This is day late but I wanted to post it anyway as part of my chain of reflection
this 2016 Holy Week.
John gives the most complete – and discordant – picture of the final hours in the Upper Room. John 13 , a part of which formed the basis for Wednesday’s words, includes this:
“Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him.” (13:1-2a)
Loved them to the end. Can you imagine? The betrayal and abandonment that Jesus mentions in yesterday’s reading is on his mind. Doubtless his heart was nearly broken before the agony to come by the agony of denial and defection.
Yet we learn “he loved them to the end.” These ones who gathered to remember and re-experience Israel’s great deliverance and God’s covenant faithfulness proved faithless themselves. But he loved them.
On the eve of Good Friday it is well to remember that this Jesus loves to the end. When our faith ends, his love is still there. When our love turns cold it remains. When our own lives draw to a close and the shadows encroach? He loves us still. When we reach our end – Jesus’ love endures.
That love gives meaning to everything. Praise God!