The Love of Jesus
Love is doing what's spiritually best for others, regardless of what it costs, whether or not they deserve it!
Many of us have heard the song Jesus loves me, but we use the word love to describe all kinds of things. We might say we love chocolate, we love to watch a movie or we love God. Surely we don't have the same feelings for God that we do for chocolate. What does the word love mean? When we say that Jesus loves us, when we look into the Bible, we find a very specific meaning for the kind of love that Jesus has for people. Love is doing what's spiritually best for others, regardless of what it costs, whether or not they deserve it!
When we study the life of Jesus we find that He loved every single person that He came in contact with, and we see this love demonstrated over and over.
First we should ask why did Jesus come to the earth at all? You know, before he came to earth, he lived in heaven with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and all the holy angels who worshiped Him. He didn't have a human body that got tired, or felt pain. Why would He leave Heaven and come to earth? Just before Jesus’s death, He gathered the Apostles together and said to them “as the Father loved me I also have loved you” (Jn 15:9). After expressing His love for His followers He said “greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). Jesus knew that the only way for anyone to be saved from their sins was for Him to die, and because He loved the sinful world, He wanted to provide a way for all of us to be saved. It was spiritually best for the world for Jesus to die, but it would cost Jesus his life, and the sinful world didn't deserve His sacrifice, but since love does what's spiritually best for others, regardless of what it costs, whether they deserve it or not; “While we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).
You see the story of Jesus is the greatest love story that's ever been told and when we think about Jesus’s love we often think about what he was willing to give up for us. We sometimes forget the part of the definition of love that says “it does what's spiritually best for others”, because Jesus loves all people. He often has to show people, and He did during the time that He had His ministry here on earth, what they needed to do to get right with God even when He knew they'd be offended or saddened, or ignore and disobey His words. In Mark 10 we read about a young man who asked Jesus what he needed to do to go to heaven? The Bible then states Jesus looking at him loved him. Now let's think about something! Many people today have an incorrect view that love is just accepting people without trying to change who they are or what they do. It may sound very loving but there's a real problem with it! If people are involved in something that goes against what God says, it can never be spiritually best for them to ignore their sin. When Jesus looked at the man, He loved him and because He loved him, Jesus told the man that he needed to sell everything and follow Jesus. The man became sad and he left Jesus, but we see Jesus loved the man enough to tell him what he needed to do to get right with God.
Real love does what's spiritually best for others, and we also learn that love serves others.
In Luke 22 we read that the disciples argued among themselves about which one of them was the greatest. Jesus told them that really great people, truly great people, are those who serve others. He explained that even though he is the Son of God he said “yet I am among you as the one who serves” (Lk 22:27). And then we see one of the greatest examples of Jesus being willing to humble himself and serve others occurred on the night that he was betrayed at the Last Supper. There wasn't a servant to wash the feet of Jesus or his disciples. You see because foot washing was viewed as the kind of job that only the lowest slave would do, the disciples thought that nobody important would stoop so low as to wash feet. Jesus however wanted his disciples to know that true love serves. When it became clear that none of the apostles were willing to wash feet, Jesus rose from supper, laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet. Try to imagine what was going on; Jesus is the Son of God, before He came to earth, He was in heaven surrounded by adoring angels, clothed in awesome glory, and He gave all that up to save the world. Yet the very people Jesus came to save wouldn't even wash His feet, so being the loving Saviour that He is, Jesus put on a towel and washed The dirty sweaty smelly feet of His sinful disciples. He did it to show them what true love looks like. Do you think they ever forgot that lesson of Jesus 's love?
You know another aspect of the love of Jesus is that Jesus loves everyone. It's easy to love people who are lovable. We love people who are nice to us, or generous, or kind. But when we look at Jesus example of love we find that He loved everyone not just the lovable people.
He loved the lepers when others despised them.
He loved the children who the adults often ignored.
He loved the tax collectors who the Jews thought were traitors.
He loved the Pharisees who were self-righteous.
He loved the thief on the cross, and he even loved his enemies, the ones who crucified Him.
Jesus loves all people regardless of their skin colour, their age, their gender, their nationality, how smart they are or how much money they have.
Jesus gave his life for everyone. Compare Jesus to any other person in history. Before He came to earth He had more honor and glory than any other person could possibly imagine, yet Jesus loved the world so much He gave all that up to die a cruel death on the cross. While Jesus walked the earth He loved all people regardless of their status and He was willing to humble himself to do the lowliest jobs to prove that love serves.
He gave up more, put up with more, endured more, and suffered more than any person in all history. Why would Jesus do that? Because Jesus loves you and He loves me. That’s the Jesus we are asking you to love back.
In John 14:15 Jesus says “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”. How do we do that? We are asked by Jesus to Believe in Him (Jn 8:24); to repent of our sins (Lk 13:3); to confess His name (Matt 10:32); and to be baptized (Mark 16:16).
It was Love that kept Jesus on the cross, and He stayed there for you and me. Can you not Love Him back?