NON-RETURNABLE
LOVE
Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved
you.” These words from Jesus are not
about love in general, but concern the quite distinct character of Christian
love. It is the love which Christ has for us. It is the love that we are called
to share with one another. It is a love that is both categorically and
qualitatively different than human love.
Certainly, there are numerous ways to express the
difference between Christian love and other types of love. Even so, this
morning I want us to think of the difference in the sense that Christian love is
a “non-returnable” type of love. What I mean by non-returnable is that once we
receive Christ’s love, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, we can give him in
return. Every effort would pale in comparison to what he has done for us. Moreover,
Christ offers us his love knowing full well that we can offer nothing to him in
return. In fact, Christ offered up his very life for us, and all the while he
knew there was nothing we could offer in return.
Nonetheless, he does ask something of us as a
response to the love he has given us. We are called to love others with the
same type of love he has given us; a non-returnable love. Therefore, as we love
one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to expect nothing in
return. Moreover, (and this is very hard to accept and practice) as his disciples
we are called to offer his type of love to all, without precondition, and
without expecting a return on our emotional investment.
Make no mistake about it this type of love is
radical and even dangerous to practice. So dangerous in fact, as Christ’s
crucifixion proved it can get you killed. It is a different type of love than
the world teaches or expects. Christian love, the love Christ demonstrated as
he willingly offered himself on our behalf, is something that can only be
received with joy and thanksgiving. Christ’s divine love is not the two-way
street of human love wherein we offer our love and affection to someone and expect
to receive love and affection in return.
Let me make clear what I am saying about the
difference between divine love and human love. There is nothing wrong or even particularly
sinful about human love exercised within the bounds of a faithful discipleship;
it simply is not Christian love.
You see, Christian love is “non-returnable” because
it is totally dedicated to the other. After all, when you pause to really think
about the nature of the love Jesus Christ offers us, what can we truly offer
him in return for his love? Everything we could possibly offer him pales in
comparison to what he has given us. Consequently, faced with such a hopelessly
uneven state of affairs between ourselves and the Lord how should we respond to
the love Christ offers us?
The only appropriate response to the love he offers
us is to accept it with grateful thanksgiving and share it with others. It is
for this reason that Christ says in John 15:12, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved
you”. You see, only by giving the love of Christ away to others do we
tangibly demonstrate that we have received it. It makes no sense, but it is the
truth of the gospel!
This commandment to love one another as Christ has
loved us is a refreshingly clear directive for how we are to live our lives.
God’s Word to us on the issue of what defines Christian love and what it
actually looks like is quite clear. Whether we lived in the first century or in
today’s world the nature and character of Christian love remains the same; it
is offered to all in every situation regardless of merit or the ability to
return it. Divine love, is love for loves sake alone.
The difference between Christian love and our human
type of love is as great as the difference between night and day. Stop and
think about the people in your life that you love or have loved. Perhaps your
spouse, your children, your parents, friends, in every case we must admit, we
have received something in return for the love we extended.
Unavoidably, with human love we always expect
something in return for what we offer. We expect companionship, we expect our
emotional needs to be met, we expect trust and faithfulness. We expect our love
to be reciprocated. We give and we get. This is human love.
If we look for a cultural example of how this human
love operates then we need look no farther than the advertising industry. This
industry fully appreciates and understands this characteristic of human love
all too well. Whether they are selling greeting cards, or whether they are
selling cars, or food, or just about anything else, the basic premise is always
the same. If you give yourself to the product in question (that is, if you buy
it!), then you will receive something you highly value in return. In other
words, we give and we get. It is the very foundation for human love. It is the
very basis of our culture.
In this regard, this is one reason why advertising
is so successful; it assumes the reciprocal character of human love, of human
behavior. Advertising picks up on our basic human desires. We want what we
want, and advertising educates us on how to receive it. The actual “product”
can be anything, and the basic principle still applies.
Let us expand our vision with this example a little
bit. Have you ever noticed how often the non-church going media and advertising
industry depict the activity of church? Church as an activity is presented in
the media, and in advertising, primarily as a utilitarian enterprise. That is,
church attendance and activity is merely intended to meet our emotional and
social needs.
Even some of us in the church are tempted to succumb
to this type of thinking. For example, we assume that if only we can find the
right mix of music, or the right array of programming, or just the right
preacher, or create just the right informal environment in worship, then our
attendance will go up, or our budget will increase. In other words, if we give
the right effort, then we will get the desired result. Such an approach to be
the church is a market driven approach. This may be fine if we are selling
widgets, but is a consumerist attitude covered over by pseudo spirituality grounded
in our own egos really the scriptural approach to be the church?
You see, in this understanding of church, the
practice of Christian love is defined merely as a means to an end; specifically
the growth of the institution. Such thinking misses the point of our text this
morning; we are called to simply and sincerely express Jesus’ commandment to
love one another as he has loved us.
For the most part the media, the advertising
industry, and even church growth experts portray the task of doing church, or
living in discipleship as a “give something in order to receive something in
return” enterprise. It is a vision far from Jesus’ words here in John’s Gospel
account.
In fact, it is astounding how tragically different
this skewed vision of the church is from the view presented in our gospel text
this morning. Somewhat cynically, the church has become best known as a results
oriented community, asking the question, “What will work?” Instead of being
defined by love, we have become defined by self-interest. Put differently, do
we love others to perpetuate the institution, or do we love for loves sake?
Jesus said, “This
is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you”. It is the second part of this commandment that
can cause us to stumble; “…as I have
loved you”. And how has Jesus loved us? Jesus loves us even though we do
not deserve it, have not earned it, and cannot truly reciprocate it. From our
perspective, what a truly joyous feeling it is to know that we are loved
despite our flaws and failings. Yet, are we up to the task of sharing such a
love with others?
It is our challenge to share that joyous love. In truth, the ways we can love one another
are as varied and numerous as there are people in the world. Through our
discipleship we are called to share our love with all people. Each one of us
must decide how we can share love in concrete ways.
However, let me point to a few possibilities which
may be common to all of us, especially to our graduates as you prepare to
journey into a new phase of your lives – how will you live?
We keep Jesus’ commandment to love one another as
we reach out the community we live in. There are people right outside the doors
of this church who yearn for the love we share and are called to give, yet
these people do not come because they are fearful we will condemn or judge them
because they are different from us. Can we love them without expecting anything
in return?
We keep Jesus’ commandment to love one another as
he has loved us by learning to love and accept our brothers and sisters in
Christ - even as we may disagree with one another over particular issues. Can
we love one another without expecting everyone to see life our way? Along
these lines, it is important and humbling to remember that Jesus loved Judas
just as much as he loved Peter!
So, then, let us move forward living our lives with
awareness of the distinction between human love and Christian love. Let us also
remember that we are called to love others, and we are empowered to do so as we
abide in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “This
is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you”. So may it
be for us here in this time and in this place. AMEN!
Marc V. Mason
Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 21, 2006
Trinity Presbyterian Church
Travelers Rest, SC