DAY 132

LOVE
2 Kings 15 & 16 and John 3:1-18

For God so loved…Love, there it is, that word…again. In our Old Testament lesson we come across eight kings: three from Judah and five from Israel. Only two did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Six did evil, and one, King Ahaz, even offered his son in fire (2 Kings 16:3).

What does love look like? For these kings it should look like who they are allied with, or following, or obeying. Do we know it when we see it? Most of us are able to see kindness, but I am not always sure about love. I think about it a lot. We are going to be talking more about this is John’s Gospel because Jesus brings us this word a lot – Jesus will even say later “if you love me you will keep my commands.”

I have to be careful to not judge too quickly whether or not love is taking place. That parent, or spouse, or friend, who is often appearing unkind, might be practicing love. Sometimes discipline is love. Sometimes silence is love. Sometimes suffering is love. For God so loved the world we read today. It has become our “sound bite,” but it needs to be more.

Do you think Jesus is “loving” Nicodemus, this man who comes at night, in secret? Jesus seems to be pretty tough on him. “Don’t you know, you are a teacher” says Jesus, it seems like taunting.

We know that Love Lasts; that it has “legs.” We know that Love suffers long. We know that Love conquers. We in fact know that Jesus loved and loves Nicodemus…and Nicodemus knew it…for it is Nicodemus who will with Joseph of Arimathea lay our Lord’s lifeless body in the tomb.

I could write 1,000 words on this passage and not be done. There is the image of night. There is the idea of Spirit and Wind and how it connects to Genesis 1. There is Jesus “high and lifted up.” There is the idea of “born again.” All of this is John drawing on the Scriptures to tell us the amazing story of God come to earth. You have even read enough of the Scriptures to see each of these connections.

Today though I am pondering love, and I invite you to for moment, ask yourself what your love looks like, ask yourself if you have allowed God’s to enter your heart.