Re(tro)View: All you need is love....kind of...but not really.

Can you believe the Beatles' song "All You Need Is Love" was released as a single fifty years ago. That's right, it has its golden anniversary. If the song was a person it would be old enough to get the senior discount at McDonald's and yell at the kids to stay off it's lawn. The Beatles recorded the song and released it as a single after doing it live on the TV special "Our World".  On the song there are all sorts of interesting and odd quirks including one of the most complicated time signatures in pop-music history (the piece was actually more orchestral than pop) and it had George Harrison, the most under-rated and talented Beatle in my opinion, playing violin...an instrument he had never even picked up before the day they recorded.  As such he learned to play it on the spot.     Lennon later called the song a "Propaganda Piece" saying that it was designed to present a clear and simple idea in a format that would easily lend itself to be used as a slogan.  His goal was to use this song, along with songs like "Give Peace a Chance" and "Power to the People" to encourage people to take a different view of life.  Lennon later said, "I'm a revolutionary artist. My art is dedicated to change. Nothing is more revolutionary than love."

Thanks to my High School English teacher I get a little jittery when I see the phrase "revolutionary".  One of the books she had us read was George Orwell's Animal Farm.  Some books just leave a greater impression than others and boy did that book leave an impression.  To this day I look at every revolution and wonder when the the "All animals are equal, but some are more equal" posters will go up.

Animal Farm By   George Orwell. If your 11th grade English Teacher left this one off your reading list let me summarize.  Though Orwell is best known for his dystopic novel 1984 this lesser known book can certainly hold its own with the best cautionary tales. Animal Farm is an allegory of the the Russian communist revolution in which the animals of a farm, led by the pigs, revolt against the farmers. It is a revolution that the pigs slowly come to view as a means to power and greed. One of the most famous examples is the slogan that starts the revolution: "All animals are equal!".  Eventually the pigs explain that while all animals are equal now on the farm, some animals "are more equal".  Although the hypocrisy is not lost on some of the farmyard animals, the revolution becomes too violent and dangerous to oppose the pigs.Over the course of the novel the pigs slowly subvert the revolution for selfish gain until in the end they become indistinguishable from the farmer himself.

So, no.  When someone tells me how revolutionary they are it makes my teeth itch and I wonder if the secret police are far behind.  Let me state unconditionally, I do not believe that "All you need is love".  Love is volatile. Love is wild. Love is undisciplined and unruly.  Love does not care if it inspires you to be your best, or your worst.  Love on it's own is rocket fuel and as such, it can either blow up in your face or send you to the moon. I have seen too much evil done in the name of love to trust it.  Lennon was right, "nothing is more revolutionary than love" and for this reason I find it inherently dangerous. Jesus did too. Wait, what?

Oh, don't worry.  I see that look on your face.  Yes, 1 Cor. 13 does clearly say that God is love, and Jesus here in in the 13th chapter of John commands his disciples to love.  I am not saying love is a bad thing, I am saying it is a dangerous thing that cannot be trusted on it's own like a toddler in a factory that makes knives, candy, and deep holes. Love is too revolutionary, and as such it can easily be subverted and abused.  This is why Jesus leaves a very specific command, and it isn't "all you need is love".    John 13:31-35 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." 13:31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.13:32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.13:33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'13:34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

Jesus's command is: "All you need is love...as a result of me loving you first... practiced the way I practiced it...as disciples of me... for the greater glory of my Father's kingdom for all to see."

As propaganda goes it is terrible.  Propaganda should fit on a bumper sticker like "All you need is love" and "All animals are equal".  Jesus was not interested in an over simplified truth for the sake of making bumper stickers.  He was interested in creating lasting change for the kingdom of God.  Love is the most powerful thing in creation but that power has to be harnessed.  The pigs made terrible leaders in Animal Farm because in the end their own greed and shortsightedness left them vulnerable to corruption.  Our leader is incapable of corruption.  Sure, we can misinterpret him and I think we often do.  But that firm guiding beacon that is Jesus Christ never wavers.

Instead, Christ marks the clear channel for us to navigate our lives through without variance or fail.  First we are loved by Christ, then we are instructed in how to love by Christ, then we are sent to love as Christ loved by Christ.  This love is actually far more revolutionary than anything dreamt of by Lennon, or for that matter Lenin. This unfailing, unfaltering love drives us only toward the good.  Looks only toward virtue. Leads only toward life. What is important is not that we love, but that we love as we have been loved, by Jesus Christ.  Thank you for reading and, if you enjoyed it, please hit the "subscribe" at the top of the page. As always, please remember to share and leave a comment. Thanks again. God Bless. Pastor Rus.