Reading: John 15:12-17
As a prolific blogger, I recently found out that I'm a member of something called the "blogging community." Apparently I've been missing the meetings.
What's interesting to me, though, is that when people think of bloggers they often picture an angry Una-bomber type person banging away at their 100,000 word manifesto because they're angry at the government, angry at some religion or lack thereof, angry at just about everything.
We know, however, that anger isn't just confined to some neighborhoods of the blogging community. Radio and TV are also full of blowhard pundits who pump up their ratings by pandering to their angry consituencies, be they conservative or liberal. Anger seems to be the weapon of choice in politics, religion, and social discourse.
It's particularly disheartening to hear people who claim Christ joining in the fray, particularly in the way they slam people from other Christian traditions who may think a little differently. I reminds me of the interesting and sad situation at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion and burial. Five different churches share that ancient facility and they're constantly at each others' throats over some slight or another. The ladder you see above doorway in the picture above is an icon of all this rancor. Legend has it that the ladder was put there in the 19th century, but because one church owns the window and the other the ledge it's propped on, no one can agree who has the authority to move it. Such is the state of the grumpy Body of Christ.
Jesus' words to his disciples express something quite different: "Love one another as I have loved you." Notice that Jesus doesn't couch this in terms of a request, but says it in the imperative mood. It's a "commandment." It's ironic to me that people get fired up about posting the Ten Commandments in the courthouse when this most basic commandment is the one that most often gets ignored.
In my devotions this morning I came across a quote from the 15th century Christian writer and thinker Thomas a Kempis from his most famous work, The Imitation of Christ: "Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be." That struck me as being very profound advice.
Rather than wallowing in anger, especially self-righteous anger, maybe we ought to be focusing our energy on the commandment of Jesus, who loved all of us enough to die for us. Yes, Jesus turned over the tables in the Temple, but remember that was more an acted parable of judgment than a random hissy fit. At a more critical moment, hanging there on the cross, Jesus would have had every right to visit his wrath upon his accusers and tormenters, but chose to forgive them instead.
"Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be." I would add to a' Kempis' statement. "Instead, love others into the people God wants them to be, then perhaps you will be the person God wants you to be!"
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, teach us to love others in the way that you love us: sacrificially, powerfully, boldly. Amen.
