As a community empowered and united by the Holy Spirit, we seek authenticity in our life together. Last week, we explored the first of the core tenets of this relational community- we welcome God and all people. This week, we explore the second of our core tenants - we love God and all people.
In worship today, we focused ourselves on 1 John 4:7-21. We looked at how we are called to love one another and how this love is an intentional action, not simply a feeling or emotion. And we talked about the ways in which fear is the antithesis to mature love. However, I was also inspired this week by 1 Corinthians 13 when it came up in Bible study
Now even people who are unchurched are likely familiar with 1 Corinthians 13. This chapter, or at the very least verses 4 through the first part of 8, is typically read at weddings. Of course, this makes a certain amount of sense. It is good for us to be reminded of what love looks like at a wedding.
But there are two things I want us to consider here. First, in English we really only have one word for love. But the Greeks had at least four different ways of understanding love. There is érōs, often translated as romantic or passionate love. Then there is storgē, which refers most often to the type of love parents have for their children. And another type of love is philía, which we most commonly understand as friendship, or love between equals.
When we read this passage at weddings, I think we are most often thinking of romantic love. Which given the context of a wedding makes sense. However, in looking at the text in Greek, we find that Paul is using a different word. Instead the word Paul uses is agápē, which we most often understand to mean affection for another or regard for another’s well-being. It is also commonly translated as charity. Perhaps this begins to shift our understanding slightly. Again, not that this sort of love between spouses is a bad thing, but it is a different nuance than perhaps many of us carry with us.
Second, it becomes obvious as we look to the rest of the chapter that Paul isn’t thinking about relationships between married persons at all. He is speaking of the purpose of spiritual gifts and ultimately the purpose of the church. "If I speak in tongues of human beings and of angels but I don’t have love, I’m a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and I know all the mysteries and everything else, and if I have such complete faith that I can move mountains but I don’t have love, I’m nothing. If I give away everything that I have and hand over my own body to feel good about what I’ve done but I don’t have love, I receive no benefit whatsoever" (1 Cor 13:1-3, CEB).
Even looking to where the typical wedding passage ends -- “Love never fails” -- we find that this is actually the beginning of the eighth verse, which continues by telling us that prophecy, speaking in tongues, and even knowledge will all come to an end. So the only thing that remains is love. Love is the most important thing.
When we read through the rest of this letter to the church at Corinth, we find that Paul was reacting to a community that feared shame and put a high value on honor and prestige, a culture where boasting and puffing up oneself were key to a person’s self-worth and public value. Sadly, I fear this may sound pretty familiar to us. But Paul points us to Jesus as the antidote for this type of community. For Paul, the example of God’s love, a love exemplified in Jesus, is a love that is unending and of far greater importance than any boasting.
Ultimately, Paul is making it clear that even if we are checking off all the right boxes, even if all of our actions are technically correct, if we do it all without love, we have failed to comprehend the example of Jesus. Love should be the root and source of all we do as church.
When we read through the chapters on either side of this one, we find Paul discussing different spiritual gifts, gifts granted to each of us on behalf of the church. Each of us brings something different to the community; each of us has a different gift to share. Each of those gifts is a gift from God. And each of them is rooted in God's love for us.
This was Jesus' command to his disciples - to love one another as he had loved them. We love others because God loves us. We love others because Jesus commanded us to. We love others because it is what the Holy Spirit gifts us to do.
So let us share our gifts in love while accepting the gifts that another has as equally rooted in God’s love.