February 9 Offensive Love

Luke 11:45-46 One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.” 46 Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.”
 
IN his well-known “love” chapter, the apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:1-4 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
    Paul taught of Jesus’ active love. God-like love – a doing love – must be a faithful practice to draw people into Jesus. Even when, especially when, we must, as Paul did throughout 1 Corinthians, rebuke Jesus’ church for repeated unrepentant sins, love must be our motivation. A loved-like-Christ ministry manifests Jesus’ eternally active love words, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
     Yes, Jesus came to you in love because you will perish without him. Eternal life is only possible with Jesus. (Without or with him?) That is Jesus’ point to the experts in the law. He admonished them for the extensive, burdensome laws they added to the culture. He spoke against their work to uphold the law while refusing to actively love those in need. Jesus’ love ministry unveiled God’s justice, grace and mercy. His “justice words” offended these scribes and religious authorities who killed him. Sin blinded Jesus’ grace and mercy.
    Often Jesus’ justice words offend me, too. When that happens, I stop to check my love for the Triune God. Is my love just a clanging offending him? Yes, too often we want to be our own experts in God’s Word, don’t we? Our sinful souls, on the precipice of perishing, find his world-saving love offensive.
    When that happens, remember God has lovingly acted to draw you near to him. “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) What a wondrous, loving act God permits for us to do. I pray we will all approach our Savior, who loves so much.
 
Prayer: Lord God, in Jesus’ name I am grateful for the ways you have lovingly offended me.  I pray I please you. Amen.