A love that transcends all of this

Jesus told us to love our neighbor.

He said this, and then he went on to tell a story about how important it is that we love our enemies.

This covers the gamut. If we follow Jesus, we need to love our neighbors and we need to love our enemies.

It couldn’t be more clear.

This is from Jesus. Not me.

And the love of Jesus is not passive. It’s active. It’s not a hippy dippy “all we need is love” mentality… it’s a get-down-in-the-dirt with people who are hurting and love them mentality. This is the love of Jesus.

The love of Jesus is the kind of love that would find a wounded man on the road and not pass him by. It’s the kind of love that would find a wounded man on the road not pass him by and bind his wounds. It’s the kind of love that would find a wounded man on the road and not pass him by and bind his wounds and take him to a place where he would be cared for, and pay to make sure he was cared for.

It’s the kind of love that would do all of this for a wounded man who is the enemy.

This is Jesus’ love… it is a sacrificial love.

My reading of Scripture tells me that Jesus doesn’t care jack-squat about our politics. Jesus doesn’t care jack-squat about our notions of freedom or liberty. Jesus doesn’t care about our comfort.

My reading of scripture tells me that Jesus cares about the way we treat our neighbors. He cares about the way we treat our enemies. He cares about the way we treat our community.

That’s what my reading of scripture tells me. That’s what my reading of scripture tells me about who Jesus is.

And it transcends all of this.