Love is such a small word for such a big thing. The
greatest commandments hinge on us understanding them, and yet, as broken people
in a broken world, we so often forget what love truly is.
For so many of us, love is reasonable to the point
of being economic. When we love someone, we do good for them. We expect that
the good we do for them will be balanced by the good they do for us. We strive
for relationships that are even and fair, a self-sustaining ecosystem. When one
side stops holding down their side of the scales, economic love diminishes and
must be earned back.
In the story of Abraham and the ensuing story of
the people of God, we see another way. God, complete and perfect, promises
Abraham and Sarah that they will be God’s family. To us, the idea of a
limitless God promising this to a tiny family of broken humans is completely
unreasonable; they could never come remotely close to deserving it. Neither
could I, to be frank. And yet…..
What God asked of Abraham was the faith to believe
in that promise, in that unreasonable offer of love, and it was counted as
enough. In Lent we have the chance to prepare for another act of unreasonable
love by a God that doesn’t need us. What we’re asked for is the faith to accept
it despite our limits, despite our brokenness, despite the fact that we could
never earn it or repay it.
This Lent may we see the way that God loves us. May
we learn to accept the love we could never earn from the One who calls us
family. May we rest in this unreasonable, divine love this season, and may our
love become more unreasonable because of it.
Ce Carême je voudrais que ma foi et mon
amour grandissent.
Amen
Natalie
Jones
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