[317] World Scripture - Sacrificial Love - 1. For the Sake of Those You

[대태양/김현수]

Part Three - The Path of Life

Chapter 13. Love

3) Sacrificial Love

True Love is sacrificial Love. It calls forth self-sacrifice in the service of others. Love prompts us to get involved in the knotty problems of the world, gives us the strength to bear with the failings and weaknesses of others, and moves us to help others regardless of the cost. We have the example of Jesus christ, who out of love, offered his life to redeem sinful humanity. Moses in his time, and Muhammad as well, endured persecution and exile, risking their lives to enlighten and liberate their people—all for the love of God and humanity.

out of buddhism comes the figure of the bodhisattva, who vows to devote himself to save all beings. he regards his own happiness as incidental to the happiness of others, and would rather not enjoy the fruits of his own spiritual progress before first liberating others.

on this topic, Father Moon describes the root of sacrificial love in God, who invested himself endlessly at the creation to make a beautiful home for his children. God, who ever since the fall, has continuously and sorrowfully devoted himself as would a loving parent to rescue prodigal humanity from the pits of sin and grief. such divine love is manifested every day in the human love of parents, who willingly sacrifice for their children’s future.

1. Sacrificing Everything—Even Your Life—for the Sake of Those You Love

World Scripture

Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15.13

The Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20.28

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. Ephesians 5.1-2

Love will make men dare to die for their beloved—love alone; and women as well as men. Of this, Alcestis, the daughter of Pelias, is a monument to all Hellas; for she was willing to lay down her life on behalf of her husband, when no one else would.8 Socrates, in Plato, Symposium (Hellenism)

By this we know love, that he [Christ] laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But if any one has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3.16-18

We, truly, have come for your sakes, and have borne the misfortunes of the world for your salvation. Do you flee the one who has sacrificed his life that you may be quickened?… Do you imagine that he seeks his own interests, when he has, at all times, been threatened by the swords of the enemies; or that he seeks the vanities of the world, after he has been imprisoned in the most desolate of cities?…

Verily, he has consented to be sorely abased that you may attain glory, and yet, you are disporting yourselves in the vale of heedlessness. He, in truth, lives in the most desolate of abodes for your sakes, while you dwell in your palaces. Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (Baha’i Faith)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

If I put my life on the line to subjugate evil, then the life-giving love of God will be bestowed upon me. (40:243, February 6, 1971)

A sacrificial spirit—where for the sake of a neighbor you can throw away your life as if it were a worthless piece of straw—is exactly true love. (224:254, December 7, 1991)

Love would not be possible if human beings did not have an original nature to sacrifice. We do not think of it as a sacrifice when we sacrifice for someone we love. We feel it is worthwhile, even as we sacrifice more and more. (63:25, October 1, 1972)

In the course of loving their children, parents will sacrifice. No matter how much they sacrifice for their children they do not take it as painful, because the heart of love is contained in their sacrifice. All the energy they expend returns to them as stimulating love. The more they give out, the more joy they feel. That is the power by which they can overcome the pain of sacrifice. Likewise, husband and wife may make sacrifices for each other to the point of giving their lives, yet through it all, they feel joy. In love they can invest infinitely, and feel infinite joy in return. Sacrifice in itself is consumptive; it is a minus force.

How can one feel joy by becoming diminished? From a worldly viewpoint it is impossible. However, it is possible because of love. Why did God pour out His love? Because without love, nothing returns. Through a relationship of love between subject and object partners, an eternal give and take action is set in motion which multiplies God’s power. Therefore, we can conclude that love establishes eternity. That is why the Bible says that God is love. According to the laws of mechanics, the output can never be greater than the input. If that were true where love is concerned, then when God loved it would drain out all His energy and nothing would return to Him.

Therefore, He set up the ideal that in loving, the output is greater than the input. Accordingly, true parent-child relationships, true husband-wife relationships, and true brotherly relationships are established through sacrificial love. The genuineness of those relationships depends upon keeping the standard of sacrifice. Children know that their parents truly love them when they sacrifice themselves for them. Although the sacrificial position is a sorrowful one, when the children perfectly appreciate it and return love to the parents, the parents can feel more joy.

Likewise, a couple that sacrifices for each other finds their love constantly renewed, revived by the power of sacrifice. A husband and wife who share their suffering with each other can become one eternally. True friends also, are those who sacrifice themselves for each other. The position of love can be established when one sacrifices oneself and gives himself for others. Thus sacrifice accompanies love. (September 11, 1972)

Love embraces all. Love goes beyond the law. Because it goes beyond the law, not even death can stand in its way. Love can penetrate any wall, even a wall tens of thousands of years in the making. Though the wall is so strong that no army can invade, love can push its way through safely. The most formidable wall will crumble when you attack it with the weapons of self-sacrifice and investing everything, for the sake of love. (49:52, October 3, 1971)

You should sacrifice the person closest to you. What principle has God employed in His efforts to restore this world? To save this sinful world and all the wretched people of the earth, God sacrificed the person He loved most. God sent His servants as offerings, and when the time came God offered up His only Son. This has always been the way of God’s providence: He sacrifices the most beloved on His side for the sake of Satan’s tribe. Can you possibly experience how God must feel, to sacrifice His beloved ones to liberate the followers of His worst enemy? Yet He perseveres in this providence for the sake of the world and for the sake of His enemies. Therefore, the entire human race should give God honor and glory. (33:298, August 21, 1970)

When an individual sacrifices him or herself for the sake of others, the others will recognize him as a virtuous person. If a certain family lives sacrificially for other families, those families will respect it as a virtuous family. If a community sacrifices itself for other communities and dedicates its full energy for them, then they will honor it as the most virtuous of communities. Likewise, if a nation seeks to sacrifice itself for all nations in the world, then the other nations will honor that nation as the most noble among nations. This principle is God’s Will, and God sent Jesus to establish it. Christianity is spread throughout the world. If Christians were living this way, sacrificing their own nations to save other nations, and giving everything they owned for the sake of saving humanity, then surely the churches would today be fulfilling the Will of the God of goodness. (69:86, October 20, 1973)