1 John 3:16-18 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
During his time on Earth, Jesus traveled many miles to spread the Good News: eternal life would come to all who would put their faith in him as their Lord and Savior. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:14-17) For all who believe, faith in Christ is eternal life now. In Christ existed the mystery of God’s plan for rescuing human beings from their destiny of death. Christ, the Creator of all things, adopted children into the family of God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. THROUGH HIM all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John1:1-3) This is the story of the Good News. As Jesus journeyed from town to town, He not only displayed the power of God by healing people and impacting situations, He also revealed the nature of God by doing good to people. He taught them about loving God unequivocally, and He also taught them to love each other with the same fervency. They were to care for each other as God cares for them, loving others as they loved themselves. Of course, loving God or loving others demands actions in addition to words. We cannot claim we have faith in God’s goodness and in his love for us and others if we sit in our rocking chairs, unmoved to do God’s will on Earth. If we say we love others, we should show our love by our actions. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:14-17) This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. Our faith in Jesus made us anew; consequently, we should reveal this newness by loving others as He loved others. Jesus even asked us to love our enemies, for they too were created in God’s image.
Many people followed Jesus from city to city. Some of them surely were people we would call vagrants, the homeless and the needy; others had homes, places where they earned a living. However, sometimes both groups would listen and view Jesus’ ministry for days. During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.” (Mark 8:1-3) These people gathered to hear the Good News, but they also had biological needs such as food and water. This passage does not say the disciples viewed the people with compassion—the Son of Man viewed them with compassion. He knew what it was like to be in the wilderness without food; He knew what hunger felt like. He understood what a lack of food does to a person: they will collapse on the way; they will faint. Of course, these people gathered to hear a great teacher, a man of miracles, but this alone would not suffice their need of food. Jesus’ words alone would not sustain their bodies; they needed something nutritious for their flesh; otherwise, they would faint, no matter how full their souls were with Jesus’ great teaching and miraculous deeds. Their spiritual lives were being satisfied, but they also lived in the real world; they needed the real world’s food. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? In the account of feeding the four thousand, Jesus asked the disciples what provisions they had for themselves, what material possessions they had to cover their own needs. The disciples said, seven loaves of bread and a few fish. Jesus said to them, feed the people. His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?” “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied. (Mark 8:4-5) What they had was enough for Jesus, their Lord. THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS would expand what they had to feed the hungry. The feeding of the four and the five thousand men and their families shows us God’s compassion for the physical needs of people. We as Christians should have that same compassion for those in need who dwell near us. Of course, the people who surrounded Jesus in those events were there for their own needs, not for Jesus’ benefit. In some ways, He was being used by the people. Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. (Matthew 15:29-31) Jesus satisfied their needs at this time, but He knew soon many of them would turn against him, chiming in with others to have him crucified. In these accounts of miracles, we see Jesus feeding those who coveted the meeting of their own needs, but when they see Jesus at his weakest point they join others to have Jesus put to death. Sometimes we do not want to give of our possessions because we perceive we are being used, manipulated. But we see Jesus feeding people even though He knows that some will eventually turn against him. Jesus says: But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:44-45)
John encourages us to be faithful to God’s goodness and love by being willing to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters and anyone in need. Jesus was there for the blind, the disabled, the poor. He was a man of compassion and love, even for those who despitefully used him for their own needs. He loved the people and did not turn away from those who cried out for his help. He (the blind man) called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” (Luke 18:38-42) Since the beginning of time, humanity as represented by this blind beggar has been crying out for help, seeking to understand what life is all about. Jesus asks us all, What do you want me to do for you? And we respond as mere humans, Lord, I want to see. Jesus came to give eternal life to all who will put their trust in him, the life-giver. All who do, WILL SEE the existential purpose of life: abiding forever as children of God, as brothers and sisters of the Lord himself, adopted into his family by his blood. For people to truly see and experience the eternal plan of God, they must accept by faith that Jesus is the plan. He is the essence of all knowledge, all wisdom, a direct metaphor of God’s purposes for human’s eternal existence. We abide IN HIM. As Christians, we must shine forth God’s glory by doing good to others. We must love others as God loves them. We are to love all people—the good and kind, the broken and unlovely. Everyone has been made in the image of God. If we fail to love others, we fail to love God with a pure heart and a contrite spirit. Jesus revealed unconditional love to us by loving the undeserving unreservedly. He went to the cross out of love for humanity, even though a fallen, sinful world was pitted against him when they cried out, “Crucify him!” Even his faithful followers fled when He needed them the most at the cross. They deserted Jesus as did the people who had received so much goodness from him. The cries of the angry mob were in his ears when He went to the cross as the complete sacrifice for mankind’s corruption and disobedience to God. Jesus’ suffering and death satisfied God’s judgment on the world, wiping the slate clean for all, even those who hated him then and who despise him now. In the throes of death, Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) What love, what grace and mercy! We who are Christians must follow the example of Jesus by forgiving the people who hurt us, who reject our Lord. We must lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. Then the world will know that we do not merely love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. God bless you as you choose love!
No comments:
Post a Comment