His love to His disciples was never more severely tested than during His last days. He never faltered. He never relaxed His faithful, anxious care of the men whom the Father had given Him to keep. He prayed for the disciples, anticipating the hour of temptation. On that night in which He was betrayed, and in which all the disciples were offended because of Him, Jesus manifested His love more fully than ever. He called them friends; He spoke to them of the love with which they are loved, of the vital union between the true vine and the branches; He instituted the memorial of His dying love; He prayed for them to His heavenly Father. In that prayer Jesus clings with the same love to the Father and to the disciples; and by the wonderful words, “I in them, and Thou in Me,” He places believers in a position of glory, to which we can scarcely lift the eyes of our hearts. In the garden of Gethsemane He longed for the presence and sympathy of His disciples. When the evening came He protected them with the solicitude of a mother, so that no evil came near them. On His way to the judgment His merciful love looked upon Peter, and melted him to tears. No sorrow, pain, or trial could hinder Him from entering into the sorrow and need of others, or interrupt the outflowing of His love. He prayed on the cross for His enemies; He opened paradise to the robber, who appealed to His mercy; He remembered the desolateness of His mother Mary, and the affection of His favored apostle. To the last moment He loved, to the last moment He was the Light of the world, until He entered into the three hours of darkness, when He wrought out atonement, and was made sin for us. The love which has no end, and which was stronger than death, is the love which had no beginning, eternal and divine, which has its origin in itself. It flows through the channel of Christ’s humanity. As He loved, He loved to the end. To the very last moment He glorified the Father, and declared His name.   

Our Life-Day - Adolph Saphir