Love has a speed

Augustine is credited with the expression “Solvitur ambulando” which means, “It is solved by walking”.  Whenever I hear that, I wonder, what is solved?  Perhaps many things.  The apostle John wrote, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus walked.” (1 John 2:6).  

Jesus was a pedestrian. In the Bible, it’s less common to find him preaching in the Temple than it is walking.  He walked out into the desert to be tempted.  As he walked by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers. “Come and follow me,” he said.  He even walked on water.  It was while he was walking along a road that a man said, “I will follow you wherever you go.”  Jesus walked out of the city, up to Golgotha, stumbling, all the Way to His death, for love.   And He walked back into life again, with those two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

“Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus walked.”   How did Jesus walk?  I suggest he walked slowly and attentively.  In John 5:19, Jesus said this, “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he SEES his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

Many passages have the expression, “Jesus saw …”  And Jesus saw because he was never in a hurry.  Jesus walked slowly, because God is love.  Love has a speed.  It is an inner speed, it is a spiritual speed – the speed of our soul.  It is a different kind of speed from the technological speed to which we are accustomed.  It is slow and yet it is king over all the other speeds since it is the speed of love.  

In our culture we walk fast, talk fast, text fast, eat fast and then excuse ourselves by saying, “I’ve gotta run.”  Hurry keeps us consumed by “the cares & riches & pleasures of life” (as Jesus put it).  And it prevents Jesus way of life from taking root in our hearts.  Following Jesus can’t be done at a sprint.  If we want to follow someone, we can’t go faster than the One who is leading.  And Jesus went SLOW.

Our tendency to hurry causes a diminished capacity to love.  Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible.  Love always takes time and time is one thing hurried people don’t have.  And it is because it kills love that hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life.  Hurry prevents us from receiving love from the Father and it prevents us from giving it to others.  That’s why Jesus never hurried.  If we are to follow Jesus, we must learn to walk SLOWLY because, by definition, we can’t move faster than the One we’re following.  

Our community needs our love.  Love has a speed. So let’s walk slowly and join in with what the Father is doing.