The way we use the word for so many things is only the tip of the iceberg. Across our world people fall in and out of love. Relationships that may have lasted for decades can be over because love had died, been killed, or just trickled away. We are told that love is a choice as well as a feeling, and there is deep truth in this, but it is more than a choice, it is more than just an act of the will. Ultimately love is complicated.
I don't pretend to understand love. I feel it, I express it, I think I know what it is, and I also know that to define it is beyond me. To me, the definition of love isn't found in words but in an image. The strange and compelling image of a man hanging, dying, on a cross. This sounds religious, and it is, but the concept of a creator who could love his creation so much that he became one of them and suffered death for them is breathtaking in its possibility and mind-shatteringly astounding in its reality.
Jesus doesn't help in simplifying love, however. He tells me to, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your should and with all your strength." How on earth can I do that? He doesn't even give me the option of using one of my varied meanings of the word 'love.' He teaches that I am to 'agape' God, to love him selflessly and unconditionally, not based on what he can do for me but for who he is. It is a love that is founded in his love for his creation and for me. It is a love that finds its reality in me reflecting back to God the pure love he has for me. As John puts it in his first letter, "We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19)
But then Jesus adds, "And love your neighbor as yourself." Again he uses that word, 'agape.' We are commanded by Christ to love others with the same selfless, unconditional love that we have for God. This complicates matters. I don't want to love people like that, or at least not all people. We try to get out of it by saying that we love them, we just don't like them. And again, there is some validity to this, but really what we are admitting is that we neither love or like them and would be happy to not associate with them at all - thank you very much!
The whole 'loving my neighbor' thing is doable, to a degree, as long as my neighbor is just that, my neighbor. One of the mass of humanity that I can care for and love by donating to Compassion or Oxfam, by bringing in their wheely bin or letting them in front of me on traffic, or by simply expressing my love for humanity. Jesus gets mean, however, and makes this ridiculous statement, "Everyone will know that you are my disciples by the love - agape - you have for each other." Are you kidding me Jesus? Have you met Christians? Some of them are pretty hard to stomach, let alone love. Can't I just tolerate them? Or graciously ignore them? That would work.
And then, get this, then he utters the words that really kick us in the....guts, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven." So Jesus, with all due respect, are you out of your mind? I am supposed to 'agape' people who hate me? Who want to kill me ? Love was complicated enough before you started teaching.
Here's the thing, followers of Jesus should be known by their unexpected and incomprehensible love. I know this needs unpacking in space I don't have here, but let's face it, we're not. Christians may be misunderstood and misrepresented, at times with malicious intent, but really, followers of the one whose love was evidenced on a cross aren't known for the kind of 'agape' love commanded by their Lord. A lifestyle of this kind of love, this selfless and unconditional concern for others is not only what would mark Christians as followers of the crucified king, but truly be the light on the hill and salt of the earth that is our calling.
I can't do it. Love is complicated enough without Jesus adding this extra stuff, and my heart is too corrupt, selfish and greedy to love like that. Until I am reminded of two more truths. This love doesn't originate in me, it it a reflection of the love my Father has for me and all his creation. And this love is enabled by a work of his Spirit within me, a fruit Paul calls it, that grows in me as the Spirit does his work.
Love is complicated. It is all tied up with emotions and relationships and values and wants and desires and pleasures and choices. Love, however, is a reminder that God is present in his creation. And the selfless unconditional love he calls his followers to exhibit may not simplify things, but does serve to declare to all the world that the king is present, the kingdom of love is here, and there is a new way of being human.
Do you find it easy to love? Are Jesus' expectations unreasonable? Does it help to see discipleship as a journey and not a destination? What would help followers of Jesus be known for their love? What would that look like in your life?
No comments:
Post a Comment