As I said yesterday, teachers are attracted to questions that make us stop and think.
Do we use Scripture to interpret what love means – or do we use love to interpret what Scripture means?
I know my answer – I wish we were sitting across a table so I could hear yours. Since that’s not the case, I’ll offer a hypothetical.
Suppose I was trying to explain Jesus to a child rescued from the horrors of sex trafficking. Of course, I’d begin by acknowledging I couldn’t possibly understand that child’s experience. I’d listen and do my best to empathize, but nothing in my background could possibly allow me to identify with that child’s trauma.
But Jesus bridges this impossible gap. Although I haven’t experienced anything like the trauma of child sex trafficking, I have experienced unconditional, eternal love. That’s something I can share with this rescued child. I can assure them they are loved – unconditionally.
I can share stories about Jesus who loved enough to reach out to the poor, the sick, the marginalized – people in his culture who were rejected just as children trapped in sex trafficking are rejected today. I can tell them about a kingdom based on love for neighbor in which the entire social structure is turned upside-down.
I’m not sure, but perhaps this child has seen corrupt, powerful men take advantage of the system. Maybe they’d wonder why Jesus would assume such risk for people like them, people the rest of society cares nothing for.
I could tell them they matter so much, Jesus loved them so much, that he died for them.
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I recently had the opportunity to tell the FREEDOM TOUR story in a brief regional TV interview. Click the play button below to view.
Can’t see the video? CLICK HERE
