All We Need Is Love
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13:34)
Love – often under appreciated or underestimated. Often diminished as to describe things we enjoy like our favorite ice cream or music or snack food or sports team.
“All we need is love” – a 1967 song from John Lennon and sung worldwide by his group, The Beatles. This message is so simple and clear that it can’t be misinterpreted. It’s a simple message that states that love is everything.
But is it that simple? Love is often misunderstood. Jesus has told us and has shown us what love is. Still, after all these years, I think we still have some difficulty understanding Jesus’ message - loving as Jesus loves us.
We do love. But is that love expressed mostly for those from whom we get love or for those whom we relate to and understand and agree with? If I am honest with myself, I can see and feel these limits of my love sometimes. When held up to the light of Jesus’ love I realize this simple, ‘all you need is love’ thing is not so simple.
Therefore we, who are the Church, are to reflect the love of Jesus. We must do the hard work of learning to love as we have been loved. Remember that 90’s acronym “WWJD” (What would Jesus do?), can I twist it to “HWJR,” (How would Jesus react?) React to how people have had to define themselves as worthy of love by establishing movements to call out that they too matter. Examples I’m refereeing to:
· Black lives matter. Why do we need to be reminded that people who are black need to be loved?
· Police lives matter. Why would we need to be reminded that people who are police and civil servants need to be loved?
· Immigrants – Do we need to understand why they’ve left their homes, or how they arrived here, or what language they speak to love them?
· LGBTQIA + - Our call to love isn’t to exclude those with an orientation or expression of identity that we fail to understand.
· Political affiliations – Why have our political ideologies caused many to forget that love doesn’t mean we always agree?
· And what about those who perpetrate hatred and violence in our nation and across the globe? These are people that need to know the love of Jesus too.
For me, Jesus is the inspiration for the words “All you need is Love.” His love that certainly would bring healing in this broken world.
I confess I don’t know how to do all of this. But I know that as God’s church it is our responsibility to bring the love and healing of Christ to this troubled world.
Lord Jesus, send me Your Spirit that I might stretch the limits of my love. Help me to love others as You have loved me. In Your holy name I pray, Amen.