Adapted from “Reflection” By Rev. Cheryl A. Lindsay, United Church of Christ
Jesus spoke on love extensively and robustly. When asked to identify the greatest commandment, Jesus did not choose one. He distilled them all into one with two parts: Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.
In the gospel of John the focus begins with eternity and never departs from it despite various ups and downs. Through it all, love is the tether that holds it all together.
According to Cornel West, “Justice is what love looks like in public.” Some hold the old cliché, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry,” as truth about love. Love as a verb reflects the idea that love is action—demonstrated, and realized. The Beatles told us, “All we need is love. Love is all we need.”
Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel offers a somewhat different perspective “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”
What does love look like? Clearly, love can be described and defined in many ways. The central theme, the common denominator, is a directive as to how we are to relate to and treat each other. All of this is a fundamental and established tenet of the Christian faith which asserts that God is love. That’s good news.