When Jesus knew that his hour had come… he loved them to the end (John 13:1).
The gospels are not only filled with actions and with history—they are also filled with romance. The romance of Jesus’ love for his Church.
We all want a passionate romance with the kind of person that will love you even when you wake up in the morning with bad breath or no makeup; even if you have an accident and become physically disfigured; even when you get old and forgetful; even when this person finds out how faulty and misfit you really are. This is who Christ is for you!
Jesus did not back down; he went forward. He loved you to the end.
If Jesus did not back down or forsake you at the cross, he never will. John emphasizes that Jesus “knew that his hour had come”; he knew the betrayal and mocking and scourging and thorns and crucifixion and forsaking by his Father that he would have to endure in order to save us from our sins. And yet Jesus did not back down; he went forward. He loved you to the end.
If Jesus did not give up on you then—and on the enterprise of saving you from your sins—you can rest assured that Jesus will not fail you now or in the future.
Jesus’ love goes forever in both directions.
There is nothing you will face, that He will not see you through. This love goes forever in both directions. “Having loved his own” from before the beginning of the world, Jesus will not stop loving them even a thousand years from now.