Rochester, MN UCC - “Love the Fulfillment of the Law” - Romans 13:8-14
In the movie, “Semi-Pro,” Will Ferrel plays the player/coach of a struggling professional basketball team. During the team’s many arguments, Will Ferrel’s character attempts to stop the fighting by shouting his team motto at them, screaming, “Everybody Love Everybody!” It’s hilarious because of how obviously impossible it is- you can’t force people to love one another no matter how loud you yell. The motto isn’t a bad idea, it’d be great if everybody loved everybody, but this isn’t a state of affairs that one can merely will into existence.
Everybody loving everybody turns out to be what the Apostle Paul believes to be the fulfillment of all the divine laws of the Old Testament. “The one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” To love someone is not just to feel nice and warm towards them- if this were so the commandment to love our enemies would be impossible. No, Christian love involves actively willing the best for someone else regardless of their attitude towards you. If you will what is best for someone, if you love them, then you will never do them wrong; you will fulfill all of your obligations towards your neighbor.
While it's great to know that we can follow the totality of the divine law simply by loving everyone, the fact remains that we aren’t particularly good at doing so. A simple reminder is not enough, nor is shouting the command that “Everybody love everybody!” How do we go about fulfilling the law when loving everybody seems to be a little beyond our human capacities? For the Christian faith love is not something that we accomplish, rather it is a gift of God. Love is the gift of God’s very presence, the presence of the Holy Spirit poured out upon us. Through receiving the love of God in the Holy Spirit we come to realize all that God has done for us in Jesus Christ. This inspires gratitude within us and a desire to love others as God has loved us. If God could love us even when we were undeserving, perhaps God can also empower us to love others whether we believe they deserve it or not. May this be our prayer and may we seek to always emulate the love of God.
Rev. Andrew Greenhaw