[Pastor Robbie Schmidtberger, our Church Planting Resident, is teaching our current School of Discipleship course, “Good News People: Speaking About Jesus While Becoming Like Him.” This class explores what it looks like to speak about Jesus naturally, while admitting that the most compelling aspect of Christian evangelism is when Jesus’ followers are becoming more and more like him.]
Love. I cannot think of a more misunderstood emotion and reality than this. I myself have said the following: “I love Star Wars…. I love Chinese food…. I love Jennifer… I love Jesus.” Culturally we can presume what it means to love different things to different degrees. I can live and be human without Star Wars, but I cannot live and be fully human without Jesus.
Jesus even said: "they will know you are my disciples if you love one another." So what does it mean to love?
CS Lewis, in his The Four Loves, was very helpful in answering this question as he looked at the different types of love within Greek writing. There is a kind of love that is sensual and full of desire (eros); there is a kind of love that pervades family relationships (philos). But the love that Jesus commanded, taught, and modeled was different from both; it was self-sacrificial (agape). Jesus, God the Son, left all the comforts of his heavenly home and humiliated himself by becoming like one of his creations, endured the miseries of sin, including police brutality, a kangaroo court, death, and burial in another man’s grave. Jesus’ example of love is characterized by humility and service so that others can live (Philippians 2:1-11).
One of the best known stories that Jesus taught was the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
"And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, 'Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' He said to him, 'What is written in the Law? How do you read it?' And he answered, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.' And he said to him, 'You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.'
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?' Jesus replied, 'A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?' He said, 'The one who showed him mercy.' And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise."
— Luke 10:25-37
Jesus is our model that we must follow in order to love others well. His own pattern was to look, feel, and then help. “If we help someone but do not take the time to look at the person and feel what he or she is feeling, then our love is cold and we reduce the person to a project. If we look and feel, but do not do whatever we can to help, then our love is cheap. True love looks at the person, feels what they feel, and does whatever one can to help their neighbor” (Paul Miller, Love Walked among Us).
Jesus, when he saw someone, saw a person in need. Whom or what do you see? Do you see a person or a project?
Jesus, seeing a person in great need, had compassion on them. What is your response? Do you have compassion, or do you have pity?
Jesus, to give people what they need, acted by giving his life. When you see a person in need, how do you act compassionately to care for them?
Jesus taught us to love others as ourselves. True love looks at the person, feels what they feel, and does whatever one can to help their neighbor. That is exactly how we want to be loved.