Explore more deeply what this scripture has to say about relationships in this seven-month series. How can we let Section 164:6a guide and shape us with new understanding in a world that is often more characterized by fear and separation than connectedness and hope? Send your comments to
Herald@CofChrist.org and we may print them in a future issue.
For Further Reflection and Discussion
- Doctrine and Covenants 16:3c says “the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.” Do you believe all souls have worth? If not, why not? If yes, how should your actions and relationships reflect this belief?
- How does the Enduring Principle, worth of all persons, influence the nature of your relationships?
- Is Christ-like love possible?
- Have you experienced Christ-like love? What did it feel like? How did it change your relationship with another?
- What do these two stories tell us about Christ-like love?
- What do these stories reveal about the Enduring Principle, the worth of all persons?
- Who are the despised, disliked, and rejected in your neighborhood, workplace, and community?
- God has created us as unique beings. What struggles or challenges do you experience when you meet someone different than you?
- What is sin?
- What does the story of Zacchaeus tell us about sin, sinners, and the worth of each person?
- Was Zacchaeus the only sinner in the story?
- How will Christ’s love help us move from judgment on sin to right relationships with God and others?
- As disciples of Jesus Christ, are we called to “seek out and to save the lost”? If so, how will we respond to others? How will our congregations respond?
- When we judge others, does that reflect their true worth to God or our own misunderstandings?
- How will Christ’s love deepen our relationships with people, family members, colleagues, and friends?
- How can our congregation respond in Christ-like love?
—Linda Booth
Council of Twelve Apostles
by LINDA BOOTH,,
Council of Twelve Apostles
Herald, May 2011
As revealed in Christ, God, the Creator of all, ultimately is concerned about behaviors and relationships that uphold the worth and giftedness of all people and that protect the most vulnerable. Such relationships are to be rooted in the principles of Christ-like love, mutual respect, responsibility, justice, covenant, and faithfulness, against which there is no law.
If the church more fully will understand and consistently apply these principles, questions arising about responsible human sexuality; gender identities, roles, and relationships; marriage; and other issues may be resolved according to God’s divine purposes. Be assured nothing within these principles condones selfish, irresponsible, promiscuous, degrading, or abusive relationships. —Doctrine and Covenants 164:6a–b
Jesus is the living expression of God’s love, revealing that all people have inestimable and equal worth. No one is excluded from this divine love—not hateful family members, difficult neighbors, malicious colleagues, or even our worst enemies.
Last August our daughter-in-law disappeared with our grandsons, 10-year-old Brock and 8-year-old Corbin. For three months our family did not know if the boys were safe or if we would see them again. We felt pain and helplessness, knowing Gretchen could have left the state, fearing she might harm herself or the boys. We felt blessed by the prayers of the many that lifted us up to God. In our pain, we knew God was near.
One Saturday morning I awoke with a plan. I persuaded my husband, Doug, we should drive to St. Joseph, Missouri, a nearly two-hour drive from our home, to see if Gretchen was staying with a friend who had bailed her out of jail. We found the address and spent 45 minutes driving through nearby neighborhoods, looking for Gretchen’s car. There was no sign of her or the boys.
Discouraged, we drove home.
Early the next morning, I left on my own for St. Joseph. Again, I drove up and down the streets, praying, desperately searching for our grandsons. Again, no sign of them. I drove home, crying and singing these words: “I love You, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship You, O my soul, rejoice! Take joy, my King, in what You hear: may it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.”
As I sang these praise words over and over again, a Christ-like love for Gretchen grew within me. My love for her became intense, forgiving, and whole. That love continues today. I know our relationship never will be easy. I also know that as a disciple of Jesus Christ I am called to love her, just as Jesus does.
Christ-like love is both theological and practical. Theology comes from the art of telling and listening to stories of Jesus. The practical becomes evident when we allow the story of Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection to form and transform our relationships through Christ-like love.
The Gospels tell many stories of Christ’s radical love. It made a difference in people’s lives, challenged his disciples to change the cultural and social norms that discounted the worth of all persons, and sent his followers to share that radical love with others.
Just as Jesus’ radical love affected those disciples, the stories of Jesus’ love can shape us as we share Christ-like love with others. Following are just two of the many stories that model Christ-like love.
While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying,
“My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. —Matthew 9:18–22 NRSV
We forget the radical nature of Jesus’ encounter with the unnamed woman. In the Hebrew culture, women were dismissed; their social status equal to slaves and children. In public places, women covered themselves with two veils to remain unseen. Men were prohibited from looking at or talking to women in public. A woman could be divorced for simply speaking to a man outside her home.
This woman’s situation was complicated further because she was unclean according to the purity laws. Her bleeding for 12 years would have excluded her from Jewish life and from relationships with others. She could not eat with people, worship in the temple, or have any contact with another practicing Jew.
As a result, she would have been estranged, lonely, and rejected.
Jesus’ speaking to and healing this woman would have shocked his disciples. His actions were a rejection of the cultural restrictions of gender and the religious-purity code. Jesus chose to relate to this woman, valuing her as a person of worth, healing her so she could resume relationships with others.
What does this story tell us about Christ-like love? As individuals and as members of Christ’s body we are called to see others through spiritual eyes that recognize another’s pain, separation, and need. We are called to take the time to love, even when the action does not fit our schedule. We are called to love those considered unclean in our society, to stop, touch, and heal the estranged, lonely, and rejected because they are God’s children of inestimable and equal worth.
During a final commitment service at a family camp, I was intrigued when Bill stood to say he would commit to be a friend to his neighbor who had just been released from prison for shooting his ex-wife. Months later, I sat beside Bill at a potluck in the Nevada, Missouri, Congregation. I asked Bill about his neighbor. Bill told of checking on him daily and frequently driving him to doctor appointments, etc.
“My neighbor has recently been banned from entering the welfare office,” Bill reported.
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, my neighbor said something inappropriate to the woman who gave him his welfare check. Now, I have to go in to the office and get his check for him.”
“You know that your neighbor will probably never change,” I said. “So why do you continue to care for him?”
Bill thought for a moment and then replied, “Because he’s a child of God.”
He (Jesus) entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” —Luke 19:1–10 NRSV
Tax collectors were often Jewish men who were considered “sinners,” shunned by family and other Jews. Like Gentile slaves, they were denied civil and political rights granted to Jewish men. Money from tax collectors was so tainted it couldn’t be given as alms in the temple. If a Jewish man ate with or had a relationship with a tax collector, he would be contaminated and considered “unrighteous.”
Jesus’ followers would not eat with Zacchaeus and complained when Jesus announced he was going to Zacchaeus’ home. Jesus intentionally sought out this “sinner” and deliberately “contaminated” himself by eating with him.
We don’t know what Jesus says to Zacchaeus over the meal, but we know the results: Jesus’ love and compassion transform Zacchaeus’ actions. As a person worthy to eat with Jesus, he now generously gives to the poor and to those he defrauded. Jesus proclaims: “The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
What does this story tell us about Christ-like love? Jesus makes it clear that all people, even sinners, are worthy of our time, attention, and love. Who matters to Jesus? Everyone!
This story also helps us recognize that sin is the universal condition of separation and alienation from God and one another. Christ shows us how to relate to those who are estranged. If we model Christ’s attitudes and behaviors, we, too, will seek the lost, love them, and help them reconcile with God and others.
Just as Jesus’ radical love touched those disciples, so can the stories of Jesus touch us if we share a Christ-like love with others, value each person as a child of God, and witness of Christ’s love through our words and actions of compassion. Christ-like love is genuinely expressed when we
Generously share the invitation, ministries, and sacraments through which people can encounter the Living Christ who heals and reconciles through redemptive relationships in sacred community. The restoring of persons to healthy or righteous relationships with God, others, themselves, and the earth is at the heart of the purpose of your journey as a people of faith.
—Doctrine and Covenants 163:2b