Let Love Lead
Tena tātou katoa e te iwi mīhana… (Greetings to all the people in mission),
This month’s whakataukī (proverb) is: “Mā te ngākau aroha koe e ārahi.” (Let a loving heart lead/drive you). Kiwis commonly translate “aroha” as ‘love’ in English, but the English word ‘love’ is so woefully inadequate as a descriptor and it is regularly misunderstood and misused. What citizens of Aotearoa New Zealand have witnessed over the past 3+ weeks outside our parliament, promoted as an act of peace and love, became farcical. Conceding that the ngākau (the heart or central affections) of the protest coordinators was to act in compassionate response to grief experienced by some—mandated loss of jobs, opportunities, services and privileges—the fruit of the attempted insurrection was far from it. Regardless if the event was co-opted by bad eggs, as one narrative of the events strongly claims, it ended up a parody of loving kindness.
The fruit of the Spirit is love… Love is multi-dimensional. Love is the very life-force of God. God is love.
We need better definitions for love. Co-opting aroha as love but retaining vague English ideas is not honouring to the depth of te reo meaning. Translators of the Māori Bible used aroha for love, grace and mercy. We too easily forget that love is intertwined with mercy and grace—and more besides. I will never forget the weight of revelation that hit me back in my missionary training college days when I picked up Leon Morris’ commentary on Galatians and read that the English translations of 5:22-23 add a colon (potentially) in the wrong place. Rather than “the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy…”, Morris contends that it should be, “the fruit of the Spirit is love: (and love is exemplified by all that follows…)”. It makes sense as a sample list if one compares it to another, overlapping, sample list in 1 Corinthians 13:4ff. Love is multi-dimensional. Love is the very life-force of God. God is love (“he aroha hoki te Atua”, 1 John 4:8b).
The whakataukī above suggests both an affectionate gut-level commitment (ngākau) and aroha as admirable core motivators for a person or group. Loving kindness should be our visceral and fully embodied way of living. For example, in response to the prolonged protests, we saw the values/ethics of ngākau aroha at work in the collaborative way kaumatua (elders) of numerous North Island iwi (tribes) responded to the dishonouring of Pipitea Marae and usurping Māori authority. Laying down the three-feathered Te Kahu o Te Raukura (the cloak of aroha and peace) in deliberate, respectful and ceremonious fashion, was a grace-filled response, asserting their authority, calling for calm/peace, and sharing their pain and disappointment; not diminishing the honour of the perpetrators, but letting them know in no uncertain terms that they had trespassed the honour of the marae and its people, and calling them to account for their dishonouring actions.
Do not diminish the dignity of others.
As perspectives continue to polarise, even amongst Christ followers, on issues from local mandates to geopolitics, we do well to remember that an underlying attribute of agape-charis (love-grace) is honour and genuine affection. One of my rule-of-life principles is, “do not diminish the dignity of others”. I can’t say I always succeed, but I think that is what Christ demands of us all as a core value of His Kingdom’s ethic. A loving response does not need to be candy-floss, all sweet and fluffy (and unsubstantial), but it does need to honour the essential dignity of the ‘other’ (even if it is not reciprocated). Because, love: is full of joy, maintains harmony, patiently puts up with the differences and opinions of others, acts with kindness, always seeks to do good (bless), is steadfastly committed to relationships, responds gently, and restrains oneself to the point of sacrificial surrender of one’s own preferences and privileges, against all of which there is nothing illegal or condemnatory. And this is just the Galatians sampling of love’s attributes.
Should we do that even in the face of a violent aggressor? We might ask, “what would Jesus do?” But it is Lenten Season—we know what Jesus did. Should such surrender to abuse apply at all times though? No. Rather, Jesus’ desire in Gethsemane should be our desire at all times: “Father, not our will but yours be done”. God’s will for Jesus is not a hard and fast pattern; but God’s love as our motivator is and there are core elements of Jesus’ loving response that apply at all times.
President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine need not surrender to the abuses of a bully warmonger when the lives of their loved ones and homes are at stake. The Christ-honouring response (for a nation or a person) is to resist with dignity and respect, always keeping a pathway open for reconciliation. As shown by the iwi kaumatua: assert authority, identify the transgression, present a proportionate response, and declare the pathway to peace. The principles of justice suggests that the onus is on the aggressor to de-escalate and negotiate with the aggrieved towards a return to harmony.
Our mission in the world is to represent God, who is love. It is not complicated but it can be difficult. True citizens of the Kingdom are known by their love. Defensive responses can be firm, but should be tempered with respect (we are seeing this beautifully illustrated in Ukraine on social media). When we go into all the world to make disciples, we are shepherding people towards love, and helping one another to become people who love. As Jesus said, witnessed by John the Apostle and Revelator, this is the way we overcome the world. We must remain in His love as we, #stayonmission.
Arohanui ki a koutou e haere ana ki te ao (love to you all as you go into the world),
Jay
