Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. John 21:15 (KJV)
Christmas words sing in the air revealing an elusive, yet enduring hope in God. Songs of shepherds, angels, wise men and Mary beckon us to discard gold, myrrh and frankincense as values for a good life. Instead the star guides us in discovering other treasures.
Hidden in the meanings of the words are the dreams, thoughts, and concepts of God’s love for us, our love for Him. The carols tell us, “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Searching, we learn that Greek had more words to explain what love is than English does. Phileo - brotherly love, eros - physical love, agape - divine, unconditional love.
When Jesus asked Peter, the disciple, “Do you love me?” the first two times, he used agape, but after Peter answered with phileo, Jesus switched his question to phileo. Both knew that Peter, not yet filled with the Holy Spirit, was unable to love unconditionally.
How can we answer Agape? Gratefully, we know that without the Lord’s help, it will always be Phileo, but with His agape love and mercy, we are blessed and become able to answer using “agape.” Because of His agape love, we get past personal feelings of anger, of like or dislike, put the Lord first and obey His commandment to “Love one another.” That's the treasure of Christmas, the reason why our hearts sing. God sent peace, goodwill and love. God sent His Word at Christmas.
Prayer: Thank you Lord for your continuous help in changing from phileo to agape love. Help us to stay changed. Amen.
© 2009 V. Colclasure
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1 comment:
Nice! I needed to be reminded of agape love as God's gift at this point.
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