STATION 4: THE CALL TO LOVEWhile obedience is wonderful and obedience is absolutely necessary, it is not enough. It is not sufficient. And, a higher more beautiful truth that we can learn from Jesus' passion is that God is calling us to love. This is a very challenging thing for human beings to do. Why? Because love, in its fullness, threatens the very center of our being. What do I mean by that? Love is emerging, love is a harmony, love is a relationship. Whether I'm talking about loving my parents, loving a football team, or loving a hot-dog, there's relationship. And, there is, in some sense, a losing of self into who and what is loved. This goes against our primary modus operandi, which is ego, selfishness, I, me, mine. You could say that we spend our entire lives, and every moment of every day, and every thought and every deed and motive, oscillating between pure ego and self, and pure love and selflessness. This is something to ponder. Christ's passion is a call to love. Jesus says very clearly that no one has any greater love than this, that he lays down his life for that of his fellow person. Notice how clearly the notion of ego and self is juxtaposed with transcendence and love. You lay down your life, you deny yourself. You transcend ego, and enter the realm of selflessness and love. We know that Jesus loved His disciples. On a very common, human plane, you can see the proclamation of the cross of Christ being Jesus loved His disciples. Set aside, for a moment, the question of whether He loved the entire world. He was a human being. And, as we saw in the previous section, He had worked for many, many years with this small group of people. As He faced His fight, file or flee decision, we see that He was working to love His disciples. How? If He stands and fights, He knows that many are going to be hurt, including His disciples. If He runs away, then the authorities will, in all probability, go after His disciples, and probably torture them until they divulge His location. He doesn't want to do that. So rather than cause any pain to His disciples, He sacrifices Himself and gives Himself up to the authorities in order to help save His disciples' lives. This is very noble. This is truly a beautiful act. See what power comes from this. Through His denial of self, we have the entire cross event. This says to all of the millions of people throughout the ages, that because He was able to love enough and give enough, so much has been made possible for so many. We do not want a society of people walking around hollow inside. And, while the obedience which we saw in the previous section is necessary, it is not sufficient. God wants to fulfill the totality of our being. He wants to have every aspect of our lives touched by His anointing power, so that we can feel robust, excitement, enthusiasm, energy, peace, bliss, and, one of the greatest words in the Bible that is overlooked so often, joy. The word "joy" appears in the Bible over and over again, scores of times. God creates us for joy. Simple obedience is not going to give us that joy. Love and harmony and peace will all give us joy. What begins as calm, cold obedience can come to fruition inside of our souls, as we experience the love of God. We are able to love because He first loves us. Notice, again, the transfer of energy, the transfer of learning, the transfer of power. God's love reaches out to us first, so that we can eventually learn how to love Him. A mother and a father reach out to their child and love him first, so that he can eventually learn how to love in return. Jesus sends a clarion call to the world. Love, love God, love each other. Deny yourselves, and you will receive great riches. Through Jesus' denial of self, through His love, He was able to save His disciples, so that they were able to proclaim His message throughout the ages. Jesus did not write the Gospels. There is no record of Him actually writing anything Himself. No, it was up to those whom He loved and those whose lives He saved, to do all of the writing for Him. So, if Jesus had not loved His disciples, and if He'd fled the scene, then, no doubt, the Romans would have gone after the disciples, and we would not have heard anything about Jesus. The disciples wouldn't have been around to document His sayings. Those who survived would have lost all motivation because Jesus fled. This is an essential element of the universe. We receive exactly what we give. Since Jesus poured out His love and was willing to file and give into the authorities, the disciples gave Him their love and their respect through the years. They were alive to maintain His banner and proclaim His name. They wrote the gospels and spread the word throughout the world, and now Jesus receives daily the prayers and admiration of uncountable millions of people. As you give, you will receive. There is no reason to be afraid to love. Because as you pour out your soul and you give up your ego, responding to the call of love, you receive in return, the whole world. Love is sufficient. If we have love in our hearts for other people, then obedience follows automatically. Love is, as the cliché says, "What makes the world go `round." Love transforms ego centered people into people who can give and share. I'll give you a marvelous illustration. The story is told of a man who died and found himself on the other side. He was standing there with the angel Gabriel and there were two huge halls in front of him. One was labeled Heaven; the other was labeled Hell. And, Gabriel took the man on a little journey. First, he took him into Hell. In Hell, there was a huge banquet table, filled with every delicacy a human could ever eat, beautiful straw-berries, kiwi fruit, and exotic delicacies that words cannot describe. Everyone was sitting at this huge banquet table, however, all of their arms, from the wrist up to the shoulder, were wrapped inside of a very tight cast. They could not bend their elbows. There was moaning and gnashing and cursing and screaming, because although people sat at this huge wonderful table, they couldn't bend their elbows to pick up the food and eat it. This truly was hell. Gabriel said, "Now come here, let me show you something." They walked next door into Heaven. They saw the same banquet table filled with delicacies to delight the angels, and people are still sitting at the table. This man notices, quite to his astonishment, everyone still has the casts on their arms. They can't bend their elbows at all. But, here in Heaven, everyone is laughing and giggling and smiling and singing wonderful songs and feasting on this glorious banquet. The man was a bit perplexed, until he noticed that here, in Heaven, people were picking up the food, and with their locked arms, reaching across the table to feed their fellow man. That is the difference between Heaven and Hell. What we attempt to keep for ourselves, we will lose. What we give up for other people, we will keep forever. That's why the call to love is so important. That's why we say that the call to love is "sufficient." If you truly have love, then you have everything that a human being can ever need or want. If you truly have a society full of people with love, you have a world without any pain, without any suffering, whatsoever. That is what we learn through the cross. The beauty and power
of love. |
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