Advent Week 4 – Love

Theme of Love
This week we relit the first three candles of the Advent wreath. The candles of HOPE, PEACE and JOY. Now
we light the candle for the fourth Sunday in Advent. This is the candle of LOVE.

Scripture and Reflection
Jesus demonstrated self-giving love in his ministry as the Good Shepherd. Advent is a time for
kindness, thinking of others, and sharing with others. It is a time to love as God loved us by giving us
his most precious gift. The apostle John says it like this,

John 3:16, NIV
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes
in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

This is probably the best-known verse in the Bible. “John 3:16” is flashed in ball parks and memorized
in Sunday school classes. Why is it so beloved? Because it tells us about God’s love – the reason
that the Father sent his Son on Christmas day. “He gave his one and only Son” that Christmas morn.
Why? Because he loved the world so much – not the physical globe, but the people whom he had
created. Struggling, confused, exuberant, depressed, striving and sinful. He loved them. He loves us!
That is why Jesus came.

In the way Jesus relates to hurting people, we can see that love, that compassion. His gentle words –
“my daughter” – to the woman who touched the hem of his garment. His encouragement to Peter who
had betrayed him – “Feed my sheep, Peter, I haven’t given up on you.” His
compassion for the crowds whom he saw as “sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus came on Christmas
morn out of the Father’s love. And in spite of persecution and crucifixion, even a history of saints and
sinners inside and outside of his Church, his love for us is undiminished this Advent season.

Bible Project Video: LOVE

Reflection Questions

1. When Jesus arrived, God’s love became an embodied reality in our world. The God of the
   Bible doesn’t merely express love through Jesus; he is love. As a triune God—Father, Son,
   and Spirit—he always has been and forever will be an others-centered, self-giving, communal
   being who thinks, feels, and acts with pure love. Read 1 John 4:16 and John 15:9-13, taking
   note of the triune relationship and the theme of living and abiding. What do you observe?
2. Read Mark 12:29-31 and take note of how Jesus quotes the Hebrew Bible (Deuteronomy 6:4-6; Leviticus 19:34). How does loving God relate to loving other people?
3. The Hebrew Bible records the history of the ancient Israelites as they struggle to follow the commandment to love God and others. If Israel had difficulty with this, how can we hope to do any better? Jesus helps us when he adds a new commandment to empower the greatest commandment. Compare John 13:34 with Mark 12:29-31. What is the difference between these two commands? How does Jesus enable us to follow the greatest commandment?
4. Agape love is not primarily a feeling that happens to people. This kind of love is a choice to act in ways that offer well-being to others. Using Paul’s definition of love from 1 Corinthians 13:1-7, consider how Jesus loves us. How is Jesus patient, kind, humble, and selfless toward us? How does this kind of love challenge more popular, modern notions?
5. Jesus says that the ultimate standard of authentic love is how well you treat the person you can’t stand—your enemy. Let that settle in as you read Luke 6:27-36. Notice how God shows kindness to ungrateful, dishonest, and violent people. What does this say about God’s character? Consider how Luke 6:36 describes God. How do you think love and mercy relate to one another?