Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
Ernest Hemingway was famous for spare, to the point writing that trimmed the fat with few words. Hemingway would have appreciated these words of John. In fact, if you break down this verse, you will see the history of God’s love for his people in one sentence. That is hard to do and takes great skill but look at what the Passover represents. At the first Passover in Exodus, a spotless lamb was examined and sacrificed so death would pass over God’s people, that is if they applied the blood of the lamb to the doorpost. God came to earth as Jesus to be the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. The time had come for the Last Supper, the last Passover before the New Covenant was instituted. This was all because Jesus loved the world to the end.
Death could not hold him, however, and that is where we come in. He loved his own who were in the world and continues to love his own who ARE in the world. That is all who believe in him.
Come to Cape Community Church tomorrow to see just how much Peter, the subject of our series, misunderstood how Jesus was a suffering servant and calls us to be the same. All the books in the world could not contain all Jesus said and did but the cross tells us the important part. He expressed his love with three short words…
It is finished.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church