I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. 

John 17:23

Read that opening quote again.  Let that truth sink in, because the implications are astounding! Jesus is talking to the Father in prayer at the conclusion of the last supper.

He has already predicted his betrayal, and knows of the coming pain and suffering, yet is praying for his disciples and for all “those who will believe in [him] through [the disciples’] message.”

Jesus prays that we will know how much we are loved by the Father; and not only that we are simply loved, but that we are loved by the Father as much as he loves the Son. Some translations say that the Father “loved them even as [He] has loved [the Son], others say “just as you have loved me”. I looked up the Greek word to see what specifically Jesus was alluding to. The Greek word is Kathos. Kathos means “just as, even as, in proportion as, and in the degree that.”

The Father loves you in the same degree that He loves Jesus!

You are not an afterthought. You haven’t earned his favor by some cosmic loophole. The love in which the three persons of the Trinity love each other includes you. The self-giving, self-emptying, think-of-the-other-first-often-at-your-own-expense kind of love which created the cosmos is extended to you!

Jesus exhibited that love at the end of his life. As evil was bearing down on Golgotha, and death was focused on the cross, His final thoughts and prayers were for the wellbeing of his creation. He prayed that we would know how much we are loved by the Trinity. 

The very next day, as sin was gathering its’ forces and concentrating all its’ efforts on the destruction of the Messiah, Jesus would gasp with his dying breath, “Father, forgive them.”

It has always been us. Insignificant, impetuous us. We are the highlight of all creation. He has moved heaven and earth to let us know that he loves us as much as he loves himself, which is the truest and most pure love there is. He gave of himself to the point of death. Before the fall of Adam, his plan had always been to break through our incorrect perception of the Triune God with unimaginable love.

We don’t deserve it. We can never earn it (although we continue to try), yet he showers us with unfathomable Grace and Mercy.

We often ignore and scorn him. He is the focus of so much of our frustration and anger. We fail to trust that he is for us; that he loves us as much as he does.

Later that night, in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was anguished to the point of sweating blood (see Luke 22:44). That is, he was terrified at the coming crucifixion. He begged the Father for another way, but knew there was none.

The only way someone could overcome that kind of sheer terror, was with a love that is greater. In the end Jesus submitted to the anger and the hatred of the human race because he knew on the other side of the cross he would have that which his love was focused on; he knew his death would somehow bring about a union with humanity, which was just as important as the union he had always experienced in the Trinity. He wants you to experience such perfect unity that you will know the Father loves YOU as much as He love the Son!