It is easier to hate than to love. Hating simply involves giving in to the beast nature hidden just below the surface in all of us. We all have selfishness and judgmental attitudes just waiting to create chaos. Once started, hate feeds on itself, growing more virulent as the days and weeks pass. All too often hate leads to violence of some form or another.
This seems to be the case with the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. These are the people who show up at funerals to spew hate. First it was military funerals. Yesterday it was Walter Cronkite’s funeral. They don’t just stop at funerals - President Obama, Jews, Muslims, Christians, homosexuals - anyone who gets in their way has hate thrown at them.
Love, on the other hand, is hard.
To love, one must deny the self. To love we must step out of our own desires, into uncomfortable territory, and sometimes – often times - even suffer. To love we must give up our place, becoming less. We also move away from the seat of judgment.
This is the love that Jesus spoke about on the eve of his arrest and impending death. In John 13:34, 35 Jesus says:
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Just a few verses later in John 14:12, Jesus states:
I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
What does Jesus mean by, “greater things than these”? What could be greater than what Jesus did? What is greater than healing, and preaching the good news? Could it be that Jesus is issuing a challenge to complete the work of building the church? Could it be that Jesus is asking all of his followers, including us, to love authentically in such a way that everyone will see this love and become the living church? The greater work is the hard work of love.
Authentic love doesn’t mean there is never disagreement, or boundaries, or conflict. Love is deeper than all of these things. It is the deep, safe place of knowing the truth and therefore being truly free. Free to fight well and then reconcile. Free to take abuse and still know you are doing the right thing. Free to accept people without judgment, from a humility modeled by Jesus. Sincere love thinks of others as children of God, created in God’s image, and therefore each person – saints and sinners both – deserve our care and affection because they are precious.
It would be easy to hate the people of Westboro Baptist Church. Hate begets hate. Love, on the other hand, is the only cure for all of the hate in the world. Jesus asked us to love even our enemies. We should love the people of Westboro Baptist Church.
See Tim Barello’s commentary: Westboro Baptist Church releases God hates the world
For an excellent commentary on love, hate and our argumentative culture see the Serious Times blog
The Daily Beast has a great commentary on this subject: Family of hate
The Westboro Baptist Church website
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