Sue Agnew

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
—John 13: 34

Dear friends in Christ,

I have always read this passage as “love one another, because I have loved you.” Pass it on … “I’ve loved you, so now you go and love each other.” Then a friend said they interpret it “love one another, IN THE SAME WAY that I have loved you.” Whoa! That’s a higher bar!

A few years ago on Christmas Day, as I was leaving for a friend’s house, I noticed my car tire was low. After reviewing options I decided going to the home of a retired mechanic was probably the smartest thing I could do.

Predictably, he jacked up my car, ascertained where the leak was, and filled the tire with air. He would have done much more the following day but I convinced him I could handle it between AAA and a tire place.

He is very generous … with people he cares about (his wife refers to it as 1-800-CALL-MY-HUBBY). In conversation with him, though, I skirt certain topics to avoid hearing him direct invective toward marginalized groups. 

I recently took my neighbor to TMC at 5:00am for a scheduled surgery. I didn’t want her to have to depend on Uber at such a fraught time. So I’m thought of in our cul-de-sac as being a good neighbor.

However, the Good Samaritan in the parable didn’t even KNOW the person he helped. My neighbor will likely return the favor of driving me to medical procedures, whereas the Good Samaritan had no such expectation, and loved his neighbor, a stranger, anyway. 

It’s challenging to “level up” to a more Christlike way of loving others. The more broadly you open your heart the harder it is. How do you love someone with whom you disagree or who acts in overtly evil ways? 

When we renew our Baptismal Covenant, we pledge to do five things. Two of them have to do with loving others as Jesus loved us. “Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?” and “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?”

Fortunately, we don’t have to cross our fingers when we answer in the affirmative, because we say “I will, with God’s help.” We can certainly intend to be more loving, more Christlike; and fortunately we can pray to God for help in this enormous endeavor.

Yours in Christ,

—Sue