Hello Angel, I have a tale to tell you. Hopefully there is enough room.
It was a time, a few thousand years ago, of extreme political tension. The vast Greco-Roman empire was about to split into two mutually jealous factions, one part based in Rome, one in Damascus. Marcus and Aristos had grown up together in Rome. In their youth they had been study partners in Bible class. They continued that tradition into their adult lives when fortune would find them in the same city, but that was rare. To provide for his family, Aristos had moved his family amd business to Damascus. Marcus remained with his family in Rome. The two men traded the goods produced in their respective locations. They were a natural team. Their shared language and more important their shared trust were total. Twice yearly they would meet, once in Rome, once in Damascus.
It was early spring that a fateful voyage brought Marcus to the Mediterranean seaport of Beruit. From there it was a pleasant day's carriage ride to Damascus and the home of his friend. Their geetings were cut short by a pounding on the door. Syrian Greek guards burst in, seizing Marcus, brandishing papers accusing him of spying for Rome. The charge was rediculous. "Tell it to the king" was the reply. The king was mightily unimpressed by the protestations of Marcus. Treason meant death by hanging.
Tried and convicted, Marcus asked only one favor. "Allow me to return home so that I may bid my family farewell and set my affairs in order. Then I will return to face sentence. I am a businessman. I owe creditors, and others owe me".
The king smiled at Marcus's request. It was too ludicrous to be taken seriously. "If you return to Rome, we'll never see you again in Damascus, where the hangman's noose awaits you."
"I'll give a guarantee that I will come back. Aristos my friend , will guarantee my return."
"And if you do not return, we'll hang him?!"
"Yes, he's agreed because he knows I'll return."
"Be back in twenty days, or he hangs at dawn on the twenty first day."
Strong well-directed winds cut a day off the sea voyage from Damascus to Rome. There Marcus instructed his wife and children how to continue his business and hoped for their happier future. Amid heartbreak and tears, Marcus set off for the retirn trip to his death. To be certain of his timely arrival in Damascus, he allowed a week for what was usually a four day journey by ship. The early summer breezes smoothly moved the ship out of the harbor into the Mediterranean. Two days into the trip the beezes weakened, and travel slowed. And the worst occured. The sea became calm.
But for Marcus, the beauty was the symbol of a curse. The days dragged on. At last storm clouds appeared. Winds filled the once flaccid sails. It was as if the calm of the previous days had acted as a reservoir for the energy of the impending gale. The boat virtually flew through the waters, unfortunately to no avail. Beruit harbor came into view just as sunrise of the twenty-first day had broke upon the city. In the fullest meaning of the word, the deadline had passed. The worst was about to happen.
Marcus leaped ashore, threw the skipper a pouch containing the final payment of his passage, hired a team of horses, and raced to Damascus. Swathes of white foam streaming from nostrils and mouths, the horses brought the carriage careening into central square Damascus just as the king's crier called out the news that the hanging would take place within the hour. The king, to publicize the foolishness of Aristos and his guarantee, had postponed the hanging till noontime, when he'd be assured of a larger crowd to witness the event.
Marcus threw himself from the carriage and ran headlong up the steps of the gallows platform. There Aristos stood, hands bound behind his back, a noose loosely draped around his neck. Marcus hugged his colleague, at the same time telling the hangman that he, Marcus, the traitor, the intended victim, the man convicted of treason, had returned. He must now stand in place of Aristos. That was obviously correct. The hangman began the exchange of the noose only to hear Aristos complain that it was not to be so. Marcus had guaranteed that he would return by the twentieth day and it was now the twenty-first day. Marcus had failed in his pronise, and so he, Aristos, must hang. That made sense to the hangman until Marcus pointed put how ridiculous this was. He, Marcus, was the the traitor, not Aristos, regardless of the guarantee. So he, Marcus, must hang. What logic is there to hang Aristos and in doing so let the traitor go free? That made sense to the hangman until Aristos countered that a guarantee was in effect and according to the agreement with the king, the original trial was no longer of significance. That made sense to the hangman until...
And so the argument cycled until the hangman, in his bewilderment, retreated to the king's quarters to get his majesty's decision. The king, after listening to the hangman's tale, demanded time to ponder the case in silent meditation.
Moments passed. The fates of the two men condemned, one for treason, one for friendship, hung on the will of the king. When the king finally came forth from his chambers, tears and a smile of anticipated joy graced his regal countenance.
"I've reached my decision," he said.
Aside from the brush of wind as it pushed its way past the gallows rope, there was only silence.
I'll set you both free, but only on one condition. That condition is... you make me your third friend."
Moral of the story?
"you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yehovah" - Leviticus 19:18. When you truly love another, not for what you can get but rather for what you can give, then a third partner joins with you in that friendship, the King of kings. According to the Bible, God tells us that if you want to build a loving relationship with God, start by loving other members of humanity, all of whom are made in God's image.
How we relate to others, is the biblical measure of how we relate to God and how God relates to us. Love of God remains a meaningless abstraction until it is anchored in a love for one who was created in the image of God. God wants our love, but wants it more than via the abstractions of prayer and meditations. Our love for God is most avidly played out in how we relate to others. God wants Its creatures also to be proactive in forming a harmonious society. "You shall love your neighbor as yourself..."
