Jesus doesn’t love us by accepting sin that hurts us, no matter how much we think we want to pursue that sin. He calls us to Him, as a hen gathers her chicks, to protect you. He also calls us to specific behavior that keeps us within boundaries designed for our protection. But just because He set the example doesn’t mean we listen.
In my church's young adult Bible study, we've been covering biblical love as it relates to how broken our interpersonal relationships are here on earth, and it got me thinking about the different examples of love Jesus set forth during Holy Week. It's a little harder to miss earlier on in the week, through the table-flipping and rebuking and chatter about the end times...but it's there. So— Love in today’s society demands you love and accept everything, even the detrimental. And on the flip side, we're continually hurt by the detrimental things that we pursue, that our loved ones pursue, and it turns into a mucky mess of resentment and brokenness. But Jesus shows us something higher, through Holy Week — acts of love, even in the tables flipped.
Palm Sunday: Luke 19:29-40
He came in humbly. He didn’t just take what was His, nor did He come as a military leader or king like what the Jews were wanting. Love is sacrificial. It puts others above ourselves. It defends those we love (and others who love us defend us when we're under attack, including surrounding one another in prayer.) Our love for God sets the stage for how we love others. If we don’t have love, our words are just loud and abrasive, they don’t add up to much. If we give up everything but do so without love, that everything becomes nothing. But then in Matthew 23:37 we see Jesus mourning the fact that He knows Jerusalem will not accept His mercy or His love —and sets the stage for the rest of the week. Jerusalem even went so far as to kill the prophets that came before Jesus too, loving their own ways and selfish desires more than they loved God. And that’s how the world works. Yet, Jesus still went through with it all.
Monday: Matthew 21:12-17
The people selling stuff in the temple were preventing prayer which was what the temple was for. (Obviously.) So in Jesus’ righteous anger, there was love. Love doesn’t let us continue down paths of destruction. It corrects in truth and love (and sometimes that love has to be tough). The Lord knows how destructive sin is, including and especially the sins we refuse to admit or own up to. And He wants to restore and redeem us. Love doesn’t let those we care about continue messing around with sin that we should’ve left on the cross. (We’ll get there.) Love isn’t easily angered—and Jesus certainly wasn’t. But sometimes confrontation is needed, and He knew when and where it needed to happen. And it certainly doesn’t delight in evil like twisting worship and learning times into a time of self-seeking and profit and visiting and chaos. Yet, the Pharisees had no issue with the money that was made (a percentage of the profit went to the temple coffers) and had the audacity to be upset by Jesus teaching children and healing the sick at said temple (because they were making a racket…as if the sellers and money changers weren’t.) But to those who don’t follow Christ, or who are steeped in legalism, our actions might just not make sense.
Love also corrects and even rebukes when someone’s trying to lead others astray and cause chaos. The Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus with His words. The religious leaders of that time were arguably just as lost as your average atheist because they couldn’t see their own Messiah when he looked them in the eye. Literally. They were so steeped in their sin and tradition that they couldn’t see anything but their own greedy desire--and that’s why God gives us His living Word, to avoid becoming that hardhearted. And when the leaders continued to create strife and try to drive people away from Jesus, He rebuked them. But he did so by posing a series of questions to force their hand and show others the importance of steering clear of their leadership by uncovering their plot through parables. Love is not jealous or prideful or full of strife. At least, it shouldn’t be. And if it is…maybe we need to take a long, prayerful look at it.
Wednesday: Matt. 24:1-36
Jesus loves us so much that He prepared His followers for the signs of the end times before the coming pain and fear of the crucifixion--making sure those words were recorded for us forever, too. There is no confusion in love. In our world there certainly is, and in our relationships and friendships and family dynamics, but our Lord’s love toward us is the purest sort we will ever experience. If we love our Lord, we continue to watch and wait for these very signs to show us the season of this world that we’re in. God’s love for us should be a shelter from the heartbreak and pain that so often accompany human relationships, because He doesn’t act on human impulses or twisted ideals or manipulation.
Thursday: John 13
The Last Supper showed us another symbol of humility. Washing someone’s feet when they came in the house, and especially if they were visiting—that was a norm in the culture at the time, but that was reserved for the absolute lowest servant…certainly not a King or Messiah. There's a lot of cultural importance around how filthy feet were at the time, too, and it was insulting to show the bottom of your foot to someone. But Jesus set the example for us. Humble love doesn’t look at only what we want the other person to do for us, but how we can serve the other person. At least, it should. Love went out in the garden of Gethsemane to pray for all believers, including you and me. And we see Judas, one of His twelve disciples, one who ate dinner with Jesus and probably was there to have his feet washed by Him, who got to witness miracles and was probably sent to do signs and wonders earlier in Jesus’ ministry, betrays Him. We have to look to God for fulfillment and love, and do what we do for Him, because when it comes down to it, we can’t control others and how they love us. Only our own actions.
Good Friday-Sunday: Matthew 27, 28
When all else passed away, there was love. Who recently gave themselves up for a crime they didn’t commit, dealt with people screaming accusations and slapping and beating you, then whipping you until you literally should’ve been near death, then forced you to drag a 300 pound cross—crossbar being upwards of 90 pounds—to then be nailed to, a crown of these thick thorns jammed down into your forehead, and left to die? All for someone you loved? It’s obviously clear that we can’t reach that level of love in our daily life. But it’s a love that is freely offered to us even though we don’t deserve it. It’s a love that exemplifies and goes above and beyond 1 Cor. 13. And on Sunday, He rose again having defeated death for all of us.
His example should influence our every action and every way we love others. Whether it’s in relationships or families or in correction or serving strangers—He’s the only example we can truly look to. He sets boundaries to protect us because He knows how sin will harm us—both in the here and now AND the future AND all of eternity. He prevents things from happening that we don’t even know about. Love doesn’t tolerate things that will harm us, it seeks to correct, make right, confront, resolve, and turn away from the sins that will eventually kill us!
Jesus didn’t go to the cross so we could keep living in the same dirty rags forevermore, sinning the ways we like best to the detriment of those around us and grieving our Father. There’s even a parable about doing so—the wedding feast. When we as believers cling to certain sins and claim we’re just born that way or even worse that we’re right and anyone who tries to point you in the right direction is wrong and attacking you—-we aren’t living with Christ’s love in our hearts, we’re living with selfish desire which is the antithesis of love. A refusal to change and be made into a new creation, a BETTER creation that is kind and humble and sacrificing and gentle yet strong and filled with faith, that’s when we have to take a good honest look at our commitment to Christ and continually renew it.
Love also isn’t a doormat. We ARE called to forgive, not to let people treat us like garbage all the time. God gives us guidelines for what to do even then, because He knew our world would be filthy rife with the type of manipulation that says “I’ll only love you if you do everything I say.” (Which isn’t love, by the way.) Jesus wasn’t no doormat. I’ve seen a lot of sentiment online lately that he was weak, a pushover and couldn’t defend Himself…NO! He allowed the events of the cross to transpire because it was God’s will and what He came to do for us. He could’ve called down all of heaven’s wrath to protect Him…but instead, He asked the Father to forgive those who cast lots and mocked him as he hung on the cross because they didn’t know what they were doing. That’s us most times. We act out and don’t even think about what implications it might have. But love forgives. And Jesus showed enough self-control to never take control and turn the crisis into something that would benefit Him--we see it clear back at the beginning of His ministry when He was tempted by Satan in the desert, and we see it even more when He allows the betrayal, the crucifixion, the agony of His Father turning from Him because He cannot look on sin...in order to pave the way for the resurrection. Even if it’s a person you’ll never deal with again, or some type of abusive circumstance or friendship or relationship or family dynamic that you have to leave (also biblical), we are still called to forgive because our Father first forgave us. That isn’t accepting sin or tolerating someone’s unacceptable behavior. BUT that love and forgiveness keeps us safe from the same pit of sin and death that are influencing them. Because we don't fight against flesh and blood, but against the evil influence behind those actions.
God sent His son to show us what love REALLY is, and how we can strive in our own fumbling ways to be like Him. Will we be perfect? No. He's the only one who can claim that title. But should we do our level best to try? Absolutely. It means talking it out with people you disagree with--even if you continue to disagree with their opinion. It means setting boundaries with those who hurt us continually with no intent to change. It means protecting others from the influence of wickedness. It means loving when it's hard and forgiving even if you gotta white-knuckle your way through. It means serving and lowering ourselves in humility--the Lord also promises that the proud will be swiftly humbled and the humble will be lifted up.
Because Jesus did it for us first.
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