The Jesus I Never Knew: Deep

I just finished reading a book, 'The Jesus I Never Knew' by Philip Yancy, and have been incredibly moved about who Jesus was and is.

Philip Yancy is a journalist and his assignment is discovering who Jesus is. His book is split into three parts (who He was, why He came, and what He left behind). He studies Jesus and oftentimes puts himself back in the times of Jesus and wonders what it would have been like to live then. What would he have done? How would he have responded? His analysis of Jesus is amazing.

One of my favorite chapters is the one on miracles. Yancy writes that when Jesus performed miracles, it was with a different set of priorities than his disciples. When He healed, it wasn't to draw a crowd or to show off His stuff or to get applause. He healed because He had compassion on the sick and the people who suffered. He loved them. He honored the dignity of others, whether He agreed with them or not. He loved above all else.

I was having a conversation with a friend recently who has been going through a great journey and struggle with her husband. They've been learning what unconditional love is outside of the realm of friends and family and what entering into a Christlike union is like. It's been hard, to say the least, to remember love over fear.

And in that conversation, I asked my friend what she felt her deep was calling to deep (Psalm 42:7): what was Christ calling her to do? What is the deep part of her calling out the will of God? I know my instinct: I expected an answer of 'take some time away' or 'distance myself' or 'shun my husband.' She reeled off some thoughts and then she said something that's moved me ever since.

She said 'I know my deep is telling me that I am supposed to forgive. And to CHOOSE LOVE.'

I realize that is who God is. God is love. God will never tell me to not love someone. The difficult people in my life: God will never call me away or call me to shun or call me to be compassionless. God will always, always call me to love. Yes, that love looks different for every situation. No, we are not called to be in close relationship with everyone. Yes, people are going to hurt us and make us cry and really be cruel or just be plain obnoxious. But we are never called not to love them or be compassionate towards them because those things are the very nature of God.

The sermon at church today was on Jonah and how he denied God's call to go to Ninevah. I never knew the back story: it's fascinating. Ninevah was a place of wicked and brutal people. A city of ugly sinners. A people that brutalized Israel. When God tells Jonah to go and call out against the evil there, Jonah stops and says "whoa God. Do you know those people? Do you remember what they did!? I'm not going there."

I'm Jonah.

I say 'no thanks' when it comes to people who I don't think deserve it. I opt for showing someone truth before I assure them of God's love. I lack mercy when I need it the most.

But God is a God of LOVE. And that love is truth. And it's redemption and restoration and forgiveness and deliverance and mercy and grace and so many other aspects of God's character. But let me assure you: you will never be asked to not love someone. There aren't any exceptions. 1 John 4:8 says, "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." And verse 19 says, "We love because He first loved us."

He's a God of compassion. The father of the prodigal son story in Luke 15 felt compassion when he saw his son returning and ran to greet him. He embraced his son and welcomed him back in. The father interrupts the son's talks of unworthiness and calls for a celebration because he is filled with love and compassion. That's how much Our Father loves us.

As I'm wrestling and writing this, I remember that that love and compassion is a choice. My friend says it better than I could: "marriage is where you both make the choice to love this way and see how it is impossible in the human realm. And you CHOOSE it every day and grow a little closer to the wonder and understanding of a God who chose us consistently even when we wounded Him deeper than we wound each other in marriage and when He had no obligation or commitment to choose us. Love is a choice and sometimes it's the hardest choice, but it's always on us. He gives us the ability to love and the free will to choose it over fear time and time again, based on HIS example and sacrifice."

And I think you could substitute 'marriage' for any of a number of things. Our deep tells us to love, but then we don't have to. Like Jonah, we can choose to go the other way. We can choose love, the love that Jesus graciously gave us through His death on the cross, or we can choose to fear, hate, ignore, run away. My friend reminds me of how hard it is, how easy it is to blame and choose something different. She reminds me of how impossible it is without Christ.

We love our enemies, our friends, our spouses, our bosses because He first loved us. That choice is hard, but we choose it because our God abundantly and exceedingly loves us.