Love Covers

“Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions.” Proverbs 10:12

If I had the physique I dream of, I might change my wardrobe. Barrel chest, six-pack abs, high caliber guns for biceps, calves and thighs well defined; yes, I would not be afraid to wear a t-shirt that actually fit well. It would accentuate all the hard work I put into achieving my incredible frame.

But alas, though not really overweight, I do not have the weight-lifter’s body. There might have been a time I called it “athletic”, but now at 57 and limited by my headache syndrome to the type and consistency of exercise I participate in, I enjoy clothing with a little looser fit. During the week I wear a button down shirt, pulled out and not tucked in. I assume the belted look would only accentuate the soft doughy state of any six-pack I may have ever possessed. As the old joke goes, “I no longer have a six-pack, I have a keg.”

Honestly, I am probably about average for my height and weight; and age. I hate that third enumerator, “age”. But it is true, my body does not conform itself nearly as quickly as when I was in my twenties or thirties. With a faithful regimen of walking and weights, I was a trim 155 pounds for a while during my thirties. I still have that goal in mind, but I carry about 180 pounds around with me every day now. So, my wardrobe subtly hides the unwanted “growth”.

I am fortunate that my entire family has never fought weight. Most of us have fairly trim frames and apparently high metabolisms. The “freshman 15” didn’t hit me until I was forty. Most of us, as we peek ahead to 60 wonder what happened to that young man. Back then a couple of weeks of dedicated bike riding and the pounds melted of onto the bike path where they belonged.

So, apart from entering a high level regime of extreme effort, I make a small adjustment in my clothing. I try to hide the fact that my body is actually 57. I fool no one. I’m in good shape…for my age. (There we go again. That age factor simply won’t leave me alone!)

One of my favorite images of love’s activity is this description that it “covers” all transgression or sins. That sort of love is rare, exceedingly rare. Upon knowing of someone’s failure, how many of us instinctively want to protect the person? We may not be given the gossip, but we may be among the many that want more details. We may not begin a telephone campaign to deal with the person’s transgression, but we may very well kept a closer eye on them, looking for the next misstep that would signal the need to “discover the truth”.

We should not misunderstand this verse as if it means we are to sweep sin under the rug. It does not imply we are to ignore sin, nor to tolerate harmful behavior. This is not the covering that means to “hide”; but rather the covering of protection. Love sees someone’s failure and wants to protect them from any other danger. As we cover a wound with salve, so love cover’s the injury of sin to aid its healing.

We must emphasize that this is a covering over what would communally understood as sin. We can all pass over missteps that are simple errors. But that takes little love and little moral courage. But when someone who has every meal for the next month accounted for steals from the poor, we all agree: transgression! When we think about “covering” that sort of sin, we understand what we are being told about love.

We may not like it. We may say that we are simply letting people get away with wrong. And we would be right if we thought love meant turning around and not noticing the evil among us. Those who break society’s laws must pay societies penalties. But, those who love are ready to come to the aid of those who will receive it. Like the leukocytes that rush to the body’s wounds, so those who learned the power of love lose the language of strife and do what they can to bring such a person to experience the transformation that only compassion can bring.

We as followers of Jesus must learn to throw away our idolatries of political spin-speak, and learn the new language of love that shines the light of God’s love in the darkest lives that others will not touch. It has been a week since the bombing at the Boston Marathon. One perpetrator is dead, the other, his 19 year-old brother is wounded and now charged with his crimes. A fellow pastor posted on his Facebook page, “I am praying for all who have been affected by this tragedy…Let us not forget to also pray for those who were behind this horrible offense.”

It was interesting that my brother received quite a number of negative comments. He had made it clear that he was praying for the families, that they needed the greatest compassion and care possible, and that this was an outrageous act of wickedness and horrific terror. But to merely suggest we ought to pray for the perpetrator as well; many could not stomach it.

I get it. He doesn’t our time, our thoughts, our attention. In some sort of religious hatred he randomly allowed shards of piercing metal to kill one child and other adults, as well as maiming many others. He is as wicked as the come. He has acted in complete disregard for human life. He does not deserve our prayers.

And of course, neither did anyone at the foot of the cross when Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” If we are to reach into the darkest depths of hatred, how will it happen except that people of courage realize their own sin was covered by God’s Son Himself? How grateful we are to have our own failures covered by God’s faithful love.

Let us demand justice; for the families, for the city of Boston, for the officer whose life was taken, and so the entire world understands how horrid this atrocity was. God’s love is never blind to justice. Instead, it brings justice to bear far deeper than any court of law we can produce. At the same time, His love is ready for every transgressor who is ready to say, “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, have mercy on me a sinner.”