Psalm 26:1-8 Romans 12:9-21 Matthew 16:21-28

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.  [Romans 12:9]

It is the Apostle Paul who provides us with these bullet points on the elements of Christian love.  Centuries later, we would do well to highlight these bullet points and post them on our refrigerators, to make them a part of our daily devotion time – particularly over these next ten tension-laced weeks as we move toward election day.

Paul was writing to the Romans prior to his arrival in Rome.  Paul was transported to Rome as a prisoner; Paul was legally a citizen of Rome and demanded that he be tried in Rome.  That visit to Rome did not end well for Paul.

Violence had erupted in Rome; Nero considered it prudent and politically advantageous to blame the Christians; apparently, Paul and Peter were the scapegoats.  Peter and Paul lost their lives as the result; it is speculated that Paul and Peter were executed in Rome by the Emperor Nero.   And, yet, we have this essential checklist of the many ways we are called to model the love of Jesus Christ.

How poignant is that message:  When facing evil, focus on love; when fighting against hatred, preach LOVE.

So, let’s dig a little deeper.  What was it that drove Paul toward love in the face of hatred by the authorities?  So much so that he devoted such a large portion of this letter to the subject of love.

Quoting from the mid-twentieth century monk Thomas Merton:

“The beginning of the fight against hatred…is not the commandment to love…It is the prior commandment, to believe.  The root of Christian love is not the will to love, but the faith that one is loved.  The faith that one is loved by God.  The faith that one is loved by God although unworthy – or, rather, irrespective of one’s worth.”

Similar to the Apostle Paul, Thomas Merton died tragically and mysteriously.  And, like the Apostle Paul, some of his beliefs were a challenge to the authorities – in Merton’s case, a challenge to Catholic orthodoxy.  Thomas Merton died as the result of being electrocuted while showering in preparation for a keynote speech in Bangkok, Thailand where he had integrated a great deal of Eastern theology into his Catholic beliefs.

Even with the odds against him from his tragic childhood and Church authorities, Merton, who was a young adult when he came to the faith, held strong in his beliefs; his words ring true:

“The beginning of the fight against hatred…is not the commandment to love…It is the prior commandment, to believe.  The root of Christian love is not the will to love, but the faith that one is loved.  The faith that one is loved by God.  The faith that one is loved by God although unworthy – or, rather, irrespective of one’s worth.”

Most of us would say that we are not worthy of the one perfect sacrifice that was made for us.  Yet, to love truly, as Jesus loves us, we must first accept that we are loved truly by God.  Our efforts to love others is superficial without our understanding of God’s love for us.  We cannot love with the love of Christ until we accept and believe that we are loved despite our unworthiness.  We come time after time to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ accepting our unworthiness, but coming worthily to receive.

That ability and willingness to love as Christ loves us begins with faith, not worthiness.  When we have faith in Christ, we want to be like Christ; we want to love others as Christ loves us, seeking daily a deeper relationship with Christ as our model for love, which begins with believing.  Believing begins with regular worship, daily study of the scripture, and an unceasing sense of prayer and meditation.  Our worship and prayer shapes our belief; our belief leads us to love others as Christ loves us.

To tap into the words of last week’s message from our bishop, it is our faith and belief that allows us to move beyond the current highly-touted politically divisiveness and more faithfully toward our call to be the Church.  There are too few of us to allow our political opinions to divide us further.  This divisiveness did not begin with any one person or specific time; it has been coming upon us as an unhealthy transformation over the past decades.  In overcoming this secularly-charged divisiveness, we are to turn our attention to the divine.

Nothing makes the devil happier than to divide the Church.  Nothing makes the devil happier than for us to be distracted by the pitfalls of our human nature.

In what is labeled the most stunning rebuke in the Bible, Peter is rebuked by Jesus for allowing Satan to be the stumbling block that distracts his focus from that that is divine, focusing instead on human desires.

Our call is to carry these words of Jesus’ stunning rebuke.  Our call is to bring forward these words, “Get behind me Satan!” when we are tempted to speak words of hate rather than words of love – words that allow Satan to separate and distract us from the reality of our being loved by God.  When we speak words of hate, Satan delights in our weakness.  Keep the awareness of Satan’s delight fresh in your mind; let this command “Get behind me Satan” guard your thoughts, words, and actions.

Our epistle lesson concludes: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  There is no evil that God does not overcome with Good.  “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”  God does not need our interference.

The root of Christian love is not the will to love, but the deep down firm belief that each of us is loved.