John 13:1 “Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”
Our “Jesus knew that his hour was come”; that is, that the time of His sacrificial suffering and death would begin before the night was out. Yet, He never faltered in His Holy Purpose, He came to Eternally Save the people He loves and even their sin and His most miserable death could not move Him from accomplishing His Purpose (Romans 8:35-39). The phrase, “he loved them unto the end”, literally means that He “loved them” even through His miserable suffering, as He was completing every detail of His Holy Purpose. Furthermore, He tells us that He is our Great “example” in how to humbly show our love to one another (John 13:15). The Apostle Paul explains it this way, “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;” (Romans 12:10). While true Christianity is very strong, resilient, steadfast and uncompromising in faith; it is also sincerely loving and kind and humble and generous and loving and patient and forgiving and longsuffering and … It is by such blessed, loving attributes that others recognize us as disciples of Christ. No one should ever have to ask us if we are a Christian, it should be most obvious in our behavior!