Last week in love
The dog is known as “man’s best friend,” and not without good reason. The canines’ loyalty to their human masters is well-known up and down the ages and celebrated in most cultures around the world. One such story is that of Bobbie, a dog who lived in America in the early part of the last century.
“Bobbie was accidentally separated from his family, while they were on a road trip in Indiana, in the year 1923. After carrying out an extensive and exhaustive search for their beloved dog, the family reached their home in Oregon, disappointed and sad,” Ananta Sharma wrote in www.storypick.com.
“Six months later, Bobbie appeared. He was there at the doorstep of his family home, gotten all scrawny and bony from the long walk that he set all the way from Indiana to his home in Oregon. On his journey back, he scaled a distance of 4,105 kilometers, crossing through all the physical hurdles of mountains, deserts, and plains falling in between. On an average, Bobbie must have travelled about 23 km each day.”
And yet, as loyal and loving as dogs are to their human masters, the love between a man and a woman inspires such heightened feelings in all of us, that perhaps most of the most memorable tales we remember are about human love. Who would forget, for example, the tale of Romeo and Juliet, perhaps the greatest romantic story of all time?
“Probably the most famous love story of all was written by the celebrated English poet and playwright William Shakespeare sometime in the 1590s. Shakespeare’s story of the tragic love between Romeo and Juliet is probably based on Arthur Brooke’s poem The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet that was published in the 1560s. The latter is believed to be an English translation of a novella of Italian writer Matteo Bandello,” according to a post on historylists.org.
“But even his Romeo and Juliet are not original. The story reveals a major influence of ancient tragic love stories, most notably of the Roman story of Pyramus and Thisbe whose families despise each other and prevent the lovers to be together. Just like Pyramus kills himself, falsely believing that Thisbe is dead, Romeo also commits suicide for mistakenly believing that Juliet is dead. Thisbe follows her lover in death upon discovering his dead body which is exactly what Juliet does when she finds Romeo dead. Both Thisbe and Juliet stab themselves but Romeo, unlike Pyreus who stabs himself with his sword, drinks a poison.”
Canine love, and human love. Bonds of affection so strong and unbreakable. And yet, could there be any love stronger than this next one?
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” ( John 3:16–18)
If there is anything in common with canine loyalty and human love, it is that the dog and the human lover give their love, usually because they have experienced love in return. Bobbie was almost certainly treated very well by the family, so much so that he defied all the odds just to be reunited with them. Romeo and Juliet were very much in love with one another, and ended up going against the wishes of their families, just so they could be together. In the case of both Bobbie and the couple, they got something out of the love that they gave.
But what about God? What does He get out of His love for us? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. In fact, we put the only son He has to death. And yet, despite knowing full well that He was sending His only begotten son to a certain and tragic fate, He did it anyway. All to save a world that needed saving, but neither knew or wanted it. What greater love can there be than this?
What a coincidence then that in this last week, we were able to observe three occasions all dedicated to the celebration of love? I cannot, in all my years, ever recall a time that Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday occurred on the same day, and in a week that also ushered in the Chinese New Year of the Dog.
But knowing how God works in mysterious ways, maybe it is not such a coincidence at all? Since we now live in a time when we glorify the condemnable, worship the evildoers, and reject the righteous and the just, perhaps it is His loving way of showing us the error of our unloving ways?
(Belated greetings to my mother-in-law, Linda Dacer Arguelles, who celebrated her 80th birthday last week.)