How "Please" Reminds Us to Love

This Lenten devotional was first featured as part of City Seminary's series. Find more Lenten reflections on our 40 Days of Hope calendar: www.hfny.org/lent

Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. — 3 John 5-6

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. — 1 Corinthians 13:13

One Sunday, while running late to church, I made an unspoken New York City faux pas: I locked eyes with a woman lingering by the subway turnstiles. My defenses went up, and I hurriedly placed my phone over the OMNY reader, to avoid any ask that was likely coming my way. At the moment that I pushed through the turnstile, I heard Please….

As I settled into my seat at church, guilt and shame settled in with me. As someone who also works in ministry, I recognized the irony of hardening my heart to help. I had failed to prioritize a fellow human over being on time at church. I had ignored and rendered invisible someone who experiences this often. I had failed to honor God’s calling to love our neighbors in need, especially when I often started or ended prayers with Please God….

A few days later, I heard Please again on the subway, but in a different way. As an unhoused man exited the car, he said: Please remember to love. Love is more important than anything else. Take time to love and remember how our father above loves us.

As the Apostle John wrote to Gaius, the mark of a faithful follower is to love others so that love can multiply and reflect God’s nature. Please shows us that God is love and recognizes his love for us is meant to be shared with others. The word “plea” (an urgent and emotional request) is embedded in Please (an equally emotional exhortation to convince someone to take action). There is something both needy and beautiful about Please as a plea, an earnest last resort or call to turn the tide.

But even as Jesus was preparing for his sacrifice on the cross, he never once said Please, though we can easily imagine him saying it: “Please, my Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me” or “Please, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” In Jesus’ case, he doesn’t need to say Please because he’s already secure in his Father’s love and ready to express the ultimate love.

For the rest of us, we need Please to confront us with what Paul wrote was “the greatest” above hope and faith: love. Because for all the times when we fail to love, we are reminded that we can still pray: Please God, help me keep finding ways to love. Please God, help me reflect your love in an authentic and honest way every single day.

Sherry Huang is the Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at Hope for New York. She is also an alum of City Seminary of New York's Ministry Fellows program.