Love is NOT blind

 

 

Yesterday, the Rev. Van Gardner preached at Memorial. He concentrated the sermon on this passage in Luke. After being led into the wilderness by the Spirit for forty days, Jesus, filled with the power of that same Spirit, returned to Galilee and his hometown of Nazareth. Even before he called the disciples, Jesus went to his hometown synagogue and, in front of the elders that had watched him grow up, took out the scroll of Isaiah and proclaimed his ministry. It was like a hometown boy coming home from college and saying “This is who I am as an adult.” Everyone was amazed. Some said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” Some were probably perturbed at this brash young man. But those who knew and loved Jesus saw him---saw him as an adult for maybe the first time. Perhaps they say him with eyes wide open for the very first time.

 

In his sermon, Van+ made many memorable comments—but this one really caught me. He said, “They say love is blind, but the real truth is that love is anything but blind.” It is so very true that love is about seeing the whole person and loving that whole person in spite of and maybe even with all those perceived flaws. When we are first “in love,” we often choose to ignore all those slightly irritating aspects of our beloved. True love is when we see those less-than-admirable aspects and love them even more deeply. A good and long marriage can reveal this form of wide-eyed-open love. So can a deep friendship. A long-standing collegial relationship. A commitment to a community of faith or a familial community. Seeing the whole person and loving them. That is what the love of God is like. Today let us all give thanks for those relationships and communities in our lives that love us eyes-wide open. Help us to do the same to others. 

 

Thanks be to God.