Meditation for January 17, 2007

From The Rev. Peter Munson

Ephesians 4:17-32

 

The Standard - Loving Others in the Way That Jesus Loves Us

 

"Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:29-32)

 

The standard for the way we are to act as Christians is quite straight-forward. We are to be loving, for that is the example our Lord sets for us, and what He asks of us. Jesus said to His disciples, "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." (John 13:34-35; see also John 15:12) Telling His disciples that they needed to love one another was nothing new. What made it a new commandment was the part where He said "just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." We are challenged by Jesus to love each other in the same way that He loves us. And He says that people will know we are His followers if we have love for one another - again, in the same way that He loves us.

 

Sometimes we have trouble living up to this standard. Or maybe I should say that very often we have trouble living up to this standard!  We don't always treat each other in loving ways, even within our Christian communities. I recently heard someone say, "People at work, who don't even profess to be Christian, often treat each other better than we treat each other at church!" Ouch!  What an indictment! That should not be the case. And wherever that is  true, we are grieving the Holy Spirit, as it says in Ephesians 4:30.

 

As Christians, we are not supposed to be saying anything about another person that we are not willing to say directly to that person. In other words, we are not to engage in gossip, or slander, or destructive talk. Our words spoken about another person, or even said directly to another person, should not be dripping with malice or wrath or the desire to put that person down. The person next to you in church is an indispensable part of the Body of Christ (see Romans 12 or 1 Corinthians 12), and just like you, he or she is a beloved child of God.  As such, we need to be holding each other in honor, and doing everything we can to extend love and grace to each other. Instead of this kind of behavior, we often assume the worst about others. We assume the worst about another's motives, about why he or she has done the things that they have done. We often assume that if someone makes a mis-step, that it was intentionally done to hurt us. We often take things too personally, acting as if the other person is "out to get us" in some way. This is not extending grace to each other. This is not being "kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you."

 

The Holy Spirit empowers us to be loving people, first and foremost. We love because God first loved us. (1 John 4:19) We forgive others who hurt us because God has forgiven us. We do not speak ill of others, because God does not speak ill of us. Just the opposite, in fact. God calls us His "beloved"; Jesus called His disciples his friends. (see John 15:12-17, where the context is also love) 

 

So, the question remains: Is it obvious to others that we are Christians? By that, I mean this:  Do others know we are Christians, by the way that we love?  Perhaps the refrain of the familiar song - a song I first learned in the Episcopal Church when I was in high school - is ringing in your ears, in the same way that it rings in my ears as I write this. "They will know we are Christians, by our love, by our love, yes they'll know we are Christians by our love." If that is true about us, then give God the glory. When it is not true, then we have some work do so, beginning with repentance. 

 

Maybe there is one other question that we need to keep asking, so that we don't forget the standard that Jesus set for us.  In this moment, in this interaction, in this relationship - am I loving in the same way that Jesus loves me?