The Gospel According to Once Upon a Time
#7 – Loving Unconditionally
Luke 6:31-36 (NRSV)
By John Gill ~ August 18, 2024
“Love, Love, Love, Love; the gospel in one word is love. Love your neighbor as your brother, Love, Love, Love…”
“God is love…”
“We love because he first loved us…”
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God…”
“You shall love the Lord your God… and… love your neighbor as yourself…”
“But I say to you ‘Love your enemies…”
Love. We can’t escape Love. Over and over again, the Bible commands us to love God, our spouse, our family, our neighbors, our fellow church members, strangers, - even our enemies! According to God’s word, there is no better “litmus test” for the genuineness of the Christian life – than Love.
So, according to this biblical standard, how do we measure up? Looking around our congregation this morning, I would imagine that most of us would say we measure up pretty well. After all – we ARE a people of Love – aren’t we? Just look at all the things we do!
We show our love for God by coming to church. We demonstrate our love for our spouses by doing something extra-nice for them (like helping keep the house clean, or preparing a nice meal, or by doing the dishes, or treating them to a dinner out). We show our love for our kids and grandkids by helping them with a science project or cheering for them at the ballfield. We love our neighbors and fellow church members by cooking them a casserole when there is an Illness or a death, or by repairing a widow’s leaky faucet. We sometimes show love for strangers by giving to special offerings at church, or donating food for the hungry, or clothing for the homeless. We even find that it is possible to love our enemies - by praying for them.
We THINK we are a “people of love,” and to prove it, we point to the many many good things we DO for others. Yes, you and I have taken to heart what Jesus said in our scripture this morning, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Indeed, if love is measured by how much we DO, most all of us can claim to be great “lovers.”
But, is that enough? Can we really measure the level of our “loving” simply by cataloguing all the things we DO for others? While you and I believe the answer is “yes,” Jesus seems to say otherwise. You see, while Jesus always taught that we are to demonstrate our love by putting our love into action, he never believed that action, in and of itself, was the “proof” of love. That’s because Jesus recognized that, for every action that we take, there may be many different motives for that action.
You see, Jesus isn’t simply interested in what we SAY or DO; He looks deeper – at the motivation for what we do. It’s not enough to SAY we love others, or SHOW them kindness, or even, to SERVE others. God isn’t so much interested in WHAT we do… He wants to know WHY we are doing it. He looks directly at our hearts.
Why do we do the things we do? What motivates us to show concern for others? Do we love others for purely unselfish reasons? Or, is it possible that, when we love or show kindness, we are consciously or sub-consciously expecting something in return for that love? In short, does our love come “with strings attached?”
In struggling with this question, I remembered a story from my childhood, a “Once Upon a Time” kind of story that beautifully illustrates the type of love God expects of his people. (In fact, a wonderful memory of our family was watching our son, Timmy’s, fifth grade Christmas play at his elementary school in North Fort Myers, where he played an elf in this very fairy tale!)
It seems there was an old shoemaker and his wife who were so poor that they were just about to starve to death. But this shoemaker was a man of faith. In spite of their sad condition, he believed that God would provide for all their needs.
One day, he went to the tanner and spent all his remaining money on enough leather to make one pair of shoes. He went home, cut out the pieces for his last pair of shoes and laid them out on the workbench to be sewn together the next morning. After saying their prayers, he and his wife went to bed.
About midnight, two little elves, barefoot and dressed in rags, crept into the shop, climbed up on the cobbler’s bench, and set to work assembling the pair of shoes. When morning came, the shoemaker went to his workbench only to discover the most beautifully-crafted pair of shoes he had ever seen. He had no idea where they had come from, but he thanked God for the gift. And that very morning, a customer purchased the fabulous shoes for a handsome price.
With his profit, the shoemaker bought enough leather for two more pairs, cut them out, and left the pieces on the bench as before. And again, when he awoke, there – sitting on the bench – were two pairs of beautiful shoes. And, by lunchtime they had both been sold.
This time, he bought leather-enough for four… and the same thing happened. This continued for many nights, until finally, the poor shoemaker and his wife were “poor” no longer. In fact, they had become very comfortable, indeed!
One evening, the man said to his wife, “I wonder who it is that is making our shoes. Why don’t we stay up tonight and hide, so that we might see who it is that is being so kind to us.” And so they did. And, sure enough, just about midnight the two little elves appeared and began their work. The shoemaker and his wife watched in amazement.
The next day, the wife told her husband, “It is so wonderful of those elves to do this for us. But isn’t it a shame that, while they make beautiful things for others, they themselves must go barefoot and wear rags. Why don’t we show our gratitude this way: I will make each of them a tiny suit of clothes and knit some teensy little stockings, while you craft them some tiny shoes.” The husband eagerly agreed, and they set to work.
That evening, the elves came as usual. But instead of finding leather, they discovered their wonderful new clothes. Quickly they put them on, danced a little jig, and disappeared – never to return again.
And the shoemaker and his wife lived happily ever after.
Did Jesus tell this parable? No. But he certainly could have. Because, in it we see a wonderful example of perfect love – rarely seen in our world – the kind of love God expects of his people.
When Jesus says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” most of us hear the phrase like this: “Do good to others SO THAT they will do good to you.” In other words, “If I’m nice to them, maybe I can get them to be nice to me.” We all tend to have subtle ulterior motives for our love.
But, that’s NOT what Jesus meant. Jesus was saying, “Do good to others WHETHER or NOT they do good to you.” “Treat others the way you would want to be treated – even if they mistreat you.” “Show mercy and kindness to others, in the way you hope others might show mercy and kindness to you.” “Forgive others, not so that they will forgive you, but because you know the freedom that forgiveness brings.” “Give to those in need, not for any selfish motive, but because you know what it is like to be in want.” “Love others (including your enemies), even when they do not return your love.”
You see, it is all about what MOTIVATES us – Do we love for love’s sake? Or when we love, do we hope to receive something in return? Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms that, if we love in order to get ANYTHING in return, then we do not really “love:”
In Luke we hear Jesus say to us: “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you. For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you. Even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much in return.” (Luke 6:32-24 NRSV)
Friends, do we love with “no strings attached?” Or, do we place conditions on our love? Do we REALLY expect NOTHING in return for our love? Now – let’s be honest with ourselves… When we show love, our motives are often FAR from pure – aren’t they?
Sometimes our expressions of love are motivated by our sense of OBLIGATION. We think we are SUPPOSED to love, and so we pretend to love, and then believe we’ve done all that God asks of us. Jesus says… that’s NOT love.
Other times we show love in order to get RECOGNITION from others. We are flamboyant with our expressions of love for others – not so much that we care for them, but so that the world might see how wonderful WE are. But Jesus says… that’s NOT love either.
In reality, most of the time we love expecting to GET SOMETHING IN RETURN. It serves our OWN interest to love. Our love comes with all kinds of “strings” and conditions: “I’ll love you, IF you’ll love me. But if I feel you’ve stopped loving me – I’m outta here! I’ll rub your back – if you rub mine.” It’s the way of the world. We sometimes use “love” as a tool or weapon to manipulate others in order to get what WE what.
And, that’s why we are so puzzled by this little children’s story. It doesn’t make any sense to us. Why did they do it? What could have possibly been the motive of those elves in doing such a selfless thing? They certainly were under no obligation! And recognition wasn’t the reason – they did it in the middle of the night! And certainly, they expected nothing in return!
Then, why did they do it? Out of pure love. As simple as that. Love – with no strings attached! And that remarkable love was enough to transform the lives of the shoemaker and his wife.
Could it be that we could learn something about how to love from those mythical elves? Is it possible that they are closer to the ideal of love that Jesus taught, than you and I are? What would our church be like if we all loved expecting nothing in return? How would our families be different? Our marriages? How would our society be transformed? How would WE be changed if we learned to “love without strings?”
You know, there are many churches that are trying – they are attempting to love like that! They have adopted a strategy of evangelism that has no knocking on doors, no four spiritual laws, no evangelism committees, and
no revivals. And these are the churches that are growing. Why? What strategy are they using? What is their secret weapon? Their revolutionary strategy for reaching the lost is to offer all their neighbors unconditional love – embracing all people, loving them the way Jesus loves. In other words, they love without strings attached.
I think that is the real reason we here at Tomoka have seen our congregation growing while so many are floundering. We have taken our cue from those selfless elves in the story by doing “random acts of kindness” to all our neighbors in our community who are struggling and seeking someone to care for them.
In all the congregations I have served over my 39 years of ministry, these unconditional acts of love have been their DNA. Extending LOVE is the DNA of all United Methodist Churches, taking our cue from our founder, John Wesley, who called on the Methodist congregations to live out their faith in the world, extending the love of Jesus in tangible acts of mercy and justice. In fact, Wesley is quoted as describing what has come to be called ,“The Rule of Life,” succinctly and powerfully with these words:
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
Yes, we are commanded to Love unconditionally – and without strings attached. Tomoka UMC is this kind of Loving Congregation. We extend the Love of God, offering a welcome to all – so they might come to know the One who loves them unconditionally.
In fact, way back in 2006 (during my first tenure as your pastor), we here at Tomoka did something in our community that is similar to those elves in the story:
About twenty folks of all ages from this congregation held a “free” carwash at one of the businesses in our community one Sunday afternoon. We washed cars for several hours – and when people tried to pay us, we refused to take their money! We simply told them, “God loves you – and so do we!” As you can imagine, most of the people were flabbergasted! They were baffled. They thought, “Those Christians are crazy!” And, to the ways of the world, they were right! That kind of love is SO radical, SO unexpected, SO unconditional, that the “world” just can’t figure it out.
But, you know what? The WORLD may not be able to make sense of that kind of love – but it sure is drawn to it – like a moth to a flame! There is something radically different about a people who love with no strings attached. And whenever we, as Christians, manage to do it, the world sits up and takes notice.
There is a folk song we are going to sing in a moment that holds the secret in reaching out to a lost and hurting world… “They’ll know we are Christians – by our love.”
To love unconditionally – to love without strings – is the litmus test of the Christian life. And you know – we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, - that’s precisely the way God loves us!