God’s Radical Love

On Sunday, toward the end of my message from 1 John 5:1-6, I said, “How does God overcome the world? With love. And God’s love is only visible through us.” Then, I suggested that each one of us look around, notice who is excluded, and invite them in. God calls us to be agents of love and to express the love of Christ in tangible ways.

To express God’s love, we need to understand it. John 3:16 emphasizes God’s universal love when it says, “For God so loved the world…” Colossians 1:20 depicts God reconciling the world to Godself. 2 Corinthians 5:19-20 picks up this same theme. In fact, this idea repeats throughout scripture. God loves everyone.

The radical nature of God’s love is hard to stomach. At first, we think, “That’s absurd. Why would God’s love be hard for us?” Because God even loves those people who we hate. In 2014, when a police officer shot 18-year-old Michael Brown, I wrote a song about the horrific event. One line tries to explain God’s love amid terrible tragedies. It goes, “God loves you Michael Brown / God loves who shot you down.” This juxtaposition of God loving both the victim and the killer returned to my mind on Sunday when I said:

• Jesus loves the kids who were moved by the people suffering in Gaza and ran out of things they could conceive of doing, so they protested.

• Jesus loves those who joined the protesters for whatever other reasons they went to grounds.

• Jesus loves the UVA administrators who tried to figure out how to respond.

• Jesus loves the police officers who spent a rainy Saturday trying their best to uphold the law.

We could continue this illustration as far as we like. However, God’s love doesn’t mean we refrain from speaking truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). The Bible is full of cries for justice, and throughout scripture, we find examples of God acting on behalf of poor, oppressed, and excluded people.

To overcome the problems of the world, we start by recognizing God’s love for the world. Then, we seek ways to embody this love and extend it to every person we encounter. There are times when we might have to say something uncomfortable, and nowhere does the Bible tell Jesus’ followers to shy away from difficult issues. We can call out people and institutions when God leads us to do so, but we must always do it with love.