When the diseased were treated as filth in the society:
2. He loved the sick.
Ø The bleeding woman: Luke 8
Ø The blind Bartimaeus: Mark 10:46-52
When religious leaders were basking in the glory of their false pretense:
3. He loved the sinners.
Ø The adulteress: John 8
Ø The tax collector Zacchaeus: Luke 19:1-10
When associating with the untouchables was considered a social stigma:
4. He loved the outcasts.
Ø The Samaritan woman: John 4
Ø The Canaanite woman: Matthew 14: 21-28
When people were in pain but nobody seemed to really care:
5. He loved the needy.
Ø The feeding of the 5000
o Matthew 14:16 – Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
Ø The healing at the pool: John 5:1-15
When people used the temple as a platform for money and authority:
6. He loved the temple.
Ø The boy Jesus at the temple: Luke 2:46-49
Ø The clearing of the temple: Mark 11:15-17
When persecutors and friends acted no different from each other:
7. He loved his enemies.
Ø The arrest of Jesus
o Luke 22:51 – But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
Ø The reinstatement of Peter: John 21:15-19
When the horror of the Cross was agonizing and, more so, paralyzing:
8. He loved his calling.
Ø The prayer at Gethsemane
o Matthew 26:39 – Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.
Yes, indeed, GOD IS LOVE. Nothing has changed the history of humanity as irretrievably and as selflessly as the love of Jesus Christ. The Almightywho was made flesh, who most deserves the offering up of our whole beings, died undeservedly… for undeserving people: Us.
GOD IS LOVE. His death is a testament to this resounding truth. His life, even more so. Because every ounce of His being He invested, wholeheartedly and unconditionally, in love.
May this kind of love stir us into action. May this kind of love, which we have received freely and generously, cause us to give love to others as much as He loves us. For whoever does not love does not know God, because GOD IS LOVE (1 John 4:8).