Dan Czaplewski posted on May 02, 2007 11:16
I was trying to find who wrote and sang the song, “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places.” I searched the Internet for that topic and I was amazed at how many web sites are devoted to the idea of looking for love, while having nothing to do with the song. I guess more people are looking for love than I realized when I began my search.
The truth be told, we’re all looking for love. We may be looking in the right places or the wrong places, but we’re all looking. We’re looking because we have a deep need to be loved. I am pretty sure that all of us have seen this need for love lead people into some bad choices that had horrible consequences.
In this coming Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus turns our need to be loved on its head. In John 13:31 Jesus tells us: “I’m giving you a new commandment: Love each other in the same way that I have loved you.” We need to love more than we need to be loved. Jesus didn’t command us to go out and find love, but to love.
Love - it is easier to say than to do; easier to talk about than to put into practice. But, the context of this Great Commandment tells us that we are loved. No matter what hurts you bear from past loves that went wrong, you are loved. The glory of God’s love was shown in the cross of Jesus Christ.
For Christians, we love because we are loved. I would suggest that God’s love goes beyond motivation to a compulsion. We can’t help but love because we are loved. When I have trouble loving someone, I need to go back to the cross and see how much God loves me in Christ.
You see, the real problem with the Great Commandment is that there are too many jerks in the world and it’s hard to love jerks. What makes it possible to love jerks is knowing how much Jesus loves me, even when I’m a jerk.
So, to all the jerks who read this, and we know who we are, know how much you are loved. The good news is that knowing we’re loved makes us little less like jerks.