Luke 6:27-28
“Lend expecting nothing back.” (Luke 6:35)
As an elementary school teacher, I’ve found the Lord has given me ample opportunities to live out the commands in today’s Gospel. One such instance in particular stands out to me.
Several years ago, I had a student whose personal history and struggles manifested outwardly in their behavior and overall demeanor at school. Daily in the classroom, the Lord gave me opportunities to model his patience, gentleness, and calmness, and this child in particular became the recipient of my, what seemed like, countless little moments of love, mercy, and grace. How it hurt my heart when my love didn’t seem to do anything. It felt like I poured out so much attention and care on this child only to experience their outward attitude seem incredibly resistant to anything I had to give them.
A while later, after the school year had long ended and this child had moved on, I was bringing this wound up to the Lord–this wound of the rejection of my love. I questioned why He would allow me to experience that rejection. His answer came, clear and simple: You are that child over and over again. How many times had the Lord poured out everything good, poured out love I could never even begin to deserve, and I had chosen to reject it. It was as if He was prompting me to take his place for a moment, and imagine what it would be like to love someone with infinitely perfect love and have that love refused for something else fleeting and meaningless. If my heart hurt from my love being rejected, what did his heart have to feel like?
No love I give to anyone will really be deserved; in the same way I don’t deserve the love the Lord is holding me in during each moment of my life. Love is a gift; it’s a radical gift we as Christians are called to give at every moment with every encounter. Jesus didn’t say to love when it’s received well, love when we’re thanked, or love when we get something back. No, He called us just to love, simply love, so radically the world wonders why.
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