Have you ever seen love in action? Sometimes in life, we get a front-row seat. My friend Karl was severely mistreated by a neighbor. She cursed him every time she saw him. Sometimes she called the police to complain. They told Karl not to worry. She treated everyone that way, even her own family. Then she received her diagnosis. Karl’s neighbor had cancer. Her own kids would not take her to the hospital for her treatments. Whom could she ask? She had burned every bridge available to her.
John had been a son of thunder back in the day. But for three years, he had a front-row seat, too. He saw Jesus wash the feet of his fellow disciples. That night Jesus gave his friends the new commandment: love one another. Then John stood beneath the shadow of the cross when Jesus forgave those who had crucified him. No wonder he wrote with a flourish, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.”
Legend has it that John preached into his nineties. His friends helped him to the front of the gathering. Then looking out at the Christians John said, “Children, let us love one another.”
Karl drove his neighbor from Bastrop to Austin for a few months while she received her treatments. They didn’t talk much, but he wanted her to see the love of Christ in him. Then, when the treatments were finished, she acted as if he had never helped her. Karl didn’t help her for recognition. As Bob Goff titled his book, “Love does.” Well. It does. Look at Jesus.
