by Kenneth Schonmeier

Created on: December 14, 2006   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

Unconditional love (Agope Love) is something we should all be living by yet so few of us do. It is simply exactly what it sounds like. A love that is unconditional. Nothing, absolutely nothing can destroy it!

The best example of unconditional love is right in the bible. Jesus was unjustly condemned by his own people. People he had helped! Jesus was whipped a total of 39 times, but the whip was not what most of us think of. Experts say the whips in those times for that purpose had small nails and debris tied into them so when the whip would hit the flesh, the pieces would dig in and tear through rather than leaving welts. After the beating, they made a crown of thorns for him, the thorns were 2 to 3 inches long, and shoved it down onto his head. They did not just set it on him lightly. As Jesus carried his own cross, those in the crowds, shouted curses, spat on him, and even tore chunks of his beard out. The bible says that after they were done, he was no longer even recognizable as a man. Then dont forget they still nailed him to the cross. The spikes were actually in his wrists.(back then the wrist was considered a part of the hand.) There is a nerve in the arm that runs through the wrist. When the criminals were nailed to the cross, it would become hard for them to breath and they would pull theirselves up by the spikes in their wrists to take a deeper breath at times. This in turn would press the spike against that nerve and send extreme amounts of pain into them. So here, Jesus was whipped and beaten and spat upon. He was cursed at and made fun of and nailed to a cross. Then the crowds continued to make fun of him as they gambled for his clothes. After all of that, Jesus did not hate them. What he did was look up to the heavens and say "Father, please forgive them for they no not what they do." .... Now that is unconditional love!

Something that should be mentioned though is that Unconditional Love or (Agope Love), does not mean that one does not grow angry or dissapointed. When Jesus walked into the temple and found the people gambling and selling things, he grew angry. He literally chased them all out of the temple as he turned over tables and shouted at them. Yet I can gaurantee he did not hate those people or even stop loving them. I can also gaurantee that if any one of them would have turned to him and asked him to forgive them, he would have right then. Sometimes it is necessary to become angry or to even turn your head from others. Yet with agope love one is always waiting, even yearning for the chance to forgive again.

If my wife was to ever cheat on me, I know I would be hurt in a bad way. I would be very angry with her and it could even lead to a divorce. Yet if at anytime she came to me and asked me to forgive her, and I knew she really meant it, I would. My love for my wife is unconditional and whatever she may ever do to me, I will never stop loving her. Even if she cheated and left me, I would move on with my life without her, but I would still love her. When one lives with Agope Love.... Nothing is beyond forgiveness.

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