Daily Word of Grace # 41 (May 12, 2020)
One of my favorite songs by the Beatles is “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”, penned by John Lennon and on their 1965 album Help! It describes something all of us have experienced at one time or another, a broken heart: “Here I stand head in hand, turn my face to the wall. If she’s gone I can’t go on, feeling two-foot small. Everywhere people stare, each and every day. I can see them laugh at me, and I hear them say, ‘Hey, you’ve got to hide your love away.’” Having your heart broken leaves you vulnerable, “feeling two foot small”, and indeed wanting to hide your love away—because who wants to have your heart broken yet again? The good news of the gospel is that Jesus chose not to hide God’s love away, not from you, not from anyone. Even though Jesus’ heart was broken again and again throughout his earthly life and ministry—from being labeled “illegitimate” as a child (Mark 6:3), to being labeled a “friend of sinners” (Matthew 11:19), to being accused of healing people through demonic means (Mark 3:22), to being forsaken by his disciples (Matthew 26:56), to being falsely accused of blasphemy and sentenced to death (Matthew 26:55-56), all the way to being nailed to a cross and left to die(Mark 15:25)—Jesus never hid his love away. Even on Good Friday as everywhere people stared and Jesus could see people laugh at him, he still refused to hide his love away—“Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). And even now, the Risen Jesus refuses to hide his love away, an ever-present love for everyone, especially those with a broken heart.
Love and Prayers,
Dave