Why can't we all just get along?
/The Vietnam War served as a backdrop for most of my formative years. It escalated during a time I was too young to really understand what it was about (even now, the complexities of the war are difficult to grasp), and it didn’t end until the time I graduated from high school. I was too young to really be involved in either pro-war or anti-war protests, and yet, the conversations raged around me and other baby boomers. In my naive mind, I do remember thinking, why can’t we all just get along. I even remember a specific time at around 10 years old, that I thought if I could just get the world leaders together, I could impress upon them the need for peace and love. I even aspired to be President!
A study of history will reveal that there has never been world peace between the totality of nations. Moreover, even within our own nation, we are polarized. Where is there peace? While I can understand the complicated histories between nations and within our nation, what about the Church body? Aren’t we called to do better? Why can’t we all just get along?
Before we laugh at this notion, shouldn’t we consider that this is precisely what Jesus called us to do?
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35
We may not be able to convince others, but shouldn’t we at least be able to demonstrate love among ourselves as Jesus’ followers? Jesus thought we could, or He would not have asked us.
A new commandment I give to you
His commandment is new because Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, and God in the flesh, has given it to His followers. And it is new because when we believe in Jesus, we now have His Spirit in us, and we are new creatures, equipped to fully love. Jesus is not calling us to show our cleverness or our ability to debate to the world, but our love.
That you love one another; just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. Admittedly, we have loved. Throughout the world love has always existed. For example, husbands and wives love each other and their children. But Jesus has added a new, divine dimension to His command-- “as I have loved you.” How did Jesus love? Frederick F. Shannon articulates beautifully in a sermon from the 1920s:
Whoever loved on this earth as Christ loved those first disciples? Never before was love so wisely, patiently, discriminatingly, heartbreakingly humanized, because never before had love ever found an instrument whereby to utter forth its whole Divine and human self. But now, in the fullness of the times and the eternities, love has found an organ fine enough, rich enough, strong enough, tender enough, wise enough, tearful enough, dying enough, deathless enough, to utter all its wailing minors and wooing majors. “As I have loved you.” Here is the sun at the center of God’s new human solar system.”
This love, Jesus says, is possible for us. How? First, because He is with us: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). And second, because we as His disciples, are being transformed into Christ-likeness: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
By this
By this--by the Jesus-kind of love
All people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
This is the test of our discipleship. Do others see--do all others see--our love for each other?
Do we love each other as Jesus loved us? If we do, peace is attainable, at least in the Body of Christ. Jesus was not naive. He knew the challenges of living in this world. He knew that loving others would not always feel natural or easy. And yet, He gave His followers this command. Love one another. And so I still ask, as I believe Jesus would ask His followers, why can’t we all just get along?