He Loved Them to the End

What would you do if you knew you were going to die tomorrow afternoon?

What did Jesus do?

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”

This scene in the thirteenth chapter of John has always been a powerful one to me. Jesus doesn’t rush about in His final hours trying to tie up loose ends. He doesn’t go off by Himself to watch the sunset. He does what He spent His life doing.

He loves.

And this passage shows us the depth of that love.

In verse two, John tells us that Judas Iscariot has determined in his heart to betray Jesus. From verse three, we understand Jesus knew this. “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands...” Jesus knew who were His and who were not.

With this knowledge, Jesus rises from the table and girds Himself. He ties around his waist the towel He will use to wipe the feet of His disciples.

But there is also the sense here of Him preparing Himself for what He is about to do. The way we might pull up our pants and tighten our belt before setting about a task.

Jesus is preparing to wash the feet of His betrayer.

Can you imagine the anguish He felt when He looked into the face of this one whom He had lived with and loved, and died to save?

This scene is powerful to me because when I picture it, I don’t see the face of Judas.

I see mine.

I feel the gentle touch of my Savior’s hands as He washes my feet. I see the power and pain of the Cross.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2Cor 9:15)

Now here is where the cheese gets binding, Beloved.

If Christ served Judas, a man He knew was lost to Him for all eternity, how much more should we, the ambassadors of Christ, serve those whose eternal state is unknown to us?

Let’s decide this week to slow down. To observe the people around us, at work, in the grocery store, standing in line at the DMV. Maybe we’re not ready to ‘wash their feet.’ But we can pray for them.

And if the Holy Spirit prompts us to do more, by God’s grace, may we obey.

Shalom,

Photo Credit: @pluskcreative on unsplash.com

AI Disclaimer: No part of this blog was written by bots. Every word, typo, grammatical error, and witticism is lovingly and/or accidentally crafted by my own two (very human) hands.