Lately, I have been thinking a lot about love. Not the kind of romantic love that conjures up warm and fuzzy feelings when thinking about that someone special in our lives, but the love of God made real for us in Jesus Christ. The Incarnation of God’s unwavering love for all creation.
The greatest disease in the world is not tuberculosis or leprosy; noted Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The greatest disease “is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for.” One might also point to the sickness of simply not seeing others as God’s beloved children.
Recently I read a story by Brian J. Pierce who writes about a photo exhibit of Peruvian children who had suffered greatly during twenty years of warfare and social upheavals. Many of the large panels included quotes from the children depicted on the large black-and-white panels. Beneath the photo of a malnourished eight-year-old boy named Gabriel, was a card that read, “Saben que yo existo, pero nedie me ve” (“They know I exist, but no one sees me”).
Sadly, invisibility is one of the greatest societal diseases of our time. As people of privilege, we often lose sight of the inherent dignity and worth of all of God’s children. In so doing we deprive ourselves of the opportunity to encounter the living Christ who shows up in the places and people we often overlook or ignore.
Some 500 years earlier Martin Luther reminded congregants that “remembering the poor” was a lived response to the “Happy Exchange” that comes to us during the sacrament of Holy Communion — sacred space where “Christ and all of his holy ones take our wretchedness and, in exchange, give us their blessedness.” In response to this gift, writes Luther, we are to direct ourselves toward our neighbors in need, continuing this exchange. Because the fact of the matter is that God does not need what we have to give, but our neighbors do. “As love and support are given to you,” continues Luther, “you in turn must render love and support to Christ and his needy ones.”
“We can cure physical diseases with medicine,” notes Mother Teresa, “but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. Many people in the world are dying for a piece of bread, but there are many more dying for a little love.”
What has love got to do with a life of faith? Everything!
Walking to Golgotha 