you do for me type, but true, selfless I love you for who you are Love is rare. In fact, Jesus used the marker of Love – by this shall all men know you are my disciples, that ye have Love one toward another – as proof of genuineness of our Christianity. Peter wrote of this unfeigned love in 1 Peter 1:22
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: This love of the disciple was not to be an act, feigned, or offered half-heartedly, or with any motive other than a pure heart. Jesus gave us a great example – he loved them unto the end. First, we should look at what Jesus was going through- he was in the passion week. His last week before the cross. Much would transpire, and much had already occurred. The Herodians, Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees had all tried to trap Jesus in his teachings. Each group had their motives for discrediting Him. Much of the citizenry followed Jesus because of the authority and power of His teachings. Jesus’s popularity with the common people threatened the religious teachers losing their flock. Increasingly Jesus faced open hostility from wise gifted teachers trying to catch Him in his words and thereby condemn Him as a Heretic. As the opposition grew stronger, Jesus still focused on the band of followers and …..loved them to the end.
There was no point in the passion week where Jesus stopped loving his disciples. Though he was just days from the cross, he continued to invest in teaching them, pouring His Love into them right to the end. He taught at the Temple just one week prior to Calvary. He left the Temple and shared three parables of faithfulness with his followers. From there he spent time in fellowship at the last supper and then the Garden of Gethsemane praying for the last time together. When Judas betrayed him, he chose to refrain from condemnation and kissed his friend while admonishing the remainder to orderly submit to the will of the court rather than resist.
As his disciples scattered for fear, Jesus’ love did not stop. In spite of only two of the many disciples following to the judgement hall, he loved them to the end. Peter followed afar, and another known to the high priest assembled in the courtyard without, the remainder left disillusioned and distraught – but Jesus loved them until the end. After two trials, a disfiguring scourging, a crown of thorns plaited and pressed into his brow, a public inquiry as to what to do with the King of the Jews, a public rejection by the masses in favor of a seditious murderer – He loved them to the end. Amidst thousands of his countrymen crying crucify him, crucify him, he loved them until the end. There were no curses or judgmental words spoken as he carried his own cross to the hill called Golgotha. He loved them until the end. Once there at the spot that permanently changed the world for good, as Roman soldiers mocked him, stripped him of the last dignity he had in parting his clothing and casting lots for His mantle – he loved them to the end, stating Father forgive them, they know not what they do. In his last recorded actions, He told the dying thief next to him, I forgive you, this day you will be with me in paradise and enjoined the disciple whom He loved to care for his own mother – he loved them to the end.
When He gave up His spirit, most would have said that that was the last that Jesus could have loved, no breathe, no more love. His disciples withdrew, trying to reconcile His life, the hope imparted to them, and now the confusion his death brought. Though Jesus had tried to tell them he would not always be with them, that he would be betrayed, condemned and crucified, they comprehended it not. At this point Jesus was lost to them, His love over, and He loved them to the end.
If this were the final end, Jesus’ life would still be the greatest story ever told. Love so amazing that an entire region of the world saw true light. Life would still go on in Judea, and life still would have been impacted and changed by knowing Jesus for that short period of time. But the end John the beloved wrote about – loving them until the end – did not end at Calvary, it merely went hiding from our eyes for three days in a grave.
On the third day an angel rolled the stone from the opening of the grave, revealing an empty tomb, and grave clothes that had formerly wrapped the body of Jesus. Love that loved in the dimension of life in one man, was now alive in the spiritual dimension to empower all men, all women, all children, of every tribe and nation, every race, every color with a love that loves to the end. The resurrection of Jesus became the rally of hope to those first believers and to us who live today. His Love is still alive, his love still changes lives, and He still loves us unto the end.
What a great hope we have that he still loves us to the end. Perhaps you have questioned what God could possibly find in your existence that is worthy of His attention. David did so n Psalms 8:4
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
The answer God gave to David was he was created a little bit lower than the angels. Truth is, God values us much more than we recognize. He loves us enough to give us exceeding great and precious promises. He daily loads us with benefits. He empowers us with his power – greater is he who is in you, than he that is in the world. The greatest promise and Blessing God can place over our life is – he will Love you unto the end. You will not be able to go far enough, fall hard enough, fail bad enough or become untracked that He will not Love you to the end.
Be encouraged all who are prospering , struggling, fighting a good or not so good fight, weary worn and battle fatigued, or any other besieged child of God because he loves you unto the end.
Jesus last earthly words recorded in Matthew state two comforting thoughts. All power is given unto me in heaven and earth – nothing is outside of God’s power, he can set all things right; and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the earth – He will be with us in everything we endure in life. Having loved to the end, we can truly say Jesus’ love is still as real, as ever-present, and life changing today as it was to those He ministered to in Judea and Jerusalem two millenniums ago.
May the Love of Jesus be with you and be an ever present strength to your spiritual life in this Easter season!
Pastor Tibbs