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The Gospel challenges us to love one another. During the month of May we focus on Mary as an example of faith and love. She is the one who said, “Let it be done to me according to Your will.” Through her intercession we ask for a share in her trust in God to strengthen us in faith and to teach us to love as we should.
Mark Twain once said, “The Bible calls us to love our neighbor and our enemy. Most likely because they are the same.” Love is the most abused and misunderstood word in our language. For your prayer time this week I leave you with four pictures of love.
My favorite profound theologian is Charlie Brown. Our first picture is of a comic strip where Lucy stands with her arms folded while Charlie Brown pleads, "Lucy, you must be more loving. This world really needs love. You have to let yourself love to make this world a better place in which to live!" Lucy whirls at him angrily. This causes Charlie Brown to do a back flip and she screams at him: "Look, block-head the WORLD I love. It’s PEOPLE I can’t stand."
Some of us “resemble” that remark. We love the world. It’s people we can’t stand.
Love who? Why everybody. Nothing could be clearer from the Gospels than that.
The second picture is from the comedian Jerry Clower. He tells a story (in “Life Ever Laughter”) about Christian love in action. Two Christian businessmen were having lunch in a downtown restaurant. The waitress serving their table dumped a bowl of hot soup right over one of the businessmen. Everybody gasped and stared. The manager runs out to fire this lady. The man stands there dripping with his suit ruined. Everyone waits for him to yell at this waitress. Instead the man looked at the girl and said, “Young lady, I’m so sorry this happened to you. I know it embarrasses you terribly." The manager was silent. Everyone was dumbfounded. (1)
How would you have handled that situation? Can you love as the Master would have us love? Can any of us do that? How?
"As I have loved you, love also one another." Most authorities tell us that we learn to love by being loved. This gives us our third picture of love. Every first year psychology student sees the Harlow demonstration. He used baby monkeys with artificial mothers constructed out of wire and cloth. He discovered that baby monkeys deprived of a mother’s love were not able to love either. Some people are sitting in this church who have never been loved by a mother or a father. You know what it is like to be one of Harlow’s baby monkeys. But despite all this you are loving. Where did you learn this love? Who gave it to you. You know in your hearts it came from God. From where else could it have come?
"By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another." Educator Jeffery Holland gives us the fourth picture of love. He tells of a preschool teacher who faced what she thought was "burnout." She was a committed teacher to the so-called "disadvantaged child." She had begun to despair over some of the children who seemed so lost, so limited, so neglected at home. She felt there was something wrong with her or wrong with the preschoolers. They just don’t respond like they used to. Then her mother died.
She took a week off to attend her mother’s funeral and other duties. She was very close to her mother. Following the funeral she needed some time alone to deal with her feelings. Her frustrations at the preschool seemed like an even heavier burden. When she returned she felt more like a soldier going into battle than a teacher of preschoolers. The first day back was about what she expected. Her hurt and despair produced resentment which she kept carefully hidden. She went through the paces like the professional she was. She smiled at the right times and was admirably patient considering the environment and her raw feelings.
Then it happened. She came around the corner to discover Rachel picking the last chrysanthemum from the pot in the hall. Rachel was the most distant, most disruptive child in the class. In a stern voice the teacher demanded, "Rachel, what are you doing?"
Rachel held out in her little hand the flowers she had already picked. "Mrs. Terrell," she said, "You used to be like a mother. Would these flowers help you to be like a mother again? I know you are fussed in your mind. Wouldn’t you like some flowers?"
Mrs. Terrell thought, “fussed in my mind?” You mean it shows? To a five year old? She spoke: "Rachel, what is a mother like?" "A mother is like you used to be," Rachel said. "A mother likes being with children." "But Rachel," said Mrs. Terrell, "I like being with children. I’ve just...well, I’ve been...well, Rachel, my mother...passed away, and..."
Rachel interupted, "You mean she died?" "Yes, Rachel," said her teacher sadly, "She died." Rachel looked up at her teacher and asked, "Did she live until she died?"
Mrs. Terrell thought, what kind of question is that? "Well, honey, of course," she said, "All people live until they die; they..." Rachel interupted her again. "Oh, no they don’t, Mrs. Terrell. Some people seem to die while they are still walking around. They stop being what they used to be. Mrs. Terrell, don’t die just because your mother did. Be alive while you are alive." (2)
Jesus said, "All will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another." So, how about us? 1) Do we love the world, but cannot stand people? 2) If someone spilled soup on us would we be more worried about their embarrassment or losing their job than our dry cleaning bill? 3) If we were raised without love, do we give God the credit for teaching us how to love? After all, from where else could it have come? 4) Will we love and live until we die?
(1) Jerry Clower, LIFE EVER LAUGHTER, (Nashville, Tennessee:Rutledge Hill Press, 1988)
(2) VITAL SPEECHES