"He loved them unto the end."

    UNTO the end" or, "to the uttermost," (margin). In either case, His love for his own was measureless. Whether it be the end of the days or the extremity of their need, his love went beyond. This was his preparation for death, to love his own unto the end. To begin to love was to continue to love.

    There is a wealth of comfort for any troubled soul when it leans upon the sovereignty of divine love.

    A mother might abdicate the throne of her love for her offspring, but the Son of God, never.

    Shadows of gloom may enshroud his pathway but he turns in the very blackest hour and smiles upon his beloved.

    It is not given to me to know when the hour is to come when I must depart out of the world.

    This much I may know, that whenever that hour shall come, he will be found by my side. He knows the meaning of grief and sorrow, of the terror of approaching trial and condemnation. He is still the one who saves "to the uttermost." What limitless love is that which, seeking me in my sins in order to save me from them, follows me all the way. 

 Living Bread from the Fourth Gospel (William Foulkes 1924)