Loving To The End

 

 

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” John 13:1.

 

What does it mean that Jesus “loved them to the end”? It could mean that He loved them to the end of His life on earth. But would that mean He loved them up until the Crucifixion, or that He loved them up until the Ascension? In either case, He certainly continues to love them as the Resurrected Christ. So it could mean that He loved them up until the end of the first part of His ministry, up until the Crucifixion; or up until the Ascension.

 

Could it mean that He loved them up until the completion of His work on earth? If that is the case, then He still continues to love them up until the consummation of all of His work on earth, in and through His Body, the Church, and beyond…whatever “beyond” may mean. In other words, “end” may be chronological or it may refer to “goal” and “purpose.”

 

Or, of course, we may be looking at both meanings, at two sides of the same coin; and I think that is likely the case – after all, who can understand the fulness of the ways of God?

 

So here we are, in the Upper Room with Jesus on the night of His betrayal, on the eve of His Crucifixion, and what is Jesus doing? He is loving His own and He is loving them to the end – an end that extends beyond the Upper Room down through the ages as well as beyond the Upper Room in terms of spatial and dimensional transcendence. After all, He will soon enter into the Heavenly Tabernacle on our behalf (Hebrews 9:23 – 25), as He will enter into His People (John 14:23; 17:23).

 

As He is loving His own, He is praying for His own:

 

“I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given me; for they are Yours…I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word…” (John 17:9, 20).

 

You see, dear friends, Jesus is loving and praying for us, He is loving and praying for you and for me. We are the “joy that was set before Him” that caused Him to “endure the Cross and despise the shame” (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus had us as the “end” in view, in His heart, in His “being” on that night in the Upper Room.

 

But now we have the question, “Are we loving others to the end?”

 

After all, Jesus tells us, He tells me and He tells you, He tells His People:

 

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34 – 35).

 

Then He says, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15:12 – 14).

 

Is not the end purpose of our lives to love others as Christ Jesus loves us? And are we not to love in this sacrificial fashion until the end of this physical life?

 

May it be said of us all who are in Christ, when we have breathed our last in this world, that we have loved others until the end.

 

Our God has given us others to love; in our families, churches, workplaces, schools, communities – some will love us back, some will not; some will be kind to us, others will not; some will scatter when betrayals come, perhaps some will not.

 

What will be said of us?

 

Will it be said that we have been faithful to our heavenly calling, and loved others until the end?

 

O heavenly Father, dear Lord Jesus, teach us to love others to the end of life and for the end purpose and destiny that You have for us all – may it be said of us, that we love others as Jesus loves us…until the end.