“Love and hate”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Monday, October 28, 2024
John 15: 17-27 (Forward, p. 91) CEV p. 1122
Love and hate: these two emotions seem so very prevalent in our world today, and unfortunately even more so, where even once minor political or theological views can bring on intense polarization and even hatred.
Whereas Christians are enjoined to love each other and thus mirror and replicate Jesus’ love for us, they will not be loved by those that follow the world’s values and agenda. Indeed, they are hated because they don’t belong to ‘the world’ and have instead turned their backs on what the world represents. In fact, they were chosen by Jesus to leave the world behind.
But then, this hatred is only natural. These people have hated Jesus, and so it only follows that they will hate those who belong to Him and try to follow Him. And the incredible thing is that they saw plainly Jesus’ works and actions, and even so, still hated Him. So, why might that be? For one thing, Jesus’ words and actions, like light in a dark room, expose everything that is dark, everything that is not of God, and these folks don’t want that brought to light. And, at an even more basic level, His words and actions point out their inability—or refusal, which is more like it—to put their trust in Jesus. Instead, they would rather trust in themselves and their ‘world’, and its ways.
Forward notes: “I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another” (verse 17).
“I once had the pleasure of spending a week in Costa Rica. I couldn’t help but be drawn to the simplicity of life and romanticized about retiring there and living a simple life near the beach. ‘Life can be simple,’ I thought to myself. ‘It’s meant to be simple.’
“Confucius once said that life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. I think that applies to our faith journey. Following Jesus is simple: love one another. Simple and straightforward. The problem comes when we respond with, ‘But...’ ‘But what do you really mean, Jesus, by ‘one another’?’ ‘But who’s my neighbor?’ ‘But what about...?’ We insist on making following Jesus complicated because of our desire to qualify who Jesus meant by ‘one another.’ How much simpler our faith journey would be if we followed Jesus’s simple commands. Following Jesus is simple, but it’s not easy. The things that truly transform lives never come easily. May we continue to follow Jesus by loving one another the way he loves us.”
Moving Forward: “Is there something you’re complicating when the solution is simple?”
A concluding note: Surely Jesus was addressing believers in verse 17, especially in contrast with the ‘world’s’ hatred. But then, in the Sermon on the Mount, He tells us to love even our enemies, even those who mistreat us (see Matthew 5:44). And so, we can’t escape our call to love others quite so easily as thinking that it applies only to our fellow Christians.