Love is love. Without ifs or buts

Four sheep walk side by side, each with its own "coat": one has rainbow-colored fur, one is white, one is black and one has the colors of the trans flag. Each holds a sign and, read together, the writings form the phrase: "Love is love. No ifs, ands, or buts." (Love is love. No ifs or buts."

With this cartoon NakedPastor*, a Canadian artist known for his theological humor and inclusive art, wanted to remind us that love does not need conditions, explanations or justifications.

From a Christian perspective, this image is almost a modern parable. The sheep - a profoundly evangelical symbol - represent the variety of the people of God: colourful, real, human. None is "outside the flock", none is second class. And the love that unites them is the same love that "comes from God, because God is love" (1 John 4.8).

You don't need a treatise on moral theology to understand it. True love, when it builds, respects and liberates, has no exceptions. God does not footnote love (Mt 18:12-14). Men yes.

And perhaps the most revolutionary miracle of the Gospel today is precisely this: discovering that we too - rainbow sheep, trans, white or black - are already part of his flock.

And that God, like a good shepherd, does not count the differences but embraces them all (Mt 18,12-14).

* David Hayward, conosciuto come Naked Pastor, è un ex pastore canadese che attraverso vignette semplici e ironiche mette a nudo (da qui il nome) le contraddizioni delle chiese e dei rapporti umani alla luce del Vangelo. Scopri i nostri commenti alle sue vignette su gionata.org/tag/nakedpastor/