“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.  I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

John 17:25-26

The clock is ticking, so to speak, as Jesus shares deeply with his disciples.  This is the last sentence in John 17.  John 18 opens with Jesus in the Mount of Olives at night, having finished the Last Supper with his disciples.  No more teaching, the time has come when Jesus is not just the teacher but our compassionate sin bearer.  The Cross looms large!

What is his prayer for us?  That the love you (Father God) have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.  Yes, the most wonderful news there is – Jesus did everything necessary to so change us so that he can dwell, or live, with us.  The basis of this relationship is that the divine love of God and his Son, may be in us – the very same love of the Father and Son.  His love is now our love!  

What more can be said?  The Feast is over.  The night has fallen.  The events that are about to happen shock the soul.  Calvary looms.

I begin to see that Jesus’ final words in the Upper Room lead directly to the Cross where the uniting love of God, Jesus and the Spirit won our salvation.  We kneel in awe, overwhelmed by thanksgiving.  The love of God is stronger than any force, spiritual or material.  And, believe it or not, that love now controls my life, and yours, and every believer on earth.