December 30

“Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” John xiii. I.

fact is essentially a promise; for
what our Lord was he is, and what he
was to those with whom he lived on
earth, he will be to all his beloved so long as
the moon endureth.

“Having loved:” here was the wonder! That he should ever have loved men at all is the marvel. What was there in his poor disciples that he should love them? What is there in me?

But when he has once begun to love, it is his nature to continue to do so. Love made the saints “his own” — what a choice title! He purchased them with blood and they be came his treasure. Being his own, he will not lose them. Being his beloved, he will not cease to love them.

The text is well as it stands: “to the end,” even till his death, the ruling passion of love to his own reigned in his sacred bosom. It means also to the uttermost. He could not love them more: he gave himself for them. Some read it, to perfection. Truly he lavished upon them a perfect love, in which there was no flaw nor failure, no unwisdom, no unfaithfulness, and no reserve.

Such is the love of Jesus to each one of his people. Let us sing to our Well-beloved a song.