Episode 31: Love
LOVE
I often hear people describing the love of God as though it was one dimensional or some kind of utopia where nothing negative ever happens. Such a view is wholly insufficient for understanding the love God expresses. Henry Ward Beecher reportedly once said, “I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.” The relationship between love and worship highlights the complexity of the matter and may underlay the emphasis by the Gospel of John on love. The multiple dimensions of the love expressed by The Only One worthy of worship become more clear as one looks at the biblical emphasis.
In The Old Testament
The relationship between love and worship are brought into focus during the giving of the 10 Commandments. Speaking to the people, God describes why they should not worship other gods.
“You shall not worship them nor shall you serve them;
For I am the LORD, your God, a jealous God who
returns the sins of the fathers upon the children who
hate me, even unto the third and fourth generation, yet
a God who performs mercy to the thousands who are
loving me and guarding my commandments.”
(Exodus 20:5-6, LXX)
The comparison between those who hate and those who love God is clarified through their differing responses to worship and service, i.e. guarding God’s commandments.
Elsewhere in John
When Jesus speaks to his disciples on his last evening, he incorporates language similar to the Old Testament. “I am giving you a new commandment, namely, love each other; in the same way as I have loved all of you so you are each to love the other. By this all persons will know you are my disciples, when you possess love for one another.” (John 13:34-35) This comparison between love and keeping a commandment reflects the type of devotion described by the passage in Exodus. The connection is reinforced a few verses later when Jesus says, If you love me, then you will keep my commandments. (John 14:15)
Whether or not Jesus holds the authority to issue such a sweeping proclamation that recalls the 10 Commandments is established early in the Gospel when we hear about the love relationship he has come to announce. The stage is set in John 3 for the connection between the Father and the Son. “God loved his own in this fashion, he sent his unique Son with the intent that everyone who is trusting him should not perish but have the life of the ages” (John 3:16) and later, “The Father loves the Son and has placed everything into his hand.” (John 3:35) This characteristic of God, namely love, is demonstrated to the world at large as well as to Jesus, the Son, specifically.
As the conflict described in John 7-10 reaches its apex, Jesus again clarifies his relationship to the Father. “The Father loves me for this reason, I lay down my life so that I might take it up again.” (John 10:17) The prayer by Jesus in John 17 reinforces this relationship based on love as well.
The glory you once bestowed on me, I have bestowed on
them so that they might be unified, just as we are
unified; I am in them just like you are in me, so that they
might be completed in unity, so that the world might
know that you sent me and you loved them just as you
loved me. (John 17:22-23)
Jesus’ request makes obvious that the goal of God’s love is never limited in focus. God’s love has an expansive focus dedicated to sharing his love with others.
We find in John 3 and 17 that love in the Gospel of John is related to two elements; keeping and sending. Love for God is demonstrated by keeping God’s commandments; more specifically as this Gospel clarifies, by keeping Jesus’ words.
Whoever loves me will keep my word and my Father will
love him and we will both come to him and make a
dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me will not
keep my word; and this word which you hear is not
mine, rather it comes from my Father who sent me.
(John 14:23-34)
After Jesus is raised from the dead, he gives new instructions to his followers. “Jesus said to them a second time, “Peace be with you;” then he said, “just as the Father sent me, even so I am sending you out in my service.” (John 20:21)
The question remains, with what purpose are followers of Jesus sent? Jesus answers this question in terms of forgiveness. “Receive the Holy Spirit; whoever’s sins you forgive will be forgiven, and whoever’s sins you grab hold of will be kept hold of.” (John 20:22b-23) This concept is reflected in the writing known as 1 John. “Love is seen in these terms, not that we have loved God but rather that he loved us and sent his Son as the means of forgiveness for our sins.” (1 John 4:10) Love in the Gospel of John is closely associated with forgiveness, both for us and through us.
Concluding Thought
The Gospel of John does not describe God’s love as a modern romantic inclination, but rather as a magnificent complexity. The modern tendency to oversimplify this love ignores the depth and fulness of its qualities. God loves. Period. Therefore, God sends his Son to bring about forgiveness. Period. God then sends those who follow his Son to share that forgiveness. Period. Such is the depth and genuineness of God’s love.
Those who love God are identified as ones who keep God’s instructions. The Gospel of John describes those who love God as living with the same type of unity as the Father and Son exhibit. This type of unity is not possible within a rebellious relationship. This type of unity is not developed through a single day encounter with someone on a beach vacation. The unity expressed by the Father and the Son runs far deeper than anything in our strictly human experiences. The unity between those who love God is always developing, always growing, always being challenged and probed. Only through these various adversities does the love of God become more clear. The love God breathes forth in the Word become Flesh forgives. This forgiveness is the bond of unity.
Take Five Minutes More
What images does forgiveness bring to mind? Do these images also include unity? Unless forgiveness results in unity it is not the forgiveness born from the love God empowers.
When have you been forgiven by someone else? Did you experience God’s love exercised by them in that event? Is there a time when you did experience forgiveness with such a depth?
Take a moment and describe how you respond to forgiveness. Then describe how you initiate forgiveness.