Pastor Tyler’s Blog

NO GREATER LOVE

In recent weeks we’ve been on the journey with Christ as he moves closer and closer to the cross. It’s a journey we have taken before. We hear the stories of Christ; we know the conspiracy taking place with the religious leaders. We join in the shouts of “Hosanna” on Palm Sunday, and we prepare for Easter Sunday. We remember the cross, but do we truly remember why it was Jesus went there in the first place? The journey that took Christ to the cross is a journey no one else could have taken. It’s a journey that He made for the most part with no one understanding what was about to happen.

I have had moments in my life where I knew what was coming and I didn’t want to face it. I remember specifically walking towards the day when I was going to have to share with my youth group that I was leaving. I knew it was going to hurt, and all my focus was on that moment. I think it’s possible to expect Jesus had those same feelings. We see it in the garden as He prays, “Lord, if you are willing, let this cup pass from me; yet not my will but yours.” Deep down Jesus knows what His sacrifice will do, but that doesn’t mean He’s not recognizing what it’s going to take to get there.

One of my favorite scenes before the cross is Jesus with His disciples during the Passover meal. John 15:9-16 reads:
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this; that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to bear fruit—fruit that will last.”

There is no greater love than that which would cause you to lay down your life for your friend. We understand the sacrifice for our family, many of us would freely give our life for our family, but friend has a different context. Jesus doesn’t say, “You are my family, my brothers.” No, he says, “YOU ARE MY FRIENDS! I chose you to be my friends, and because I love you, I don’t want you to experience the punishment for sin, so I will.”

It’s a love that doesn’t make sense to a lot of us. We think we understand it but when you consider the lengths that love took Christ…it’s an uncommon love. I was watching scenes from The Passion of the Christ, and as I did, the punishment Jesus endured, and the strength in which he did is humbling. I don’t know how you can watch that movie and not feel convicted for how you live out the appreciation of that love.

It is a Great Love! Jesus knows the last part of the journey is right here before him, and he confesses to those he loved, you are friends. He says the same to us. So how then do we respond to such a love?
Do you respond by missing Sunday morning worship? Do you respond by meeting schedules? Do you respond by doing homework? Do you respond by not giving? Do you respond with judgment? Do you respond without love?

His command to us was to love, the way he did. He commanded us to love each other, but if you listen to His heart, if you really listen, I believe he’s asking, “will you love me?” Will you measure the greatness of your love for him this Easter? Have you fallen in love with something greater than the One, who had no greater love than the love He has for you?