God’s Love For You
It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in this world, he now showed them the full extent of his love John 13:1
‘It was just before the Passover Feast.’ When the gospel’s author, John, mentions a Jewish festival, he wants us to see that Jesus is applying it to Himself. Passover has been the greatest festival throughout John’s account of Jesus’ life. It was Passover when Jesus cleansed the physical temple but then spoke of the new temple of His own body being destroyed and rebuilt (2:19-21). He fed the crowds at Passover and spoke of them feeding on His body and blood (chapter 6). Now He is back in Jerusalem for the final Passover.
‘Jesus knew that the time had come.’ In the earlier part of John’s gospel we are told events did not happen ‘because his hour had not yet come’ (2:4; 7:30; 8:20). But in 12:23 and thereafter (12:27; 13:1; 16:32; 17:1) John writes ‘the hour has come.’
‘Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.’ This is not just the hour for Jesus to die though that is part of what it means. We sometimes glibly say Jesus died and went to heaven. John is quite clear about the order of events (20:17). Jesus was first raised to new life, then met with His disciples and only then left this world to rejoin His Father.
‘Having loved his own who were in this world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.’ In John 10, Jesus had described how the shepherd loves His own sheep and how they love Him in return, and how the greatest thing the shepherd can do is lay down his life for them (10:11,15).
John’s literal ‘He loved them to the end’ can be understood two ways. Firstly, as here in the NIV, He loved them to the uttermost, as fully as someone can love others; or secondly, He loved them right to the very end of His life. This second way means His love for them never failed. It persisted to the very last breath Jesus breathed. Because both are true we won’t ever know which way John was thinking.
Do you think much about God’s love for you? While it’s true, in the words of the song that “I’ll never know how much it cost, to see my sin upon that cross,” this should never stop us reflecting on the love of God displayed through the cross. If you’re ever tempted to doubt God’s love, go back to the cross. Think about Jesus willingly taking on Himself the physical, emotional and spiritual pain of your sin. Here is the pure, holy, undefiled Son of God becoming sin for you, being separated from His eternal Father, dying the ghastly and atrocious death you deserved and all to bring you to the Father as a washed and cleansed son or daughter, wonderfully adopted into His new family. The simple ‘God loves you’ takes on a whole new dimension, doesn’t it?
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