The Demands of Love

Who do you think said the following words?

"It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart."

It actually sounds like something God would say, for as Jesus illustrated in the parable of the prodigal son, God is always willing to forgive our transgressions in the hope that we will remember who we really are (beloved) and discover the seed of goodness implanted in our heart. In this case, these God-like words came to us from the diary of Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager who hid from the Nazis in Amsterdam for two years before she and her family were discovered and sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz.

Without a doubt, the essence of God is love and thus love will eventually prevail in all that has being. What we don’t understand is why so many people have to suffer at the hands of people who choose to perform evil deeds before God’s love comes to fulfillment. Jesus himself chose to suffer a painful death rather than resist those who sought to end his life, and as a result, untold people over the centuries have followed his way of love rather than violence. Those who follow Christ are asked to take up the tools of suffering and nonviolence to break the temporary power of evil and help others learn how to live in the love that God unfailingly offers.

To suffer on behalf of others is a lot to ask, but Jesus showed us that new life awaits beyond the suffering, not just for ourselves but for those who are transformed by our actions. Just as the people of Israel said to God, “Rescue us! Your love demands it” (Ps 44: 27), the love we know through our life in Christ demands that we rescue others, even when sacrifices and suffering are required. It’s only when everyone comes to know and act out of the goodness implanted in his or her heart that we can truly rejoice in the fulfillment of the kingdom of God.