LOVE BONDS

Ezra 3:1-4:23; 1 Corinthians 2:6-3-4; Psalm 28:1-9; Proverbs 20:24-25

“Then the local residents tried to discourage and frighten the people of Judah to keep them from their work. They bribed agents to work against them and to frustrate their plans. This went on during the entire reign of King Cyrus of Persia and lasted until King Darius of Persia took the throne.”

“I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?”

“It is dangerous to make a rash promise to God before counting the cost.”

It is a sad state of human affairs, but reality nonetheless: wherever loves goes, there is opposition. We cannot begin to truly understand love until we come to understand this. Love is opposed by many things, including the pallid imitations we try to pass off as love. Jesus understood from the get-go how difficult it would be for people used to imitation love to accept the real thing. Real love is sometimes uncomfortable. Real love puts others ahead of itself. Real love loves even when its object is fundamentally unlovable. It’s hardly what we think of at weddings and family reunions. But if we are to love at all, we must allow love to bond us through and in spite of our differences, and not just because of our similarities and common interests. Our desire to be with others who love must outweigh the difficulties of making it happen. Otherwise, we have little hope of ever overcoming our opposition.

Make no mistake. Binding love is not a given. It actually upsets people who refuse or misunderstand the concept. The Hebrews learned this quite quickly.  As soon as they begin to rebuild the Temple, others wanted to stop them. Perhaps jealousy played a part in their decision, but I expect the issue ran deeper. I figure their opponents just got very uncomfortable seeing any group of people that did not include them bind together in mutual love. That their unified purpose was to complete a project the nay-sayers could not accept only added to the alienation. So, opposition reared its ugly head. What we cannot appreciate, we too often break.

Love’s opposition is not always so obvious. It can arise from something as simple as inconvenience. It can spring up from what Paul refers to as “sinful desires.” It can even sprout from an ill-considered promise to God that begins to feel more like an anchor than the fruit of discipleship. Love’s opponents are many and varied. Again, love’s only real defense is bonding, the joining of previously independent souls into one united whole. Love bonds because bonding provides the Body with greater vision, gifts and talents than any individual member could ever claim on their own.

Love’s greatest blessing is, in fact, its binding of hearts and souls together. Jesus understood this and saved His best, most personal moments for His friends. Mary, Martha and Lazarus were not just strategically placed acquaintances. They were genuine friends, and their home was a special refuge for our Lord. Once He began His Ministry, Bethany also was as much a home to Jesus as He ever knew. Christ’s presence also gave Mary, Martha and Lazarus’ place a special, welcoming aura that drew others. That home became a “binding place” for our Lord where He went to refuel and recharge in fellowship, especially during the fateful, last week of His earthly life.

All of us need a binding place, a place to meet our God and remember our status as His adopted children. The Holy Spirit offers us that and much more. He offers a purpose which binds us to Him in ways we cannot begin to describe. Perhaps that is what Jesus meant when He insisted we who worship Him must do so “in Spirit and in truth.” Without the Spirit binding our hearts to Christ’s, we are not as likely to experience the full bounty of His blessings, or to actually accomplish His purpose for our lives. More important, though, we need God’s binding love to get us through the opposition His love will encounter as we begin to live and share it. We cannot do it on our own. All of us need spiritual allies to help us when the chips are down and to encourage us when the future is bright. Opposition need not derail us, any more than it derailed Jesus. With the Spirit guiding us, opposition merely becomes the whetstone which makes our faith sharper and more effective.