True Love
Dan Kunz
One night Ole and Lena were sitting at the supper table and Lena asked a question. “Ole, vhy don’t you efer tell me you lofe me?” Lena asked innocently. After pondering the question only briefly, Ole replied, “Vell, Lena, vhen ve fas married tventy-tree years ago, you might remember dat I told you right after the vedding dat I lofed you. If dat efer changes, I’ll let you know.”
Of all the “Ole and Lena” jokes which float around the upper Midwest, that has to be one of my favorites. Of course, it’s funny, but sometimes there may be a little truth in it, too. Some people just aren’t very comfortable saying “I love you”. Hopefully, even if they don’t say it as often as they might, they show it in many ways. I didn’t hear my parents say it a lot, but I had no doubt that they were absolutely devoted to each other for nearly fifty years. They showed it every day of their lives in various ways. For example, my mom would get up far earlier than she needed to, to make breakfast for my dad, before he went to work. (And to pack his lunch, as well.) My dad would spend some of his treasured weekend time, making a garden for my mom or doing small remodeling jobs to make our house nicer for her. It’s important to “show and tell” when it comes to love!
For the past six weeks, culminating with this Easter weekend, our Savior not only told us through his Word that he loved us, but showed it again and again. Let me give you an example. When I taught 9th grade religion classes, every year I would give my students a “what if” assignment. What if you weren’t feeling good and went to the doctor? What if the doctor told you that you had a very fast-acting, incurable cancer? What if the doctor told you that you only had one week to live? What if you had a rich uncle who really loved you and said he would give you the money to do anything you wanted in the next week? What would you do? How would you spend your last week on earth? As you can imagine, I got some very creative answers. I also got some very funny ones, some heartwarming ones, and even some sad ones. The reason I gave the assignment was to point out to the students exactly what Jesus did.
As Jesus made his final trip to Jerusalem, he knew what awaited him there. He knew he had only a short time to live. He literally had all the power in the world, so he could have done anything he wanted. Yet, how did Jesus spend the last days of his life? He spent them the way he spent his whole life. He showed people his great love for them. He healed people’s broken bodies. He bound up the broken-hearted. He taught people about his Heavenly Father. He taught them about heaven. He “cleaned” the temple of those who were spoiling people’s worship. Ultimately, he spent the last hours of his life being beaten, abused, spit on, mocked, scourged, and tortured for us. Finally, he died for us. In that unfathomable sacrifice, he not only told us, “I love you”, he showed us his love, too! We can be assured that his devotion to us is complete and it’s forever! John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.