Love Is “What Jesus Was All About”
We Christians assume we have sole claim on Jesus, but that is as far from the truth as the east is from the west. Jesus belongs to everybody. Christianity is not unique but IS merely one expression of response to Jesus’ call to follow him. Following him means to love as he loves, and this can be done whether one is a Christian or not.
Love is what God is all about, and Jesus was sent onto the scene as a human being to reveal how God’s love abounds, includes everybody - excludes nobody. Our calling is to follow Jesus’ example and love everybody, not only the lovable, but also the unlovable, hateful, self-serving destructive people we know or know about and this is a heavy duty calling.
How can we possibly muster that kind of gracious, accepting love? We are told we love because God first loves us. That is, we are enabled to love because we are loved. Being loved energizes us to love.
It is at this juncture the train often derails. Our love malfunctions and goes awry. We mistakenly assume God loves us because we are lovable. Arrogance infuses itself into us. From God’s perspective we are not lovable but God loves us anyway. That is grace. We need to recognize God’s grace and accept it with gratitude and humility. That internal act of accepting our acceptance is the beginning of wisdom. It enables us to accept God’s love in spite of how we are because it is based on whose we are.
We are God’s and are loved completely and overwhelmingly by God, along with everyone and everything else in the world. In that respect, we need to recognize we are not the center of God’s love but are included along with everyone an everything.
Loving as Jesus demonstrated and taught is not simple or easy, but is in fact quite complicated and demanding. However, it is the best way to live. Furthermore, it costs us nothing but our willingness and commitment - our commitment to love everyone regardless of how unlovable they might be. Once again, we cannot do that on our own. Thankfully, the great enabler stands ready and willing to enable us to love against all odds. That is the existential transforming reality. That is the miracle God’s love creates within us and sets into motion. It is all about God’s love which is the source of everything that is.
God is the dynamo, the source of all love. Love is the energy and power that sets all things into motions - the energy that is released into the world. There are countless substations which distribute this energy, the Christian Church being one. Furthermore, there are many transformers that transform this awesome power into useful forms that reach into peoples lives in meaningful ways: food banks, affordable housing, pastoral care, medical assistance, and many more. It is a marvelous system reaching to the ends of the earth including everybody and everything.
Life takes us through a labyrinth with many possible paths open to us. Following Jesus is one of them. Following Jesus is a constant challenge, forever tugging at us. Most of all it is a hallowed opportunity to become fully alive. Jesus said He came that we might have an abundant life. The abundant life comes as He empowers us to love in a way we cannot carry out on our own.
Love, as being in love, has transformative power. God is in love with us and sent Jesus to reveal this truth to us and to demonstrate to us what real love looks like and feels like.
