{"id":1353,"date":"2016-06-08T17:45:05","date_gmt":"2016-06-08T21:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/?p=1353"},"modified":"2016-06-08T18:04:32","modified_gmt":"2016-06-08T22:04:32","slug":"love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/love\/","title":{"rendered":"‘LOVE’…"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span>n an article in\u00a0The New York Times<\/i>\u00a0(June 7, 2016), \u2018<\/span>Let\u2019s Have a Better Culture War<\/a>\u2019, David Brooks remarks that we need \u2018a new traditionalism\u2019 in the way we look at current issues. Commenting that \u2018we are not primarily physical creatures,\u2019 he says, \u2018we have souls or consciousness or whatever you want to call it. The first step of a new traditionalism would be to put the spiritual and moral implications of everyday life front and center\u2019.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

His solution is to point us to the motif of \u2018love\u2019. For \u2018love\u2019 he says, \u2018is the elemental desire of the spirit\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

LOVE<\/h2>\n

There is nothing new in this<\/b>. Back in 1965 Burt Bacharach put to music the Hal David lyrics,\u00a0What the World needs now is Love Sweet Love<\/i>; and in 1967 the\u00a0Beatles<\/i>\u00a0sang,\u00a0All you need is love<\/i>\u2026 The question becomes: \u2018What does\u00a0love<\/i>\u00a0mean? What does this look like in practice?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

At the center of Jesus\u2019 \u2018Sermon on the Plain\u2019\u00a0<\/b>(Luke 6:27-36),\u00a0is the theme of\u00a0love<\/i><\/b>. Our English word\u00a0love\u00a0<\/i>translates a number of Greek words \u2013 words for \u2018affection\u2019, for \u2018romantic love\u2019 (eros<\/i>), and for \u2018friendship\u2019 (philia<\/i>). And there is one more, the word that Jesus uses:\u00a0agape<\/i>\u00a0\u2013 which means a love that chooses to act in the best interests of the one who is loved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is not a response to the attractive, but the reverse: it chooses to serve the best interests of even the unlovely, the unworthy, no matter the cost. It is not a love that responds to someone who is worthy of merit. It is the deliberate decision to serve the very best interests of others. It is the word the Bible uses to speak of the unique love of God and, in turn the love we are to have for one another – including love in marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n

We understand\u00a0love\u00a0<\/i>only when we understand God’s righteous character. This is why, for example, God cannot simply forgive us. As 1 John 4:10 says:\u00a0here then is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.<\/i>\u00a0Our western world has come to think of love more in terms of\u00a0eros.<\/i>\u00a0Certainly not\u00a0agape<\/i>.\u00a0Eros\u00a0<\/i>wants to take.\u00a0Agape\u00a0<\/i>wants to give for the best of others.\u00a0Eros\u00a0<\/i>could not have saved us.\u00a0Agape<\/i>\u00a0could and did.<\/span><\/p>\n

LOVE IN ACTION<\/h2>\n

Jesus teaches anyone who would follow him to:\u00a0\u201cLove (<\/i>agape)\u00a0your enemies\u201d<\/i><\/b>\u00a0(6:27).<\/span><\/p>\n

Moses had commanded,\u00a0love your neighbor<\/i>\u00a0(Leviticus 19:18). In Jesus\u2019 day the Jewish leaders had narrowed the application of\u00a0neighbor<\/i>\u00a0so that it only referred to people who shared similar religious views. It did not include\u00a0enemies<\/i>.\u00a0Jesus went further and said that his followers cannot be selective about whom they\u00a0love<\/i>.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

To\u00a0love\u00a0<\/i>one\u2019s\u00a0enemies<\/i>\u00a0<\/b>is an uncompromising call not to retaliate in kind, but\u00a0to pray and do good<\/i>.\u00a0Doing good<\/i>\u00a0<\/b>means being willing to forego personal \u2018rights\u2019 and being prepared to be vulnerable and \u2018go the extra mile\u2019.\u00a0It was a challenge to Jesus\u2019 hearers in Roman occupied Judea; it is a challenge to us today.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone strikes you on the cheek,\u201d\u00a0<\/i>Jesus continues,\u00a0\u201cOffer the other cheek as well\u201d<\/i>\u00a0(6:29).<\/i>\u00a0The image is of a humiliating slap across the face with the back of the hand – an abuse of power.<\/b>\u00a0In those moments when we are being ridiculed or persecuted for our faith and for doing the right thing, we often want to respond in kind. But Jesus says we are not to\u00a0retaliate<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed to retaliate in kind only compounds the evil.\u00a0Rather, offer support and even minister to those who persecute you. Revenge is out of the question<\/b>. Leon Morris in his commentary on\u00a0Luke<\/i>\u00a0notes the advice of \u2018a worldly wit:\u00a0Always forgive your enemies. Nothing infuriates them more<\/i>\u2019.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

LOVE IN SERVICE TO OTHERS<\/h2>\n

Consider the witness of people imprisoned for their faith in their service of others during World War II. The\u00a0Ten Boom\u00a0<\/i>family in Holland facilitated the escape of hundreds of Jewish people from the Nazi holocaust; they themselves were sent to concentration camps where they bore witness to their faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vulnerability and forgiveness, rather than revenge<\/b>, are to be our response to injustice and religious persecution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t it more than time we re-visited and began to practice these profound, counter-cultural words of Jesus?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9 John G. Mason<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

n an article in\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0(June 7, 2016), \u2018Let\u2019s Have a Better Culture War\u2019, David Brooks remarks that we need \u2018a new traditionalism\u2019 in the way we look at current issues. Commenting that \u2018we are not primarily physical creatures,\u2019 he says, \u2018we have souls or consciousness or whatever you want to call it. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-on-wednesday"],"yoast_head":"\n'LOVE'... - The Anglican Connection<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"in 1967 the Beatles sang, All you need is love\u2026 The question becomes: \u2018What does a Christian love mean? 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