Thursday, May 11, 2006

Love one another

All men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:35).

In the decades following Jesus’ death and resurrection, the love His followers showed for each other was noted by many. The famous Roman lawyer Marcus Minucius Felix became a convert to the faith, and he wrote the following words about the Christians of his day: "They loved one another, even before knowing one another." Of course, there were unbelievers who scoffed at what they saw of Christian behavior; Lucian, who also lived at that time, wrote, "Their Master has made them believe that they are all brethren."

Our Christian love for each other is otherworldly. True expressions of the love of God seem heavenly to some and ludicrous to others. Lucian was a member of a society where rich politicians were far better than poor farmers, and even farmers were better than wretched slaves. And certainly no foreigner could ever be considered the equal of a citizen of the Empire! To his way of thinking, it was ignoring reality to claim that an immigrant and a native-born Roman had anything in common. Christians were fools to treat the poor and the rich alike; it gave the powerless nothing but the illusion of self-worth, while it deceived the powerful into willingly giving up their rights of privilege for no good reason.

But although he lived in the same culture, Marcus Minucius Felix saw things differently. He was amazed and delighted that Christians showed genuine love for each other, even before they knew each other well enough to realize who was rich and who was destitute. To the Christians, wealth and social position meant nothing; they knew that in Jesus’ eyes all souls are of equal value. Saint Peter said, I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right (Acts 10:34-35).

Jesus said, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. And it is true. The visible bond of accepting love identified people as Christians just as surely to Lucian as to Felix; even unbelievers can see that people united by non-judgmental love must be followers of Jesus. This is why we Christians must make every effort to love each other and care for each other, regardless of our backgrounds; when we spend our time criticizing each other and fighting among ourselves, we are not showing the world who we belong to.

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