Have you ever tried to love a porcupine?

photo by Amy Fraser

The porcupine uses its quills for defense. The quills lie flat until the porcupine feels threatened. A porcupine cannot shoot its quills, but when a predator approaches, the porcupine will turn its back, raise its quills and lash out at the threat with its tail. A porcupine is not an aggressive animal. It will only attack if it is threatened… but when it does, you better not be too close.

Have you ever met a person like this? Loving them can be very painful. Things may be going along just fine and then, when you least expect it, the person perceives some kind of threat and the ‘quills’ go up and the tail starts swinging. If you’re standing too close, you’re bound to get hurt.

Loving this kind of person can be difficult. Getting close can be frightening. Repeated attacks may even make you want to stay far away. Only an idiot would continue to go back for more… right?

That’s not the way Jesus sees it. Here’s a little bit of his wisdom on the matter:

Matthew 18 21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" 22 Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Matthew 5 43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

Luke 6 27 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Sounds kind of masochistic doesn’t it? How can he expect us to do these hard things? Why would he ask us to live this way? To answer this question, we have to go back to what he has done for us.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

He didn’t wait for us to get all straightened out before he loved us, and he wants us to return the favor to others.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

It doesn’t seem quite as much to ask now… does it? There are times when we have to love at arms length, so we don’t continue to get wounded… but we can still love. Sometimes loving someone is full of risk, but Jesus didn’t count the cost… why should we?