This problem--and the accompanying rant that many, including myself, are prone to deliver on the slightest provocation--are given something of a summary, with a unique twist, in this funny and sarcastic youtube video by Blimey Cow which has nothing to do with the actual point of the rest of this blog post. I include it here mostly because it amuses me.
But that isn't really what I'm writing about today. Moving on...
Now, most of you have probably heard things like this a hundred times: "You have to love everyone, but you don't have to like them." In other words, you have to desire and work for what is truly good for each person, but you don't have to enjoy their company or feel friendly towards everyone you meet. Knowing this makes us feel better--just think, what if we had to like the people who hurt us or annoy us!? Surely that would make life miserable. Or would it?
Still, we must love everyone, which is hard enough--and we must love them as God loves us (Jn. 13:34), which is even harder since we know that God loves us more than we can ever imagine. Which leads me to my next thought...
God loves every single one of us. Jesus is God. So Jesus loves everybody. Yes, even you. Even me. Even His executioners. (Even the devil--that's why the devil is in hell. Think about that one for a minute.) And even though Jesus is fully human, He is still able to love everybody infinitely, because He's also fully divine.
But does Jesus like everybody? Are there people that Jesus genuinely doesn't like? Jesus was fully human, after all, and conventional wisdom tells us that "you have to love everyone, but you don't have to like them."
On first glance, it makes sense to say that there were a lot of people Jesus didn't like. Take for example many of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus repeatedly said, to their faces, things that could hardly be mistaken for words of endearment, though they were words of warning rather than of hatred. (It's called tough love.)
It does seem absurd to suggest that even when He was castigating evildoers and turning over tables in the Temple, Jesus intensely liked (not just loved) every single person He met.
But we will never know what it is like to be a God-man, and to that extent we can't "get inside Jesus' head," so to speak. What if Jesus not only loves but even likes every single person? Let's try a thought experiment. Maybe when He saw a hypocritical Pharisee, Jesus' thoughts sounded something like this: "Oh Father, here comes dear old Benjamin again, putting undue burdens on ordinary people who are trying to serve God... Look how he's destroying himself and hurting everyone around him with his pride and self-righteousness... This has got to stop. Poor Benjamin... he mustn't keep on like this." (At this point Jesus launches into a tirade about hypocrites and whitewashed tombs.)
It all depends on what liking entails. "Disliking" doesn't mean "hating;" that would be "disloving." So, is disliking people something, if not sinful, at least a result of our fallen and imperfect state? Is it in the same category as getting sick or injured or hungry? Even Jesus, though sinless, could become injured or hungry while He walked this earth.
Or do liking and disliking pertain to our personhood rather than our universal human nature? In other words, is our dislike of certain people at least partly due to our temperament, personality and preferences as a unique human individual--at least, those preferences and personality traits that do not come from sinful tendencies?
Perhaps we dislike people because of their imperfections--or perhaps because of ours. Or is there in fact no moral right and wrong involved in our likes and dislikes?
Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it. Because of course, I don't have an answer for you--it's your turn to think now. And when you're done, let me know what you think by posting a comment, so we can discuss this more!
