What kind of love has to be commanded?

A couple of weeks ago on Maundy Thursday, we read the account of Jesus and his disciples in the Upper Room.  In that passage, Jesus commands his disciples to love.  What kind of love has to be commanded?

My reaction to execution of terrorist Osama bin Laden motivated me to search for a fresh answer to that question. 

Gay and I were on a flight home from our nephew's confirmation.  Within seconds after the wheels of the aircraft touched the tarmac, the man in the seat behind us said, "We've killed bin Laden!"  He had turned on his smart phone and was reading the news that had been released while we were in flight.

My first response was one of relief.  That seemed reasonable, given the number of innocent lives he took and the threat he represented.  Then I felt a sense of joy.  That didn't seem right, given what I preach.  For the last week, I've struggled with the disconnect between my human feelings and my theological views.  On the one hand, I found myself saying, "Good riddance!  We got him!"  On the other hand, the words of Jesus to his followers rang in my ears, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn. 13:34, 35).

Yes, Jesus, but you were talking to your friends who had been following you around.  Osama bin Laden was our enemy.  He murdered thousands of people and not just Americans.  He did it in the name of God.  Why can't we be happy he's dead?  How does one reconcile feelings of hatred and happiness for retribution with this commandment to love?

In case you think Jesus doesn't answer such questions, here's the next epiphany that came to me.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?” (Mt. 5:43-46a).

What kind of love has to be commanded?  Certainly not the feeling of love.  Feelings sort of happen on their own, not because we make them happen.  It is easy to love someone who is loveable and easy to hate someone who is hateful.

The love that Jesus commands is not grounded in human emotions.  Love divine is grounded in the heart and mind of God.  Such love has always been God's desire and God's decision about how things need to work in God's creation.  It is the love that conquers human emotions, such as fear and hatred.  Jesus demonstrated how this love is expressed in his dealings with both friends and enemies.  His friends denied, betrayed, and deserted him.  His enemies plotted against him, mocked him, and crucified him.  He could have hated both his friends and his enemies.  Instead, love divine became flesh and reigned from the cross.  We are commanded to love like that – not because we feel like it, but so that our natural emotions will not enslave us.  True freedom is found in that way of loving.  It is a merger of human will with God’s will.

There is an old rabbinical story of when Moses led the people of Israel through the parted Red Sea. The armies of Pharaoh pursued them, but the water enveloped them and they died. The angels in heaven started dancing and rejoicing.  But the low voice of God was mournfully heard to say: “Dare you rejoice when my children are dying?”  My Israeli friend Mishi Neubach told me that this story is printed on the first page of the handbook that is issued to every person in the Israeli Army.  “Its purpose,” he said, “is to teach that while you may have to kill your enemy, you may not hate him and you may not rejoice over his death.”

Just before Holy Week, Gay and I toured the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.  These words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are inscribed there:  “I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

Anyone can hate.  After all, the actions of bin Laden and his followers were motivated by hate.  Did we not see images of them dancing in the streets after 9/11?  Are we any better if we engage in similar demonstrations over the death of their leader?  What is a better response?

The followers of Jesus will be recognized by the love they choose to demonstrate instead of hate.  That kind of love has to be commanded.  It doesn’t come naturally.  Feelings such as hatred emerge from the primitive reptilian part of our brains.  The love that has to be commanded is the result of the exercise of higher human intelligence seeking the mind of God.  It is the inspired decision to resist emotions that harm so that God can love through us.

The love that Jesus commands us to exhibit has to be smarter and more reliable than human emotion.  When Jesus sends us out like sheep in the midst of wolves, this love will make us “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Mt. 10:16).   The reason the love that has to be commanded will ultimately triumph is that the wiser decisions leading to the welfare and peace of the world depend upon it.  It is the way to true freedom for all God’s children.