Day 30. Three/fourths of the way to Resurrection! Today is a peek into the final verses of John 13. When I read it this morning it occurred to me that Jesus was still protecting His disciples, even though it was only hours before He would be crucified.
Once Judas left the room, the irreversible path to the cross was set in motion. Jesus' response was to inform His disciples gently, with words that they would later recall and find comfort in, able to realize after the fact that the kingdom the Messiah came to rule was not of this world.
But in that moment, even though He spoke the words He did, they still couldn't grasp what He was saying. They had just experienced the adulation of Palm Sunday a few days before. They still believed He was going to make His move and become the King their perception of Messiah entailed. And - they had had a few glasses of wine during their celebration.... Their ears might have heard the tones of His voice, and their brains might have tried to wrap around what He was saying, but they didn't get it.
"Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, 'Where I am going you cannot come.' A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (ESV)
God will glorify him at once.... God was glorified in Jesus' death on the cross.... For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.... And it was going to happen very shortly...at once. For this He came....
I love the tenderness of His heart as He draws them under His wings for the last moment of peace they would experience.... Little children.... What comes quickly to mind is the image Jesus provided when He stood looking out over Jerusalem, longing to draw them under the protection of His Almighty wings, as a hen draws her chicks under her wings for protection.
'Where I am going you cannot come.' Cannot - and wouldn't want to.... Other people were crucified, but no one else had to bear the weight of the sin of the entire world in the process. There is no other name under heaven by which men can be, must be or will be saved.... Jesus paid the price for everyone who would accept His sacrifice. The other part of cannot, of course, was the timing. It was not yet their time. It was His.
And then He gave them a new commandment. It was a commandment to love to the same degree He was going to model. To love so deeply we would be willing to die for others. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. That is a love we cannot do on our own. It is agape love that comes straight from God's heart through ours...through the power of the Holy Spirit.... But they didn't know all of that yet....
By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. There is a demonstration of Christian love that sets itself apart. It is love for one's enemies. The law of Christian love is to love freely. "Freely you have received. Freely give." It is a law of love that demands we hate sin but love the sinner. It is a law of love that constrains us to hold others in higher esteem than we hold ourselves. It is a law of love that places us perpetually in the role of servant, serving others' interests above our own. It is impossible without the infusion of the Holy Spirit and a daily dose of God's grace....
John was all about focusing on the incredible love of God.... Within hours, in John's account, love will be painfully powerfully perfectly poured out.
The final verses of John 13 record Jesus' prophecy of Peter's denial. Peter latched right onto Jesus' statement that He was going somewhere.... "Where are you going?" Peter asked. Jesus tells Peter that where He is going Peter cannot follow, but will follow later. Peter's proclamation of total dedication, even his proclaimed willingness to lay his life down for Jesus, elicits Jesus' responding to Peter, "Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times."
That had to hurt! It was already late at night. The rooster would be crowing in less than 8 hours. What on earth could Jesus mean? Peter would soon find out....and one of the huge lessons he would learn in the process is the extent and expanse of Jesus' love and forgiveness.... I have to telegraph that. I don't want to leave Peter feeling hopeless....
Jesus knew Peter - knew his weakness, and loved Him anyway. It comforts me to know that God knows me completely. He is El Roi, the God-who-sees-me. He knows my heart. He also knows my human frailty and my weaknesses. And He loves me anyway! And He loves you!
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