Magnanimity and Friendship
By
Linda and Richard Eyre
Note:
Each week this column provides a short essay on one particular aspect
or facet of the Lord’s personality and character. It is intended
that the reader focus on this facet while partaking of the sacrament
this Sunday. (Click here to
read full introductory column.) This column has been on haitus for
a few weeks while the Eyres were traveling, and Meridian is proud
to resume it. Review previous columns by going to the What
Manner of Man Archives
Chinese poet-philosopher
Li Hung Chang said: “The only problem with Christ is that His teachings
are too lofty to be practical.”
Napoleon is quoted as
saying: “I have inspired multitudes with such devotion that they
would have died for me. But to do this it was necessary that I should
be visibly present. Christ, unseen, asks for the human heart … and
all who sincerely believe in Him experience that remarkable, supernatural
love toward Him.
Chang was overwhelmed,
Napoleon mystified, by Jesus Christ’s love, by the fact that all
who truly felt it returned it.
Christ created the quality
of magnanimity when he added to the easy love (of friends and comrades)
the difficult love (of enemies and opposites) (see Luke 6:27-38).
His love overpowered hard-to-love people. His forgiveness was instant
and total (see Matthew 18:21-22), and it flourished even on the
cross (see Luke 23:34). His friendship extended even to his betrayer
(see Matthew 26:50).
It is because of Christ’s
love for all that he can ask all to love him by loving
each other. And indeed he did ask this: “Love your enemies” (Luke
6:27, 35); “Do good to them that hate you” (Matthew 5:44); and,
perhaps most striking and challenging of all, “Love one another
as I have loved you” (John 13:34-35).
Did Christ’s life leave
any clues, any keys to the seemingly impossible door leading to
the love of everyone and the hate or resentment of no one?
Yes. One key is found
in the example Christ set of finding reasons for appreciating people.
Christ spoke approvingly of loyalty (see Mark 10:29-30). He commended
the use of talents (see Matthew 25:14-23). He saw good in things
as small as the widow’s mite (see Mark 12:43), and in things as
large as the hidden power and quality of his apostle Peter.
Another key is the way
Jesus could believe in people even when they did not believe in
themselves (see Luke 5:8-10).
Still another key ties
into the practice of praying earnestly for other people: for friends
(see Luke 22:32; John 17:9), and also for the unworthy (see Matthew
5:44).
A final key (and perhaps
the greatest) comes to us as we learn to view all men as friends
and as brothers (see Matthew 5:21-24).
What a blessing (and an
incentive) it is to know that, as we make friends with the least
of our brothers, we are making friends with the greatest (and most
senior) of our brothers (see Matthew 25:40).
Join us
next Friday as we begin to think about a whole new dimension
of the
Lord … his unmatched eadership.
© 2005 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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