God is love - a Lenten series 30 Love faces opposition

- March 27, 2018

Luke 6:22 “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

26 “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

I am reading Richard Beck's book, Reviving Old Scratch: Demons and the Devil for Doubters and the Disenchanted. As a progressive believer and professor of psychology, Beck reconciles the concept of the devil/Satan/Old Scratch with the evil systems in this world and our own selfish ways. One of the outworkings of his thinking, as I read last night, is the falsehood of separating Jesus' two commands, love God and love your neighbor as yourself as two loves, instead of one. He writes,

...loving human beings is loving God and loving God is loving human beings. Only one love is at work, with no daylight between these two objects of love. Consequently, there is no conflict between loving God and loving people. Love is always unified: Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. (1 John 4:20)

I see this "two love" approach as the source of the false persecution complex of white evangelicals today.

When one refuses to bake a cake, explicitly because of their religious opposition to someone's gay marriage, and claim persecution, that is not being reviled on account for the Son of Man. That is being an asshole to your gay neighbor. And that is not loving your neighbor, and that is not loving God. Woe to you when you are being cheered on by the majority, white, straight, conservative media.

We are blessed when we are hated for the love of our neighbors. Jesus says love will identify his followers, not hate nor exclusion. Love is seen in marching for the rights of our neighbors and being beaten by the state for seeking equality for our neighbors. Walking in the way of love for our neighbors, those who need help from us, from whatever place of privilege we have, is the way of the Son of Man.