Oh, how He loves us

Jesus said in the book of John, chapter 15, verse 12, “This is My commandment, love one another as I have loved you.”

I thought that I knew what that meant. “Oh Jesus loved me, so I need to love everyone else because He loves me.” But that is not what He said in this particular verse. He didn’t say, “I love you, so you love them.” No, He said, “AS I have loved you.” The word, “as,” to me, means “in the way that.”

I didn’t realize this until I watched the History Channel mini series, “The Bible,” specifically, episodes eight and nine, which recount the betrayal, trial and crucifixion of Jesus. The first time I watched this series, I cried through all of episode nine, entitled, “Passion.” As I had never seen the Mel Gibson film, “The Passion of the Christ,” I had never before seen a filmed interpretation of the crucifixion. I realized then that John 15:12 had a meaning far deeper than I thought, and the “as” came into clarity.

Upon further meditation and inspection of this thought, I realized that I’d had no idea how Jesus loved me, though I’d thought I knew. For those who don’t know, or those who may think that they know, or even those who do know, let me share with you what was revealed to me: we’ll start after the Last Supper in the Garden of Gethsemane, which rested at the foot of the Mount of Olives.

After the reveal that Judas would betray Him, Jesus went to the garden to pray, telling His disciples to stay back before going deeper into the garden alone to pray. In fact, the Bible says that He prayed so “earnestly” that His “sweat became as blood.” According to the gospel of Luke, Jesus was in agony, and He had asked that if it be God’s will, that He “take this cup away” from Him. From this, I see Jesus terrified to the point of agony, to the point of sweating blood, asking for God to take this task from Him, if possible. Remember this is Jesus, the man who called Lazarus from the grave, who calmed the storm with His hand, who cast demons from the demoniac, who healed the leper, who walked on water. What could terrify Him? It had to be something more than excruciating. Yet, He goes on to say, “Nevertheless, not my will, but Your will be done.” That’s how Jesus loved us.

Then continue through a little to the arrest of Jesus, incited by Judas. At a point, Peter, trying to defend the Lord, takes up a sword and chops off the ear of a member of the arresting party. Jesus tells Peter to stop, telling him, “Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.” Then Jesus proceeds to heal the offended man’s ear. The man who was trying to arrest Him, which would lead to His death; Jesus healed his ear and went with him. That’s how much Jesus loved us.

Moving on to the flogging, after His unfair trial. Jesus was flogged with a cat of nine tails, a terrible tool that did more than lash the skin. It caused great suffering to the recipient of its action. Upon further research, I have found many died just from these beatings with this instrument, with blood loss and infection. Yet Jesus endured it, and I believe, allowed it, for us. Jesus, again, walked on water, and called Lazarus from the grave. I do not for a minute believe that Jesus, the Son of God, could not escape this, or anything that was to follow. That is how much Jesus loved us.

Jesus, was ultimately made to carry His own cross to Calvary, with some help from Simon of Cyrene, and was then nailed to it, raised upright, and left to die. From my reading, a crucifixion’s effect on the human body is astoundingly and brutally painful to imagine, and I am not going to go into that here, but I cannot fathom what the actual experience would be. Coupled with that, I can only assume that He was also blistering in the hot Jerusalem sun, and quickly becoming dehydrated while suffering the effects of blood loss. He was in full anguish. Yet, Jesus, in the midst of hanging on His cross, dying, as soldiers gambled for His clothes said, ”Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That’s how much Jesus loved us.

Jesus loved us so much, that He died for us, suffered for us, in ways that we could never know. He died for us so that the veil between the Father and man could be torn away—us that are far from deserving, before we were born or thought of, yet, the Lord thought of us. That is how we are to love each other, ready to suffer for those who may be undeserving, because we love them despite all else. That is His commandment.

I struggle and fall in the eyes of God everyday; we all do. I am by no means perfect. But, imagine what could happen in this world, if we loved each other as Jesus has loved, and still does love us. What problems could be solved, what relationships could be mended, what anxieties could disappear, if we loved each other with the readiness to suffer the unimaginable for another?

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