在1950年代，伍迪．庫珀（Woody Cooper）就讀於美國某間全白人高中。黑人女孩多蘿西．康茨（Dorothy Counts）到學校上學的第一天，一些男孩用種族歧視的字眼辱罵她並朝她丟垃圾時，雖然伍迪就在人群中，但卻沒有出聲制止。甚至當一個婦女大喊：「女孩們，朝她吐口水！」伍迪也保持沉默。後來，伍迪自問：為何我什麼都不說呢？她只是來學校上課的學生！當年這種視而不見的罪，折磨了伍迪數十年。尤其他在當天的新聞照片中看到自己的身影時，他更加愧疚。49年後，伍迪終於聯繫上多蘿西並向她道歉。

正如伍迪所學習到的，向人表達愛和支持不僅是勇敢的表現，也是選擇效法耶穌。使徒約翰也曾教導初代教會同樣的真理，因他們受到錯誤的教導，對耶穌以及祂的愛有所誤解。他寫道：「我們愛，因為上帝先愛我們。人若說『我愛上帝』，卻恨他的弟兄，就是說謊話的」（約翰一書4章19-20節）。約翰重申這偉大的誡命：「愛上帝的，也當愛弟兄。」（21節）

後來，伍迪和多蘿西成為好朋友，反映了這份愛。他們一起在各個教會和學校演講。伍迪去世的前一晚，多蘿西去看他。多蘿西說：「我愛他，我知道他也愛我。」這就是耶穌展現的愛。當上帝的愛改變我們，使我們彼此連結，我們也能活出這份愛。

Woody Cooper stood in the loud mob the day Dorothy Counts, a Black girl, enrolled in his all-White high school in North Carolina. Taunting her, some boys yelled racial slurs and threw trash at Dorothy, but Woody didn’t rebuke them, even staying silent when a woman cried out, “Spit on her, girls!” He later asked himself, Why didn’t you at least say something? She was just another student coming to school. Haunted for decades by his sin of omission, especially after seeing himself in a news photo from that day, Woody finally reached out to Dorothy forty-nine years later to apologize.

As Woody learned, showing love and support for another human being isn’t just being brave; it’s also making a choice to be like Jesus. John the apostle taught this lesson to churches burdened by false teaching about Christ and His love.

“We love because He first loved us,” John wrote. “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar” (1 John 4:19-20). John recalled this great command: “Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister” (v. 21).

Woody and Dorothy reflected that love as they became close friends. They spoke at churches and schools together. On the night before he died, she came to see him. “I loved him,” she said, “and I know that he loved me.” That’s the Jesus way. It can be our way too, as God brings us together in His transforming love.