^ A. Maelaren. ,
3
4 THE LOVE OF JESUS FOR HIS OWN
understand nothing. All that Jesis did and was, was the fruit of love. He had loved His own which were in the world, and now He loves them unto the end. A Latin proverb says that the end crowns the work. When the Saviour said on the Cross, " It is finished," His end of sacrifice was the carrying forward and culmination of all His grace. This supreme act is the summit and crown of all His love.
L
Love the Explanation.
St. John, looking back reflectively, sees that only love explains
all that Jesus did that night. He remembers how the disciples,
as they came to the Upper Room, were heated with false
ambitions, and were squabbling about precedence, so angry with
and jealous of each other that none of them would " perform the
usual office of taking off each other's sandals and washing the
feet. There had arisen a contention which of them would be
accounted greatest, and no one would lower his pretensions by
undertaking a menial task and so confess himself the servant of
all. It was in a temper of self-assertion and in a mood of
resentment that they entered the Upper Eoom. How can they
listen to all the deep things of the Spirit which their Master
desires to tell them so long as such passions are in tlieir hearts ?
That Jesus should humble Himself to teach them the lesson He
did must have brought a bitter humiliation to them. To St.
John it was a proof of enduring love, far more remarkable on
looking back on it than it could have been at the time. For the
shadow of the Cross was on Christ's heart, the betrayal, the
desolation, the trial, the crucifixion, the crisis of His whole cause
and Kingdom. The Apostle sees on looking back that only
perfect love could have done what Jesus did then, as He turned
from His own thoughts and bent to the menial task. He had
loved them — that was plain, — and nothing had tired out that
love, not their folly or thoughtlessness or selfishness. He came
to minister, to serve, and He went on serving unto the end.
Their childish pettiness on this occasion only gave a gentler pity
to His love and a sweeter and more patient tone to His speech.
He does not give up loving because He sees they are so unworthy
ST. JOHN XIII. I 5
of His love. The shadow of tlieir unloveliness only throws into keener brilliance the light of His love.
^ How many kinds, measures, and tones of meaning are comprehended in this word " Love " ! So it is in common language, and even when one specific use of it has been excluded. So it is in Scripture. There is a difference in the love of God as God, of Jesus Christ as Saviour, of our friends and relations, of our neighbours, of our enemies, of our people, uf our kind. It is all love, but with what various combinations of idea and measures of feeling ! So on the Divine side. The Father loved the Son ; God loved the world; Jesus loved His own (in that common character); He loved them as individuals; He "loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus," and there was one disciple " whom Jesus loved." We are all sensible of the differences of impression conveyed in these connexions, though it woidd be vain to attempt to describe them.^
1. Its Manifestation. — It is love that makes the man, builds the character, saves the city, and redeems the world. It is love that is the strongest and most potent motive of all in the action and speech of Jesus Christ. And here it is central to St. John's statement, for Jesus "having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end." It is the key to all that follows right to the end of the section, which closes with the seventeenth chapter. That love is here, not as a lane of light going through these speeches, but as the sun in his full midday glory shining over the whole of the acts of Jesus Christ, and through the words that come from His lips. It is in love that He washes His disciples' feet, as though He were the menial and they the master, so that He may impress upon their minds the sublimity of lowly service, of humble ministry for the salvation of the world. It is love that speaks out to this little band gathered at this Supper, and says, " The one badge which you are always to wear, by which you are always to be recognized everywhere, is love to one another." It is love that says. Do not let your heart be troubled ; believe in God ; believe in Me ; believe in heaven; believe in the infinite power of the Spirit. It is love that tells upon these disciples, and binds them in love to Him, and makes them one with Him as the branch with the Vine. It is love that assures these followers of His, that though
^ T. D. Bernard, The Centred Teaching of Jeaus Christ, 35.
6 THE LOVE OF JESUS FOR HIS OWN
He will soon be received out of their sight, and they will no longer be able to grasp His hand, still another Comforter will come and be with them, and lead them into the sphere of all truth. And it is love that breathes out the great intercessory prayer, that these disciples may be kept from the evil of the world, and enabled to realize their unity with Him and with the Father; " Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end," to the last, to the uttermost, till everything was finished. And at once He proceeded to wash their feet that He might show the reality and the quality of His love.