Such wondrous love we see as he leaves the dinner table and puts a towel in his belt and kneels before them, tenderly taking their feet, knowing that these very same disciples will be using these very same feet for run as far and as fast as they can away from him in just a few hours. Such wondrous love is this that we see during his trial, while he is carrying his cross, when the nails are driven into his hands and feet, when that crown of thorns is crushed into his skull, when he wondered if God, too, had forsaken him, and when he breathed his last. It is the love that we all most need and most crave. It is real love. And real love is always costly.
Real love comes with a price.
Real love entails sacrifice. The whole purpose of Jesus coming to this earth, of his death, of his resurrection, is to express this wondrous love for us. On this night, we remember that Jesus commanded his disciples then and he commands his disciples today, you and me, to love each other as he loves us. In receiving his wondrous love, we are also commanded to share such wondrous love with others. In all we do on this night, in all we do in all the days ahead, let us receive such wondrous love with great thanksgiving and share such wondrous love with great desire.