Gentle Reminders
Jesus Loves Us to the End
Right before Jesus went to the cross, allowing Himself to be tortured, humiliated, betrayed, spat upon, and killed on that cross, He had supper with His disciples. The ones He had called to follow Him. The ones who loved Him and His teachings. The ones who had walked with Him as He healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, rebuked the Pharisees, made the lame to walk and the deaf to hear, walked on water, fed the multitudes with five loaves and two fish. The One they believed to be the Promised Messiah, because He absolutely was the Promised Messiah and still is and will always be the Savior.
Jesus knew His hour had come. He knew Judas was about to betray Him. He knew Simon Peter, well intentioned as he might be, was going to reject Him three times before the rooster crowed. He knew He was about to become so troubled in the Garden of Gethsemane that He would sweat blood. He knew He was about to be arrested and led to the cross. Yet He ate supper with His disciples. And then, He did the strangest thing…He washed His disciples’ feet.
I love Simon Peter, because He reacted in the same way I would have reacted. He shook his head and declared, “Never shall You wash my feet” (Jn. 13:8). Peter didn’t understand why the Messiah, God’s Beloved Son, should wash his feet, a lowly fisherman–a man of little faith. Peter knew he was standing in the presence of the Almighty. The Perfect One who deserved kingly robes and a crown of the finest gems was dressed in plain clothing and dirty sandals and was actually stooping down like a servant to wash the feet of those He loved so dearly. “No way!” Peter exclaimed.
“No way!” I exclaim when Jesus does anything that seems strange and unexpected. But Jesus replies to me how He replied to Peter: “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter” (13:7). It’s often that way for us, isn’t it? Jesus does the unexpected, leads us down blurry paths. We don’t understand. We ask why? We want to know where we’re going. What is Your plan in this, Lord? What are You doing? But we must follow. We must trust. We must cease striving and allow God to light the path little by little, step by step, day by day, hour by hour, prayer by sweet prayer. When we do this, we find ourselves one day, so suddenly, looking back on the journey, finally realizing all we have learned, all that the Lord has taught us. We look back and see a string of prayers perfectly answered by the perfect Savior. We see why our story needed to be written in the way that it was, even though that chapter was sprinkled with sorrow, even though that valley was endured and that tough mountain climbed. We remember the storm and smile because of faith refined and strength renewed and heart washed white as snow, because Jesus was our calm during the storm and was all the while promising spring after winter and incomparable joy that far outweighs the past heartaches.
It is often in the hereafters that we look back with understanding. And even when not every question is answered, we look back with contentment, knowing that we don’t need all the answers because God is on His throne and is All-Sufficient and loves us with a perfect love.
That’s what it means when it says in John 13:1, “…having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” He loved them to perfection, to completion. Before the creation was created by the Creator, He loved you. When sin entered the world and tainted all hearts, He loved you. When God made Himself lower than the angels and became flesh and dwelt among us, He loved you. When Jesus walked the earth and taught and healed and performed miracles, He loved you. When He sweat blood, knowing His hour had come, He loved you. When His hands and feet were nailed to that cross and He took on your sin and my sin and He took His last breath, forsaken by His own Father, He loved you. And when He rose from the grave, conquering death once and for all, He loved you.
And He still loves you.
Remember that and cling to His love when He leads you on unexpected paths and whispers, “Trust Me.” Because even if you never understand why this or that happened, He will give you the understanding that He is good in all circumstances and greater than all circumstances. He will turn winter into spring and will be your spring in the winters. He will love you to the end.
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear…” (I John 4:18). Christ’s perfect love will obliterate the fears in your life as you learn to walk by faith and not by sight.
How deep the Father’s love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory…
Up Next: “IT IS FINISHED”
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