Bookends of Love

“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” (John 13:1, NRSVUE)

For those who attend a Maundy Thursday service this evening, you’ll likely hear John 13:1–17, 31b–35. The text is familiar: Jesus knows his hour has come, and the reading ends with his commandment, “that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

But notice how John frames the whole night. Right at the start, we hear: “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” Immediately after this, we learn that Jesus knows about the betrayal—and exactly who will do it.

The actions that follow fill that space between these bookends of love. Jesus rises from the table, kneels at a basin, and washes the disciples’ feet – including Judas.

That doesn’t change the story; Judas still betrays Christ. But it says everything about Jesus.

He washed the feet of the one who would betray him.

He fed the one who would deny him.

He knelt before the ones who would run away.

He loved them with a love that didn’t depend on their worthiness, their loyalty, or their understanding.

He loved them because that is who he is. 

And that is who he loves still.

Tonight, as we gather in our somber Holy Thursday services, it is not only a remembrance of what Jesus did long ago. It is a reminder of what he is doing now — loving us to the end, through our failures and fears, through our doubts and detours, through the parts of ourselves we hide even from God. It is the night when Jesus kneels before us, looks us in the eye, and says without speaking: “There is nothing in you I will not love. There is nowhere you go that I will not follow. There is no end to my love for you.”

Holy God, on this night when love frames the whole story, we remember your Son, Jesus, who loved his own who were in the world and loved them to the end. Let that love take root in us. Help us receive it with open hearts, trust that it reaches even the parts of ourselves we hide, and learn to love one another with the same mercy and courage Jesus showed when he knelt with a basin and towel. May his love be our beginning and our ending, our calling and our strength, so that others may glimpse in us the love he never stops giving. Amen.

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Tim

Christ Washing the Disciples’ Feet, Jacopo Tintoretto, c. 1548.