The Debt to Love One Another

Dearest e-votees,

Our appointed epistle lesson for this coming Sunday comes from Romans 13:8-14.  

Paul writes that we should owe no one anything except to love one another.  Maybe I'll send this text along with my next payments to Discover, Chase, student loan servicing, etc., etc. and see what they say about wiping out my debts.  Then again maybe that's not really what Paul is getting at.  

Peace,

Karl

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This text seems to have three strands:  

1.  Focus on what we owe others, not what they owe us.

It is understandable that we might want to make sure that we get our share--that we get at least as much as we give.  Since early childhood we have been steeped in what is fair.  We know that one sibling splits the cake and the other chooses which piece they want--make sure it is fair.  We know to watch what we get and watch what others get--make sure it is fair.  We know to watch and make sure that the rules aren't applied to our disadvantage (not always so vigilant in our advocacy when things are tilted in our favor).  But Paul, in this passage and in his life, is less worried about what he receives for himself but rather focused on those around him and if they are getting what they need.  Our baptismal call is to follow after Jesus.  Jesus spent his giving life to others while giving his life away--ultimately on the cross.  We are called to join in that journey.

2.  What we should seek to give to others is love.

There are all sorts of things we might give others.  Sometimes in is to satisfy some sense of justice in us.  Sometimes it is in hopes to making them beholden to us.  Sometimes it is to bring joy and delight into their lives.  Sometimes it is in the hope of stirring up friendly affections (perhaps with obligations, the Greek word for love fie-le-oh has some of those connotations).  Sometimes it is in hope of stirring up more passionate, sexual affections (the Greek word for love ehr-ohs has those connotations).  But the love we are called to give is ah-gah-pay (the Greek word for love that connotes a sacrificial love; a word more descriptive of the one doing the loving than the worthiness of the recipient of that love).  John 3:16:  For God so ah-gah-pay-ed the world...  There may be times, desires and needs to give gifts of all manner to those we care for but the ultimate thing we are called to give is ourselves in sacrificial love.  We give because it is life-giving and salutary to the recipient not because there might be anything or any return in it for us.

3.  The love God gives and wants us to give is not license for self-gratification but rather a call to take up our cross and lay down our lives for the sake of others.  

We have limited time and resources in this life.  We are called to use our freedoms, our privileges, our time, our talents and our treasures not in merely gratifying ourselves and our fleshly, turned-in impulses but rather to live into the salvation we have been given.  We are called to grow into the likeness of Christ and to offer hope, healing and love to all around us.  Jesus spent 3 short years in public ministry.  The disciples had relatively little time to do their work as well before 11 of the 12 died premature, human-caused deaths.  What are we doing with our comparatively lengthy and problem-free ministry contexts?  How are we helping to live into eternal life and help shape eternity for others as well?

God, help us know and live into your love.  Help us pour ourselves out in love to the world.  Help us pay our debt to Jesus, who paid our debts on the cross, by living out the calling and obligation to love others.  Amen.