Love is such a common word that we easily miss its depth.

During Advent, an entire week is spent focusing on Love, rightly pointing to the love God showed in giving his son (John 3:16) and Jesus demonstrated on the cross:

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
John 15:13

All the nice words and kind acts throughout human history could not compare to the love Jesus showed by laying down his life.  We celebrate this, then go on with our lives, forgetting what Jesus said just before this verse:

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
John 15:12

If we claim to be his followers, he expects — commands even — that we love each other as he loved us; in fact, he repeats this often.

If this seems intimidating, it should, because not only is it costly, but not something we can muster ourselves; even the best of us have bad days or deplete our capacity.  So how are we to love as Christ loved?

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. We love because he first loved us.
1 John 4:7, 19

Love comes from God!  This is why we see love present even before Jesus is born.

Think of the love Mary showed.  Mary’s life was in order, betrothed to Joseph and future mapped out, until an angel changed everything.  She learned that she would be made pregnant, though she was a virgin, and that she would carry the son of God; not only would this lead to the judgement of others, but life-long spiritual responsibility she could barely understand.  This invitation could cost her everything.

She said yes.  This willingness to lay down her life was an act of love toward God and the unborn Messiah.

Think of the love Joseph showed.  Happily betrothed and ready to begin the next season of life, he was blindsided by the news that his soon-to-be-wife was pregnant.  He knew virgin pregnancy was an impossibility, and choosing to trust it would not only position him to live into foolishness, but lead to the ridicule of others, who would either assume he committed fornication or that he was marrying a promiscuous woman.  What’s more, he would have a raise a son that was not his own, one who carried profound spiritual implications.

He said yes.  This willingness to lay down his life was an act of love to the God he served, the wife he chose, and the son he would treat as his own.

Their love makes it easier for us to love, because they parented the greatest living example of love.  Not only can we love because God provides it, we can follow Jesus’ steps: “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” (John 13:15)  In fact, this is precisely how the fullness of love comes about:

This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.
1 John 4:17

In this world, be like Jesus, and you will discover a love — for, in, and through you — that is greater than any you’ve known.