"When Jesus Christ calls a man, he bids him, 'Come and die!' " Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian wrote that sentence in his cell on April 9, 1945. He was within hours of the hangman's rope being placed around his neck in the Flossenburg concentration camp in Nazi Germany. Son of a leading authority on psychology, neurology, and a university professor, as a young man Dietrich had turned away from the life of prestige and privilege that would naturally befall him in order to pursue his sense of call to become a pastor. When the Third Reich came into power, Bonhoeffer could have chosen to stay in the United States and teach at the seminary where he had just earned his doctorate. Instead, he was moved with love for the Christians of his homeland and returned there to become the pastor of a small Lutheran congregation. He ended up dying on the end of a hangman's rope primarily because of his love for God, for God's people, and the land of his birth. Jesus says, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (vv. 34-35).
What sets the church of Jesus Christ apart from any other organization in the world? The answer is two things: First, the Christian church is the only society in the world that requires its members to admit that they are sinners and do not deserve to be members. Second, the church of Jesus is the only organization that demands of its members they possess this amazing love that we will call a "love in spite of." Just before his crucifixion, Jesus identified the primary evidence that would set his disciples apart from the rest of the world. He issued what he termed "a new commandment." This command to "love one another" would at the same time reflect Christ's own love for us and signify to the world that we are his disciples.
Knowing this, of course, immediately raises a series of questions. Question number one is do we truly know what kind of love this love is? Question number two is how do we develop this kind of love? Question three is how do we demonstrate this kind of love?
The Definition of this Love
Love to both God and man is fundamental to true Christianity, and we find that idea expressed in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus himself declared that all the law and the prophets hang upon love. The Old Testament taught us that "you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). Yet Jesus says here that this is "a new commandment." What is different about this love that allows him to call it "new"? Simply this, "Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another" (v. 34). Jesus is calling us to a higher standard of love than the world had ever seen before, a love following the example of his own love for us.
Just what did Jesus' love look like? Jesus explained what he had in mind in these words: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends" (John 15:13). Paul, once a warrior against Jesus and now a beloved prisoner of Christ's love, directs the Ephesians and through them, us to "be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:1-2). In his epistles, John speaks of it in these words, "We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us -- and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action" (1 John 3:16-18). The early Jerusalem church put it into practice: "All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need" (Acts 2:44-45).
You and I are called to make this love observable to the whole world: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). To fulfill this command and allow the world to see this love we must allow this love to be seen outside the church building and in the everyday interactions of the Lord's people.
The Development of this Love
If we are to show off this amazing love that Jesus modeled for us, how will it begin to grow in and through us? Paul says that we are taught to love like this by God himself:
Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, beloved, to do so more and more.
(1 Thessalonians 4:9-10)
We have a sense of the depth of God's love earlier in John's gospel when we read, "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (John 3:16). Now, reflect on that phrase for a moment... for what would you be willing to sacrifice a child? God sacrificed his Son out of love for us and "while we still were sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). John affirms this in his first epistle, "This is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). So this love begins its development in us when we think about the love of God the Father.
This love develops further when we begin to model the love of God the Son, Jesus. Once again we find the instruction from John's first epistle -- not now from John 3:16 but from 1 John 3:16: "We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us -- and we ought to lay down our lives for one another." Surely the closer we walk to Jesus, the more we will want to follow, to the best of our ability, the model of his life and ministry and love as he loved.
Then this love develops further again as we model it, and see it modeled, among the people of the church. "Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24). This statement from the writer to the Hebrews moves love from the vertical to the horizontal dimension of everyday Christian living. There is a distinct parallel between the time when this epistle was written and what is happening in our day. Back then, some people were relinquishing their faith and their connection with God's people in the church, so the Hebrews were instructed to "provoke" or stimulate love between one another. And just like today, regular attendance at church meetings facilitates love for one another because there we receive reminders and exhortations to persevere in our love just as Jesus perseveres in his love for us. As we do this, love develops.
The Demonstration of this Love
While a college student, Heidi Neumark, now a Lutheran pastor, took a year off from her studies at Brown University to be part of a volunteer program sponsored by a group called Rural Mission. She was sent to Johns Island -- off the Carolina coast -- where she learned from the sons and daughters of plantation slaves who allowed her to listen in as they sat around telling stories.
In Heidi's own words:
The most important lesson I learned on Johns Island was from Miss Ellie, who lived miles down a small dirt road in a one-room, wooden home. I loved to visit her. We'd sit in old rocking chairs on the front porch, drinking tall glasses of sweet tea, while she'd tell me stories punctuated with Gullah expressions that would leap from her river of thought like bright, silver fish: "Girl, I be so happy I could jump the sky!" I never could find out Miss Ellie's precise age, but it was somewhere between 90 and 100. Maybe she didn't know herself. She still chopped her own firewood, stacked in neat little piles behind the house. Miss Ellie had a friend named Netta whom she'd known since they were small girls. In order to get to Netta's house, Miss Ellie had to walk for miles through fields of tall grass. This was the sweet grass that Sea Island women make famous baskets out of, but it was also home to numerous poisonous snakes: coral snakes, rattlesnakes, water moccasins, and copperheads. Actually, Netta's home was not that far from Miss Ellie's place, but there was a stream that cut across the fields. You had to walk quite a distance to get to the place where it narrowed enough to pass. I admired Miss Ellie, who would set off to visit her friend full of bouncy enthusiasm, with no worry for the snakes or the long miles. I also felt sorry for her. Poor Miss Ellie, I thought, old and arthritic, having to walk all that way, pushing through the thick summer heat, not to mention the snakes. I felt sorry -- until I hit upon the perfect plan. I arranged with some men to help build a simple plank bridge across the stream near Miss Ellie's house. I scouted out the ideal place -- not too wide, but too deep to cross. I bought and helped carry the planks there myself. Our bridge was built in a day. I was so excited that I could hardly wait to see Miss Ellie's reaction. I went to her house, where she wanted to sit in her rocker and tell stories, but I was too impatient with my project. I practically dragged her off with me. "Look!" I shouted, "a shortcut for you to visit Netta!" Miss Ellie's face did not register the grateful, happy look I expected. There was no smile, no jumping the sky. Instead, for a long time, she looked puzzled, then she shook her head and looked at me as though I were the one who needed pity. "Child, I don't need a shortcut." And she told about all the friends she kept up with on her way to visit Netta. A shortcut would cut her off from Mr. Jenkins, with whom she always swapped gossip; from Miss Hunter, who so looked forward to the quilt scraps she'd bring by; from the raisin wine she'd taste at one place in exchange for her biscuits; and the chance to look in on the "old folks" who were sick. "Child," she said again, "can't take shortcuts if you want friends in this world. Shortcuts don't mix with love."[1]
She was right, love sometimes calls for us to be prepared to take the longer route. Jesus says, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." When the church meets, and especially when we see visitors present, we have an opportunity to demonstrate the love of Jesus before them. It is important that people who stop in to observe the church in action see genuine Christ-like love exercised among church people. So we can ask ourselves whether we are truly happy to see our brothers and sisters in worship and does our demonstrated consistent sincerity of our love help others who are not yet disciples to see that the love we find in Jesus is no ordinary love?
Another place where the people of the church have an opportunity to show true Jesus love is when we are outside the four walls of the church in our community. A Christian family traveling on a European vacation boarded a train from London to Dover in England. In Dover, they were scheduled to board a hovercraft that would ferry them across the English Channel to Calais, France. From there they were scheduled to board another train to Paris. It was a trip of a lifetime that they had planned for a long time. After the train pulled into the station at Dover, the passengers began to disembark. Suddenly, one man's overloaded suitcase burst open on the train station platform and almost all the contents fell onto the ground. The wind blew some of the contents across the platform. Even though the connection between train and hovercraft allowed only a few minutes, that family stopped on the platform and helped the man gather up his belongings and repack them. As they packed, the distraught man kept telling them that they might be too late to connect with the hovercraft, but they assured him that they were willing to risk that to help him. After all the contents of the case were gathered and the suitcase was repacked, the family and their new friend, his suitcase held together with a leather belt from his pants, rushed toward the dock. They arrived just in time to board. As they walked down the pier to the hovercraft the man said, "I've got it. You must be Christians." "Why would you say that?" the dad asked. "Because," said the man whose suitcase had burst, "you put my needs before your own priorities." As it turned out, the man was a former highly involved Christian worker who, as the result of certain life circumstances, had been shunned by his former fellowship after a divorce that he tried to prevent and had left his faith. That day, he was one of the "everyone" Jesus spoke about and he witnessed firsthand how the love of Jesus works itself out when a suitcase bursts on a railway platform even when the schedule is tight. Before their visit ended, the man used his influence to help that family enjoy special access to Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. More important, he promised the helpful family that he would start attending church again.
What does "everyone," those people outside the church, see in each of us? Do they see people who are forgiving? Do they find people who hold on to old wounds and grudges? Do they see a sincere interest in the well-being of other people? Or do they see indifference to the needs of others? Do they see the church divided against itself, or its people standing together in unity and love?
Methodist bishop William Willimon in his book, The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry, writes, "Not long before his death, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to the congregation at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church: 'If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize; that isn't important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards; that's not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody.' "[2]
In the wonderful classic movie Spartacus, which retells the historical account of the great Roman slave rebellion in 71 BC, Spartacus (played by Kirk Douglas) was a highly trained gladiator who escaped and led other slaves to freedom. As news of his rebellion grew, thousands of slaves joined his cause and followed him through victories and defeats. Near the end of the movie, a massive Roman army, under the command of Senator Crassus (masterfully played by Laurence Olivier), captures the rebels. Although Crassus does not know what Spartacus looks like, he suspects that Spartacus is alive among the prisoners under guard. In full Roman uniform, Crassus gallops up to the mouth of the valley where the prisoners are being held and shouts an offer to them: they can escape death by crucifixion if they turn Spartacus over to him. Spartacus studies the ground for several seconds and then boldly rises to his feet, planning to turn himself in. But before he can open his mouth to say who he is, his friend to his left stands and calls out, "I am Spartacus!" Then another on his right also stands and calls out, "I am Spartacus!" As the real Spartacus looks on, comrade after comrade in his slave army rises to their feet and calls out, "I am Spartacus!" until there is a chorus of thousands united. These slaves show what it means to be the church -- standing as one and identifying with our Lord even though it could mean our own end.
Jesus who loved us all the way to calvary's cross did not say to us, "Here is the mark of being my disciple, gather around you a crowd of thousands of people and preach until you see hundreds of them profess their salvation." Instead he said, "If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet" (v. 14). Then he said, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (vv. 34-35). Ask yourself how you will show this love each time you have an opportunity.
1. Breathing Space, adapted from Heidi Neumark (Boston: Beacon Press, 2003), pp. 16-17.
2. William Willimon, Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002), p. 53.