Acts 23:6--Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”
Paul didn't cry out, "I stand on trial because Jesus loves you!"
Acts 2:29-39 (excerpts)--"God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear."
...
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah."
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Peter didn't reply, "Believe that Jesus loves you!"
And Stephen, before the Sanhedrin, on trial for his life, didn't exclaim, "Jesus loves you!"
With Good Friday and Easter upon us, reflecting on the cross and resurrection, I'm reminded that the cosmos-transmuting power of the Gospel is One Death, by which a whole world that needed to die died in Him Who didn't, and One Resurrection, through which the Promise of Ages, a new world of life in union with God's Spirit, burst into reality for whoever receives.
Jesus is never recorded as saying "I love you," but He is recorded as saying, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me will never die." If one can't find the love of God in that, a million I-love-you's will never be enough.
