In his letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul wrote “The Love of Christ compels us.” 2 Cor.5:14. He also wrote the love chapter in 1 Cor. 13 and told his mentee Timothy that “the end of the commandment is love from a pure heart.” 1 Timothy 1:5. Paul was passionate about spreading the gospel of love but this message may not be what we understand it to be in our world today. Satan wants us to associate love with emotionalism, tolerance for evil and mindlessness. However, the Divine example given to us shows that love, agape, is expressed through selflessness, courage, boundaries, consideration, etc. In other words, agape doesn’t allow us to sit back and watch; it demands that we engage and act on behalf of righteousness and the welfare of others. The Christian, after being convinced of God’s agape towards him/her, is then driven, as written in 2 Cor. 5:14, to help others experience this love through them. The letter to Timothy raises a valid thought: ‘The end of the commandment, Godly instructions and revelations, is love from a pure heart.’ What is the purpose of our religious traditions, customs and professions if they do not help to produce within us something that the world cannot offer: purity of heart and unselfish interest toward each other?
In the love chapter, 1 Cor. 13:4-8, it is written: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
Agape, functioning as a principle within our lives, will demand of us actions that harmonize with Godliness.
I would like to share a story that demonstrates this principle in a way that will grip your heart and challenge you to reach for this Holy standard. It’s shared on many news outlets but this one is from NPR.com which was reported September 30, 2016.
A Decade After Amish School Shooting, Gunman’s Mother Talks of Forgiveness
“Ten years ago, a gunman barricaded himself inside a one-room Amish schoolhouse near Lancaster, Pa. Then he opened fire. Charles “Charlie” Roberts killed five children and injured five others before killing himself.
The Amish community responded in a way that many found surprising: They forgave the shooter. And, in the years since, they have grown close to his family.
“I will never face my Amish neighbours again”
“As I turned on the radio on the way there, the newscaster was reporting that there had been a shooting at the local Amish schoolhouse,” Terri Roberts tells her friend Delores Hayford during a recent visit to StoryCorps.
“By that time I was at my son’s home, and I saw my husband and the state trooper standing right in front of me as I pulled in,” she continues. “And I looked at my husband, he said, ‘It was Charlie.’ He said, ‘I will never face my Amish neighbours again.’ ”
That week, the Robertses had a private funeral for their son, but as they went to the gravesite, they saw as many as 40 Amish start coming out from around the side of the graveyard, surrounding them like a crescent.
“Love just emanated from them,” Terri says. “I do recall the fathers saying, ‘I believe that I have forgiven,’ but there are some days when I question that.”
Terri finds it especially hard to accept that forgiveness when she thinks of one of the survivors, Rosanna.
“Rosanna’s the most injured of the survivors,” she explains. “Her injuries were to her head. She is now 15, still tube-fed and in a wheelchair. And she does have seizures, and when it gets to be this time of year, as we get closer to the anniversary date, she seizes more. And it’s certainly not the life that this little girl should have lived.”
Terri asked if it would be possible for her to help with Rosanna once a week.
“I read to her, I bathe her, dry her hair,” says Terri, who herself is battling cancer.
And, while she can’t say it with 100 percent certainty, Terri believes Rosanna knows who she is.
“I just sense that she does know,” she says.
“A healing balm”
“I will never forget the devastation caused by my son,” says the 65-year-old Terri. “But one of the fathers the other night, he said, ‘None of us would have ever chosen this. But the relationships that we have built through it, you can’t put a price on that.”
“And their choice to allow life to move forward was quite a healing balm for us,” she says. “And I think it’s a message the world needs.”
Wow! What a witness! I close with this thought: as the world is plagued by the presence of evil and darkness, may we be channels of live-giving love that lead them to the light!