Word to the Wise
Thursday, May 11, 2023 - 5th Week of Easter - Thurs
[Acts 15:7-21 and John 15:9-11]"As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete." [John]
There is a very poignant scene in the Broadway musical, OLIVER, in which Oliver, having run away from the orphanage, is hiding in a cellar from the headmaster who is searching for him. He feels very much alone and abandoned. He sings a sad song entitled, "Where is love?" He wistfully sings: Who can say where she may hide? Must I travel far and wide? Til I am beside the someone who I can mean something to. Where, where is love? It can be difficult to discern God's love for us in the midst of hardships and trials, and easy to forget that love in the midst of comfort and success.
In the Last Supper discourse, Jesus is preparing the disciples for his final "hour." He will lay down his life for them and for all who believe in him. They, in turn, must "remain" in his love by their love for one another. Jesus' sacrificial love sets the standard and it is a high one, to be sure. Parents, grandparents and spouses experience some of this. Caregivers can experience it, but all of them and others may ask how they might experience the same love that they are giving!! Jesus assures us that he loves us as much as his Father loves him. Sometimes our expectations color our notions of love so that we become blind to Jesus' love expressed by others toward us. "Tough love" may be needed to open our senses, minds and hearts. What we can be sure of is that Jesus is not fickle and he will not run away as his disciples (and perhaps us) when things get hard! AMEN