Love Who?

I am reflecting here on Valentine's Day about how many kinds of love people experience in their lives. We, English-speaking people, use the one-word “love” meaning all kinds of things by it, such as “I love Italian cream cake” and “The love of her grandmother was perhaps the most redemptive force in her childhood.” The varieties of love probably stem from distinct parts of our brains and feel like they are energized in differing parts of the heart.

This Sunday we will hear another section of Jesus’s teaching content from the Gospel according to Luke. Sometimes we call this chapter, The Sermon on the Plain because Jesus initiates this healing and teaching time when he gets to a “level place.” Listen to the odd and jarring application of love insisted upon by Jesus, addressing his disciples:

Jesus said, "I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:27-31)

These are broadly familiar phrases of Jesus. Familiarity with them does not make the message any easier to absorb, still less, easy to assimilate into our feelings and behavior. We might consider that it is only by God’s gift of grace that we would ever be able to love our enemies. The injunction to do good to those who hate us and bless those who curse us presents us with a difficult task. It feels unnatural.

In another part of the New Testament, Paul makes a distinction between the natural and the spiritual person. The New American Standard Bible 1995 translates 1 Corinthians 2:14 in this way: “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. The New Revised Standard Version translates it thusly, “Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” It seems foolish to offer your cheek to be slapped, having just been slapped on the other cheek. It seems foolish to offer the shirt off your back, to one who has grabbed your coat. It was probably scriptural wisdom like this that earned Francis of Assisi the moniker, “God’s Fool.

If you had a loving grandmother, that lovely one might be the easiest person for you to love. Loving one’s enemies will certainly be the hardest. Is it possible that the most demanding spiritual challenge might yield the most profound strength and benefit from the Spirit of God? In such a task you will be leaning upon God completely. From there you will find the means to follow through. Happy Valentine’s Day: and keep your loving hearts receptive to God who will supply you with the spiritual gift of love surpassing what you can do in your natural human strength.