Who Loves You? - by Greg Steggerda

One of my favorite cinematic depictions of Army life is the HBO series Band of Brothers, and one of my favorite scenes comes in the first episode. Easy Company is still in basic training and finds itself on yet another night march when other companies are in their barracks. One private works up the courage to challenge the lieutenant marching with them as to why their commander, Captain Sobel, works them so hard. 

When the lieutenant turns the question around and asks the private what he thinks, the private says, “I think Captain Sobel hates us, sir!” To which the lieutenant replies, “Captain Sobel doesn’t hate Easy Company, private. He just hates you.” The unexpected joke breaks the tension and increases the bond between that lieutenant and his men.

It’s an exchange I think about a lot because it raises questions of what feels like love and what doesn’t, and why we hate who we hate. To Captain Sobel, Easy Company soldiers were malcontents; to Lieutenant Winters they were hardworking, intelligent, caring men. Captain Sobel’s relationship with his men was always antagonistic and suspicious. 

I explain this little story and my reaction to it because this morning in John 15:18-19 I read these words of Jesus: “‘If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.’”

There were a few soldiers Captain Sobel loved, but they were the suck-ups who ratted on their buddies; they were his yes-men. Captain Sobel saw real soldiers as a threat. In the same way, non-Christians will always be threatened by Jesus and his expectations, because they don’t want any limitations on their behavior; they love people who say yes to whatever they want. Any Christian who is loved by non-Christians probably is compromising his or her message, conforming not to Jesus but to the world.

This morning, I realize that it’s healthy and good if there are people who hate me, so long as it’s the ones Jesus says also hate him. In fact, being loved by that group should be a huge red flag.

Who loves you? That seems like a worthwhile question to help get at whether we’re living distinctively or not.