JESUS LOVES YOU TO THE END.
When Judas brought soldiers with lamps and torches and weapons to arrest Jesus in the garden, He did not hide, but offered Himself up to them so that He would not loose even one of those the Father gave Him. JESUS LOVED YOU TO THE END.
When the soldiers brought Jesus to Annas; when the soldier struck Him; when Peter denied Him three times and the cock crowed; when those He came to save rejected Him, He did not turn away to save Himself. JESUS LOVED YOU TO THE END.
When they handed Jesus over to Pilate because it was not lawful for them to put Him to death; when the chief priests demanded His death though Pilate found no fault in Him; when the people cried out “Not this man, but Barabbas,” He could have called the servants of His kingdom down to fight on His behalf, but instead He gave Himself over so that He might bear witness to the truth of our sin. JESUS LOVED YOU TO THE END.
When Pilate handed Jesus over to be flogged; when the Romans scourged Him; when they pressed a crown of thorns into His brow; when they arrayed Him in royal purple and beat Him with their fists, He did not resist, but bore the blows that you rightly deserve. JESUS LOVED YOU TO THE END.
When Pilate paraded Jesus before the people humiliated, battered, and bloody; when Pilate proclaimed, “Behold the man”; When the chief priests and the officers cried out “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”; when they rejected Jesus – their one true King – and declared, “We have no king but Caesar,” He bore the humiliation that you rightly deserve. JESUS LOVED YOU TO THE END.
When soldiers nailed Jesus to the cross; when they cast lots for His clothes; when He said “It is finished” and gave up His Spirit and died; when the soldier pierced Him in the side, He died the death that you rightly deserve. JESUS LOVED YOU TO THE END.
Jesus was betrayed, denied, rejected, and abandoned. We all share the guilt; we all share the shame. But Jesus did not betray you; Jesus did not deny you; Jesus did not reject you; and Jesus has never abandoned you. Jesus handed Himself over; Jesus gave Himself up to humiliation, suffering, and death in your stead. JESUS LOVED YOU TO THE END.
On the night in which He was betrayed – knowing the ordeal and death that was coming to Him – our Lord and Savior said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
When Jesus was betrayed and arrested, JESUS LOVED YOU!
When Jesus was denied and rejected, JESUS LOVED YOU!
When Jesus was humiliated, scourged, and beaten, JESUS LOVED YOU!
When Jesus was nailed to the cross and when He died, JESUS LOVED YOU!
JESUS LOVED YOU TO THE END! Amen.
