THE COST OF LOVE
A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco.
“Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve a favor to ask. I have a friend I’d like to bring home with me.”
“Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.”
“There’s something you should know,” the son continued. “He was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mine and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.”
“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.”
“Son,” said the father, “ you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.”
At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know: their son had only one arm and one leg.*
Most likely this story is not a true one, but rather a modern day parable. However, it causes us to place ourselves in the parents’ shoes and consider how we would’ve responded.
It reminds me of the parable Jesus told of the Good Samaritan who helped an enemy in need. Which, by the way, he told as an example of what loving your neighbor looks like.
He wasn’t talking about the emotion of love, but the decision to love by placing others above ourselves. Acting toward others for their good, their well-being and fulfillment is what Jesus meant by loving your neighbor as yourself.
Both parables illustrate the idea that loving others comes at a cost.
Loving others usually means rearranging your life for their benefit. It usually means sacrifice. It usually means being put out. It usually means giving them your time and effort.
Can I ask, “When’s the last time you rearranged your life for someone outside your family? When’s the last time you genuinely sacrificed for someone whom you didn’t have to sacrifice for? When recently did you go out of your way for someone in need?” In other words, “When’s the last time you loved someone as yourself?”
I don’t know exactly what it will cost you when you do. But I know this: it cost Jesus everything. Yet he did it with joy and it changed the world.
Who needs your love today?
*The earliest instance of this author-unknown story is from an e-mail that dates to September 1998.