No Greater Love

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.

Remain in my love.

If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, 

just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this: To lay down ones life for a friend.
I no longer call you slaves...I call you friends.
John 15:9-15

Everybody who loves, suffers. It's unavoidable. Love and pain are so bound together that anyone who claims to love without being hurt is a liar, or unaware of love's true meaning. Christ made it absolutely, unequivocally clear - the greatest love possible involves the greatest sacrifice possible. The ultimate act of love and redemption in history was also the most intense act of emotional and physical agony - the Crucifixion. 

To begin to understand this apparent paradox, it is necessary to examine the nature of sacrifice. Sacrifice is giving, but not loss. It is loss of that which is good, but with the end of an even greater good. Sacrifice is a surrender oriented toward love.

What, then, is love? The Greeks have four words for love - eros, philia, storge, and agape. Eros was used to describe the burning love of passion, often associated with lust. Philia is the "brotherly love" (hence, Philadelphia) found between friends. Storge is the familial love between siblings, and between parents and children. It is agape, though, that is referred to most. It is agape that Jesus called "the greatest love" in John 15. It is agape that is unitive. Agape is a complete self giving. A complete sacrifice, as it were.

We have all had the experience of giving something up for a friend. Whether it is staying up later than planned to talk to them, or going out of your way to make sure they are there, the essence of friendship is sacrifice and, by proxy, agape love. 

When we sacrifice, it isn't loss - it is the gain of the most amazing thing this world can offer.

Love hurts, but it's worth it.