Love is our Calling

The stones and swords we keep that keep us from what we were created for

Last June, when we visited Paris as a family, we got to see some of the city’s preparation for the Olympics. I remember sensing such a city-wide feeling of pride, excitement, and responsibility, as forthcoming 2024 hosts.

So, later in the summer, we couldn’t wait to watch the opening ceremony and see all that had come from the little we’d witnessed in process last spring.

Watching the Olympic opening ceremony with my family filled me with awe. We were impressed by the storytelling and the way each part seemed (from the little I know) so Parisian. We didn’t understand all the parts of the story, but it wasn’t our story to tell.

Maybe it was in part because we were just there last June, but to me it felt like we were the recipients of someone else’s hospitality as we watched it all unfold.

So, when I opened social media after watching the ceremony, I was surprised to find post after post expressing outrage and pointing fingers about various parts of it. I didn’t engage much with what I saw online, but I saw enough to feel brokenhearted by it.

I didn’t see an agenda in the opening ceremony. I didn’t even notice what many were calling a rendition of the Last Supper, which only looked like a fashion runway with spectators, to me (I’ve since learned wasn’t even meant to depict The Last Supper or any Eurocentric painting of The Last Supper, in the first place).

Instead, I saw a beautiful city trying to welcome the entire world to its home with all the history, art, and unique culture that makes it exactly what it is and has been known for. I saw an iconic city that I’ve loved visiting, would love to visit again, and a city full of people made in the image of God, who Jesus loves, whether they know it or not.

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I wrote the words above last summer, shortly after our spring visit to Paris and Freiburg. I meant to finish it and share it here, but never did. It’s been sitting in my drafts for months.

And now, almost a year later, this draft feels like it missed its time. So much has happened. No one is talking about the Paris Olympics anymore. But, I’ve never really been timely with my writing as I’ve been told I should be, and then again, as I believe and say often: it’s all connected. Then and now. Us and them. Here and there.

As I re-read this draft thinking I’d delete it, I started seeing the threads that connected the dots between, well, all the things. So, for whatever it’s worth, and perhaps because it’s for one of you who happens to need these specific words now and not then, here it is.

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Remember when Jesus told his disciples how he would suffer and die a humiliating death, and Peter responded with outrage as if there were enemies and agendas to fight against instead of people to love?  In that moment, Peter thought he was defending Jesus’ honor and name in the world.

In response to Peter’s mislead zeal, Jesus told Peter,

“Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”  -Matthew 16:13

Jesus went so far as to call Peter, Satan, and I’ve wondered if he responded as firmly as he did to not only correct him, but also to express his own humanity and how hard it would be for anyone to not fall into that kind of posture of defense and outrage. It is after all, the easiest way to respond to the things we are afraid of or don’t understand.

May we never forget how easy it is for all of us to dangerously miss the point and see things from our own limited point of view.

It wasn’t long after Jesus told Peter to get behind him that he then predicted Peter’s betrayal. Peter responded with exclamation, essentially saying, “no, I would NEVER.”  And yet, those of us who know how the story goes, know that he does exactly what he thought he would never do.  And so can we. He is so adamant about his own right behavior and way to go about it, that he then goes on to cut off someone’s ear in defense of Jesus. And again, Jesus responds by not only healing the man who Peter struck, but by saying, in essence, “stop doing things you think are in defense of me.”

Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” -John 18:11

What cup are you and I refusing to drink when we choose to seek or support worldly power and might in the name of Jesus, and defend what or who doesn’t need our defense?

God did tell us outright who and what to defend:

“Learn to do what is good. Pursue justice. Correct the oppressor. Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow’s cause.” -Isaiah 1:17 CSB

Jesus did tell us why God sent him into the world:

“God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” - John 3:17 NLT

And Jesus also told us what he wants us all to do more than anything:

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” -Mark 12:30-31 NLT

May we sit in Jesus’ words, learn from his posture, listen to his life and his heartbeat, and let it transform us, again and again.

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Grateful and shalomsick,

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