John 15:13 KJV

The Lord Jesus spent those last moments with his dearest and closest friends before being crucified on a brutal Roman cross. Friends who had sacrificed everything to go with Him; friends who had spent three and a half years eating, sleeping, and marching alongside Him; friends who had been granted the authority of the apostles to raise the dead, cast out demons, and heal the sick.

Nevertheless, in a matter of hours, these same friends would desert, reject, or betray Him, bringing about the fulfillment of the prophecies made by the prophets: “Even my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who did eat of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me,” for it is written: “I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.”

Christ gladly went to the Cross as a freewill offering of love for his friends who are His Body, the Church, even though He was made an offering for sin, the sin of the entire world. “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down His life for His friends,” said Jesus Christ of His love and devotion to the Church.

In order to reflect His love and to love others as He loved us, we must abide in Him. We can only begin to allow Jesus’ love to flow into us and through us to others as we grow in our love for Him and all that He has done for us. Then, in the name of Jesus, we too may, by His power and might, lay down our lives in His service as a holy and acceptable living sacrifice to God.