Jesus' Love Commands Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

In my last couple of talks I've been working through some thoughts on love, so I figured I'd throw them out here and benefit from your thoughts on the subject.

First there's the obvious.

Jesus said the two commands "love God and love your neighbour" tied together everything the Jews had been living for and under for thousands of years. (Matthew 22:34-40, etc.) He then raised the ante. Love your neighbours? Ha! I'm telling you that you should love your enemies! (Matthew 5:43,44, etc.)

It seems to me there's a location, or a positioning element to this:

Love your neighbour --- Love those closest to you.
Love your enemies --- Love those furthest from you.

I don't think it's a stretch to tie these two together, and arrive at the conclusion that we are simply to love everybody. That certainly makes it simple--in theory--and relieves us of the awesome task of figuring out who we should love and who we shouldn't. Love everybody.

[Obviously we could stop right there and spend time contemplating how so many 'Bible-believing Christians' could be pro-war, pro-violence, etc., when that very same Bible records the words of Jesus, who admonishes us to bless those who persecute us, but I digress...]

Next, lets build on this idea of love and look at what must be one of the most commonly ignored teachings of Jesus. He said the greatest demonstration of this love is to give your life for another. (John 15:13) Of course, we know this intuitively. Aren't we moved by the hero on the big screen who takes a bullet for his buddy? It turns out this is biblical.

That verse is heavy enough, but it's actually sandwiched between two others that make it impossible for us to rationalize it away.

‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.' (15:12)

Commandment. Not suggestion, but commandment. In other words, this is what is expected of us. Then, we must ask the question, "How did Jesus love us?" That one is easy. He loved us to death. This wasn't just loose talk from Jesus, he practiced what he preached and walked the walk all the way to the cross.

'You are my friends if you do what I command you.' (15:14)

Well that's fairly clear. This is what it means to follow Jesus. Those of us from the evangelical side of the street tend to avoid these if/then kinds of statements, even when they come from Jesus, as they tend to conflict with our sense of entitlement vis-a-vis unmerited grace.

Another thought strikes me as I think about this passage. Sure, love everybody, but there's no need to get carried away, right Jesus? How much love is good enough? I mean, when is enough, enough?

Apparently the answer to that question is, "When you die trying. That's enough."

To Jesus, love is potentially life-threatening.

Potentially life-threatening love. That's a phrase I'm going to use a lot.

Of course, I'm listening to the Black Eyed Peas lament Where Is The Love? as I write this.

People killing, people dying
Children hurt and you hear them crying
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek
Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
'Cause people got me, got me questioning
Where is the love?

Thoughts, friends?

Comments

[Wes Roberts]

...missed you today

...wild day...extra sorry!!!

...do I have your permission to use this post on Saturday when I'm doing another Circle of Life Gathering?

...more eager, than ever, for time with you in a few days up there!

[Mike]

Go for it Wes!

[Sharon]

I find believers overly romantic about the idea of giving their lives for God, though few of them don't give ten minutes of their time (plus a bit of patience and humility) to befriend a homeless guy. How often are we really faced with a "do I die for this person" type of choice? I've never had one.

But I think that even though giving one's life may mean giving up one's life, i.e., dying, and certainly that's a serious sacrifice, and one God may ask of his followers, giving out of one's life, literally giving of one's life, or giving away the life (or liveliness or spirit) that you have, is key here, too. If Christ is life, then giving life and giving Christ are synonymous. We are to give our lives. We are to be unselfish, to be generous, in giving our lives.

And no one, no one, will decide to die for another person if he isn't first willing to give of his time, his energy, to give from his life. Or her life, as teh case may be.

Christ may ask some of us to die for our brothers and sisters, but he asks all of us to give our lives.

[Erin Wilson]

I've been thinking about this in the context of "becoming a Christian". The whole 'praying the Sinner's Prayer for a guarantee of salvation' thing is new in the history of Christianity. I can't help wondering how different Western Christianity would look now if whoever popularized the Sinner's Prayer (which cannot be found in the Bible) would have instead promoted what is in the Bible.

Beginning a life of following Jesus with:
-feeding a homeless person in Jesus' name
-sitting with a widow while she deals with her grief in Jesus' name
-playing soccer with an orphan in Jesus' name

Jesus' message of radical, sacrificial love wouldn't be so hard to ingest if we were given the straight goods from the beginning, and not lead to believe the whole deal is about Jesus and me.

I'm afraid this comes across as a little cranky. I don't mean it that way.

[Melo]

The love I see is busy, tired, preoccupied, and disillusioned - wants love, wants to see love, promotes love, but does not really believe, and yes is hesitant to connect with homeless or even someone different. It seeks the comfort of what it knows, where it is understood. To find the love that lies beneath disillusionment and fan it back to life is everyday life-threatening in its own way especially if one may be feeling all the same feelings - giving what we may not have. Choosing life is choosing love and yet is choosing death-denial-selflessness all in what sometimes seems like one great big glorious mess. Results never being entirely clear.

[twitter.com/TimMBCA]

Your posts often really resonate with me and frequently challenge me as well.

What struck me about this post in particular is the extent to which your writing reminds me of "The Mark of the Christian" by Francis Schaeffer, which I read in '78. "They will know we are Christians by our love." But today Schaeffer is often credited with the rise of the extreme Christian Right. Now how did that happen in such a short time?!

Regrettably, I so rarely see the Christians in the media spotlight in this decade attempting to demonstrate any love, let alone unconditional love. As you quoted in an earlier post, it's much too easy to substitute arguing about a creed of beliefs than it is to live a life committed to unconditional love. We have redefined the practice of our faith in some very unsettling ways.

Sometimes I think we each are just too busy and too selfish to extend our current parameters for loving and therefore living the life which Christ commanded.

[Morgan K Freeberg]

Sure, love everybody, but there's no need to get carried away, right Jesus? How much love is good enough? I mean, when is enough, enough?

Apparently the answer to that question is, "When you die trying. That's enough."

You know what's a great example of what you're talking about? The Fort Hood shooter being allowed to stay in the Army after evidence piled up upon evidence that sooner or later something bad was going to go down. Of course, then, the people who ended up paying the price were NOT the same people as the ones who chose to "love the enemy." And so from taking Jesus' words well beyond any point of reason, they managed to fulfill your criteria, Mike..."When you die trying. That's enough." And they ended up getting other people killed.

Perhaps time for a re-think?

[Erin Wilson]

Morgan... just trying to get clear on your comment here. Are you saying that the US Army makes it's staffing decisions based on love? That the Fort Hood shootings happened because the US Army loved too much?

[Mike]

Great feedback friends, thanks.

+ Sharon - Great point.

+ Not cranky at all, Erin. Come up with one more and you've created a new set of Four Spiritual Laws... and I mean that in a very good way!

+ Well said, Melo. Maybe what we love is the status quo, and our own comfort zones. Love costs.

+ Tim - I think you're dead on. We live in a culture that preaches self-centeredness and "me first". The love Jesus was talking about isn't going to sell in that environment.

+ Morgan, I'm with Erin... you're going to need to clarify before I'll be able to understand what you're saying.

Keep the good stuff coming.

[twitter.com/mattessary]

I find it so hard to love. Someone told me to love those around me but I'm so easily distracted. Sure it's easy to love my family and friends and help them but I have a hard time moving beyond that. I often catch myself after a situation realizing I had a great opportunity to love someone and totally missed it. Unfortunately that doesn't help me the next time. I mean I have an abundance of empathy. I feel for people and their situations but it doesn't move me to action. Maybe it's a problem with my definition of love. To me it means having such a strong attachment to someone that I would do anything for them. I realize this is a narrow definition and it only applies to a handful of people in my life. Maybe my definition is bad or maybe I should put my trust in the only one who knows what love is: God. Funny how that always comes full circle.