Complete love

John 19:26 – When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

What a journey for Mary, from miraculous birth to excruciating death, she had watched her son with joy and wonder, heartache and mourning. He saw her, in those final moments and gave her into the keeping of John, ‘having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end’ (John13). It was love that brought him from heaven, it was love that guided his ministry and it was love that took him to Golgotha. At his most agonizing time, his thoughts were not on himself but on those whom he loved. Jesus’ love is full and without end; it is the kind of love that he wants each one of us to carry.

“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… As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”

There is no mistaking or denying that love is the central component to everything. The love that Jesus gave was a reflection of the Father’s divine love for all creation. The love we give to others tends to be a reflection of what we’ve received from them, when it should actually be a reflection of the Lord Jesus and the love we have received from God the Father. This can only happen if we abide-dwell-remain in his love. He is pure love and if we remain in Him then His love will continually flow down through us and spread to everyone around us.

On this Friday, we remember the complete and unconditional love of the Lord Jesus Christ as he gave his own life as the final sacrifice for all our sin.

And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, cried… “It is finished – Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.