“The light can come into the world only as love, and love can enter only by suffering.”
“Jesus is the light of the world” John 8:12
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
But whoever vdoes what is true wcomes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” verse 21
Suffering and love. How do they go together? Think of all the cozy feelgood Love Is… sayings.
Berry is saying the opposite-love comes by suffering. The Bible shows us that love is uncomfortable, gritty, and just plain hard. Jesus was all in when He prayed “Not My will but Yours be done.” Practicing the love that suffers draws me closer to Jesus.
Love is inconvenient. It requires sacrifice. True love is known and grown in suffering.
Jesus gave space for it. Do I? Is my day so planned and packed there’s no margin?
What’s margin?
It is Jesus stopping and turning and talking with the woman healed of bleeding.
Time, validation, encouragement were the gifts of love He gave her.
I heard recently people tend toward empathy or systems but Jesus nails them both. Here He showed empathy in action. When He made a whip and drove animals out of the temple and overturned tables, that was systems understanding at its best. Everyone understands empathy and would think of it as superior to systems but understanding how things work is not a bad thing. We must work on both, they are not at odds, just opposites, like day and night, like breathing in and breathing out, don’t we need both. Jesus demonstrated how relationship with God worked by trimming the fat. Do we have the urge to purge when we feel overwhelmed? He knew how God worked and what was going on at the temple was not following God’s plan. God is a God of order.
People seem to have a proclivity to lean to empathy or systems and announce their default as one staking a claim in the Oklahoma land rush. How does that grow us to be more like Jesus? Shouldn’t we get outside the sacred comfort zone and seek to grow and develop?
Learning is change and so is love. A mother’s love can become toxic if it does not grow with her child. Whether you are in camp empathy or systems remember this about love:
It can be scary, messy, unpredictable, confusing and just plain hard.
It can also be repetitive, organized and challenging to be consistent and finish strong.
Love ties in with suffering because it is not a walk in the park (unless you’re talking about Central Park at night). True love brings suffering, but it is so worth it!