I think we’ve gotten it wrong when it comes to love. There are songs, movies, and quotes floating around Pinterest and Instagram saying how easy it is to love one another. While some love is easy and natural, we are called to so much more than that. I, like many of you, continually wake up to the news of violence and destruction in our own streets. And sadly this morning was no different, and I was sick of it not being different. I did the one thing I could do and I grabbed my bible and prayed to God to provide me with some comfort and peace, and guess what, the Lord once again provided me with what I needed. I turned the pages of my bible to the Gospel of John and found myself reading exactly what I needed:
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.” [John 15:9-17]
Jesus was/is/and will forever be love, this we know. But what kind of love is He? If He the love I have for reading? For a beautiful spring day? For my favorite pair of jeans? No, He is abundantly more than that.
I love to say that one of my favorite things to do is love people. I love being in community with people and hearing their stories and being immersed in their lives. And I also thought I had done a good job at doing that, I like to think I’m a generally nice person who loves those who I come in contact with. But after reading what Jesus had to say to His disciples I had to rethink if that were true. Jesus says that He loves us as friends and that there is “No greater love” than laying down your life for a friend. Then it hit me, Jesus is calling us to love EVERYONE as a friend, not just those who we consider friends.
Let’s be honest, we love our friends without much effort. We don’t have to wake up and prayer for the ability and patience to love our friends. Our friends are easy to love. Think about your friends and why you’re friends with them. You probably share a common interest/hobby/value set. In other words, you probably have a lot in common with you friends, I know I do. It’s easy to love those similar to us. It’s also easy to love our friends because our friends love us back. How awesome is it to love someone who loves you?! If I know someone does not like me why would I want to spend my time loving them? Why would I spend my effort loving with no return?
But when I reread this familiar story of the vine and the branches this morning, I saw something very important. Jesus did not say “Love those who love you” He simply says “Love one another”. It’s when I read something like this where I ask Jesus “But what about …” Fill in the blank with whomever you want but here is who I think of: weirdos, people who are mean to me, people who have wronged me, people society tells me not to love, people who do not love me in return. He says “Love one another” with no exceptions. There is no footnote in my bible that says “Unless they’re icky or different, then treat them with distain” and sometimes I wish it did. I wish Jesus would give me a loop hole and an excuse to not love someone. But He doesn’t and that’s when I remember that He knows all about loving those who don’t love Him.
Jesus died on the cross for everyone. He died for those who love Him, He died for those who never knew Him, and He died for those who killed Him.
Jesus didn’t go around to everyone saying “I’ll only die for you if you love me” no. He gave the world the greatest act of love in our history and He gave it for the world. Jesus is love. Love for our friends and love for our enemies. He is love for those who are easy to love and those who are not. He is love for those who love us back and those who never will. If we are called to live like Jesus (and we are) that’s how we to love also. Let’s love everyone we encounter as a friend as Jesus did. When people we know do not love us back, let’s pray that we can still love them as a friend. So no, love won’t always be easy but I still believe it’s always worth it.
Much love,
Delaney
