1 Corinthians 12:31b–13:13
The thirteenth chapter of St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians – which we heard read a few minutes ago – is often called the Bible’s “Love Chapter.”
And since the institution of marriage is – or is supposed to be – marked by love, and by two people being in love, this chapter is frequently read at weddings. Its text is frequently printed on cards or favors that are passed out at wedding receptions.
To be sure, the qualities and traits of love, as St. Paul describes them, certainly should characterize the relationship of a man and woman in marriage. Paul writes:
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
A marriage that is characterized by this kind of mutual affection and selflessness will certainly be a happy and rewarding marriage. But marriage is not the only place, and is not even the primary place, where the qualities and traits of genuine love should be seen and lived out.
The frequent linkage between First Corinthians 13 and weddings, reflects the very romantic way of defining and applying the concept of love that has predominated in our culture since the advent of romance novels and romantic movies. And this romantic kind of love, in turn, is generally thought of as a feeling that resides in the emotions.
So, a young man whose attention is drawn to an attractive young woman may think that he loves that woman, because of the exhilarating feeling that he gets when he sees her or talks to her – even if he knows very little about her character and personality, her beliefs and values, or her interests and abilities.
This kind of superficial and shallow love is more accurately described as infatuation, rather than as love in the true sense. But this is what often passes for love in our society.
Marriages that are built on the basis of such an infatuation – even if it is a mutual infatuation – often do not last. And if they do last, they are often not happy unions.
Paul’s words concerning love, in the so-called Love Chapter of his First Epistle to the Corinthians, are not addressing this kind of romantic attraction. They are addressing something that goes much deeper, and that reaches out more widely.
The Greek word that is rendered as “love” in our translation is “agape.” Most English Bibles translate “agape” as “love.” But the old King James Version translated this Greek word as “charity.”
In some ways, “charity” is actually a good term to use, since it captures an aspect of the full meaning of the Greek term that the word “love,” all by itself, may not. And that’s because Paul’s descriptions of “agape” are not so much about how love makes you feel about other people, as they are about how love makes you treat other people.
True love – that is, true charity – involves a willingness to make sacrifices for the sake of others – sometimes very substantial sacrifices. True love expresses itself in behaviors and actions that are characterized by patience with others, kindness and compassion toward others, and humility with respect to others.
True love is charitable in interpreting the words and actions of others. It is always looking for ways to meet the needs of others: material and emotional needs, needs for security and safety.
My love for someone does not exist merely inside of me, in the realm of my thoughts and feelings. It exists also and especially in the practical realities of my actual relationships: relationships with others that I already have, and new relationships into which God places me so that I can be someone’s new friend.
So, when Jesus tells us, in John’s Gospel, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another,” he is not telling us simply to cultivate certain warm feelings in our heart when we think about one another.
He is, rather, telling us to make a real difference in the lives of one another. He is telling us to give of ourselves, into the lives of one another.
Be a companion to the lonely. Cloth the naked. Feed the hungry. Comfort the distressed. Calm the fears of those who are afraid.
And when it’s not easy to do this – because of the sin that clings both to you and to those you are called to love – do it anyway.
Be patient with those who irritate you. Be at peace with those who tempt you to anger. Forgive those who have hurt you. Give a second chance to those who have disappointed you.
And if you have been the one to hurt or disappoint another, swallow your pride, and apologize. If it’s possible to make things right, make things right.
And, when Jesus tells us in Luke’s Gospel, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you,” then we know for sure that he is talking about a way of thinking, and a way of living, that this fallen and hate-filled world does not know, and will never understand.
But, this is the way of love. This is the more excellent way. This is the way that St. Paul describes for us, and exhorts us to follow:
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
It is probably not necessary for me at this point to take too much time and effort to remind you – and to remind myself – that we have definitely not lived up to this standard.
In speaking of the wickedness of the end times, in St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says that, “because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” Maybe this aspect of the end times has started to come true for you already.
And if that is the case, it should frighten you and alarm you, because neither Jesus nor St. Paul make the love that we are called to have for others – and to show to others – optional. St. John also chimes in with a firm warning and admonition, in his First Epistle:
“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”
In this Epistle, St. John also writes:
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
If that was all John said, we would be left in despair. And God – who is love – would seem very far from us.
If this was all John said, our conclusion would have to be that we are not born of God, and do not know God, because our love for others – such as it is – is very weak and unreliable. It is polluted with selfishness and indifference, with greed and grudges.
But this is not all that John says. In the very next sentence, he also writes this:
“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
This is good news, even for those who know that they are sinners, because the love that God has shown to us, is a love that prompted him to send his Son to pay the ransom price for our sins, and to sacrifice himself to atone for our sins.
And John gives us an additional encouragement, to know that this salvation is indeed for us – even as we are weighed down with regret over our failure to love others as God loves us – when he also writes in this epistle:
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. …if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”
Indeed, what God has done for us in his Son, is the best example of love that there has ever been. We do not regularly recite a verse that tells us that God so loved the world that he felt certain emotions, or pondered certain thoughts. Rather, we recite a verse that tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son.
God the Father loved us and gave his Son to us. And the Son loved us, and loves us still, so that he too gives, and gives again.
Regarding his disciples – and this includes us – Jesus prays to his Father: “I have given them Your word.”
Regarding his sheep – and this likewise includes us – Jesus says: “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”
One of the most ancient descriptions of the Lord’s Supper – used already during the time of the apostles – is that it is the church’s Love Feast. This description appears in the Epistle of St. Jude. And it is a very fitting description. Jesus said:
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.”
The commandment in which this promise from Christ is most fully realized, is the gracious commandment that he gave to his church on the night in which he was betrayed:
“This do in remembrance of me.” “This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Jesus elsewhere said: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you.”
The life that Jesus did lay down for us – that is, the body that he sacrificed for us, and the blood that he shed for us – is exactly what we receive from him in our church’s Love Feast, over and over again.
As Jesus’ Spirit prompts us to do what he tells us to do – to consecrate bread and wine with his words, and to eat and drink that blessed bread and wine with faith in his words – Jesus is, in that very moment, loving us, and forgiving us.
In that very moment, the divine love of Jesus is manifesting its patience and kindness toward us. In his love, Jesus is – in that very moment – rejoicing over us, and bearing with us.
The love of the Lord, at the altar of the Lord, is not failing, because his love never fails.
And also in that very moment, we are loving and forgiving one another.
“The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” – as we are reminded by the Epistle to the Romans. Together, we receive God’s love in Christ; and from this love we learn how to love.
We arise from the Lord’s altar to return to our vocations and relationships: to embrace and serve others as Christ has embraced and served us; to bring help and healing where help and healing are needed; to speak words of hope and peace where words of hope and peace are needed.
We arise ready and able – with a readiness and an ability that Christ has given us through the wondrous fulfillment of his sacramental commandment – to fulfill also his other commandments, which are summarized in the phrase: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
As we do this – energized as friends of Christ, of each other, and of all in this world who need our love – we say what St. Paul said in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians:
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”
O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee.
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depths its flow
may richer, fuller be. Amen.