From “Worth Fighting For: Finding Courage and Compassion When Cruelty Is Trending” by John Pavlovitz
Jesus wasn’t always nice – he was always love: not a soft, saccharine, Hallmark-movie, pop-song love. He flipped the tables of the temple vendors because of love for his Father’s house. He ripped into the hypocritical religious leaders who leveraged their position and their power to exploit people – because of his love for those they manipulated. He declared that his mission was to be good news for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, and the imprisoned because he loved them – which sounded like bad news to the wealthy and the powerful and the corrupt. As Mary declares with gratitude in Luke’s Gospel, the work of God, which will continue through Jesus, “has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly:…filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty (Luke 1:52-53). This is the inheritance we’re here to steward both individually and collectively.
A love that looks like Jesus is fierce and audacious and bold and courageous.
A love that looks like Jesus doesn’t sit quietly while bigotry bullies the most vulnerable.
A love that looks like Jesus will not be tone-policed into making nice with discrimination.
A love that looks like Jesus does not apologize for its passion for humanity.
A love that looks like Jesus will not wilt when it is labeled too political.
A love that looks like Jesus is dangerous to injustice, it confronts ugliness, it welcomes turbulence.
A love that looks like Jesus will drive us out of the safety of our privilege and into the discomfort of the trenches.
A love that looks like Jesus will be called political and angry – and it will love anyway.