In the name of God- Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. Amen.
For
those of you that were here last Sunday, you’ll recall that I started a
two-part sermon series on the concept of fulfillment. Our New Testament and
Gospel readings last Sunday were the verses preceding today’s readings.
Fulfillment has two meanings, the first is to accomplish a mission, and the
second is to have a sense of purpose. We explored how Jesus was the fulfillment
of Isaiah 61- bringing good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to
the blind, freedom to the oppressed, and Jubilee to the world. But this
fulfillment was not instant, but instead is unfolding through a process. And we
are a part of that process by being members of the Body of Christ as St. Paul
illustrated. Together, we continue the fulfillment of Jesus. I then ended with
a question- why should we bother being a part of the body? Why not focus on
ourselves? I left you with a cliff hanger and asked “why should we seek
fulfillment outside of ourselves?”
I
promised to answer that question this Sunday, and the answer is love. Love is
our fulfillment. Love is our mission, and it is what will satisfy us. Love is
the reason why Jesus took on those tasks. I preached a sermon about a year ago
on love, and one of the things I said was that love is often misunderstood. We
use love as a catchphrase. We love our cars and our recipes. But this is not
the sort of Biblical love that St. Paul is speaking about in his letter to the
Corinthians. Love is not an emotion or even an affinity, but love is an action
and an orientation.
This
passage from 1 Corinthians is often read at weddings because it talks so much
about love, and that really is a shame, because St. Paul was not speaking about
marriage. And I know it will be hard, but while we explore this passage, try
not to think of all the weddings you’ve been to and heard this passage. Try not
to think of love in the sense that you like something, or that you’re impressed
with it. The love that we will be discussing today is the powerful love with
which God created the universe, it is the vulnerable love with which Jesus gave
himself up on the cross, it is the transformative love that conquered death on
that most holy Easter morning. Charles Wesley, in his work called “Easter Hymn”
wrote that “loves redeeming work is done.” We are speaking of the love which is
the fulfillment of Jesus.
The
context of the Corinthian passage really matters. Remember that last week, St.
Paul was speaking about the fact that we are all members of the body. Every
part is important and necessary to the overall health of the body. And then St.
Paul talked about different gifts that people have- some apostles, teachers,
prophets, miracle workers, and speaking in tongues to name a few. Paul wasn’t
exactly happy with the church in Corinth. They were fighting with each other.
Factions were becoming more and more popular and the body was being torn apart,
so Paul wrote them this letter. And in this particular part of the letter, Paul
is writing polemically to instruct them.
People
are trying to boast of their gifts, and their superiority over others. Normally
when we hear this passage at weddings the reader using a sweet and soothing
voice, but Paul is yelling. You think you’re something special with your
speaking in the tongues of mortals and angels? You’re nothing without love,
you’re just a noisy gong! Even if you’re audacious enough to think you have
prophetic power or understand all mysteries, even if you have the faith to move
a mountain for God’s sake, but if you don’t have love, you are absolutely
nothing! You want to be generous and think you get award for giving away all
your possessions? Do it without love and you don’t even deserve any credit! You
see, what you people need to understand is that love is patient, it is kind,
it’s not envious or boastful as you seem to be making it. It doesn’t do
injustice, but instead it rejoices in truth. And I don’t see much rejoicing in
truth out of you all! Your silly prophecies, they will end! Your tongues, big
deal! You can only see through the mirror dimly now, but instead, strive for
love. Because what you all really need to know to be a wonderful church, to
really be the body of Christ you have to understand this: faith, hope, and
love, that is where it’s at. And the greatest of these is love!
That
is what St. Paul is saying. He is making a very strong appeal to the
Corinthians, and to us, to actually practice love. And there are three things
that he says about love, and then Luke adds a fourth in the Gospel.
The
first thing to say about love is that it is essential. St. Paul says that all
of these gifts of the Spirit don’t add up to anything without love. Love is
their fulfillment, and if we take love out of the equation, we’re left with
nothing. We must ground ourselves in love. What is the point of having all of
these skills if we don’t have the outlet of love in which to use them? St. Paul
invites us to consider our motivations, urging us to ask the question “why am I
doing this?” The answer should always be “in and for love.”
Next,
Paul says that love is effective. Love is about truth, and it endures all
things. You can’t stretch love to the point where it will break. Love hopes all
things, it yearns for justice, for reconciliation, for peace. Love has no end,
or as other translations put it, love never fails, it never goes astray, it
never becomes invalid. In other words, love is always the right choice. It will
always work, it will always lead us to God, and it will never let us down.
People will fail us, institutions will become corrupt, governments will fall,
disasters will happen, but love, love will endure, and not only that, love will
thrive.
Love
isn’t going to worry about getting its own way. Love will not lead us to be
arrogant or rude. And love is not a contest. There is no such thing as being
the best at loving. There is no winning and losing in love. Love is the one
thing that can transform our world. Love is the one thing that we need more of.
And as Christians, love is our fulfillment, it is our mission.
Love
is effective. When Ellie was born 12 weeks ago, I got a lesson in love. From
the moment I saw her, I learned something new about love. I learned how
powerful it could be. My life will never be the same because of her, my
priorities immediately shifted to meet her needs. The little annoyances of life
seem to melt away when I hold her. And I am reminded that each person, no
matter how much I might dislike them, was also born as a sweet and innocent
baby. If we truly believe, and I suggest that we should, that God is our loving
Creator, then we must acknowledge that each of us is loved by God in a way that
makes my love for Ellie pale in comparison. And I wonder, what if we loved like
this more often?
What
if we realized that our fulfillment is to love each person in this fashion.
What if we didn’t insist our own way on things like tax reform, gun control,
energy policy, or immigration policy? What if the way a parent loves their
newborn baby was a guide for how we loved our neighbors? What if our priorities
shifted for the sake of others? What if we lived not for ourselves, but for the
Kingdom of God? I think our world would be a better place, and I think we’d be
a bit closer to “on earth as it is in heaven.” Love can do these things, it is
effective, we just need to love each other with this radical love of God.
And
lastly, St. Paul says that love is eternal. Leading into this passage, he says
that love is the more excellent way. The word for way in Greek is o`do,j, which was also the codeword for the earliest followers of Jesus; they
were known not as disciples, or Christians, but as members of “the Way.” But
what I want to point out about this word is, although it does mean “way” it is
also the word for “road.” As I said last week, fulfillment is a process, a
journey, a road. Love never ends. It never ends because it is as eternal as God
is. It is often said that one of the reasons why God is Triune is because God
is always in a relationship of love, even if it is within the Trinity. Love
never ends because it will always have a place. But love is also eternal
because it is a process. God may have perfected love, but we have not. As
Martin Luther King said, “the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends
towards justice.” In a similar way, we’re a long way from perfect love, but we
hope, pray, and work towards that goal. Love is eternal because love is not an
accomplishment or a merit badge to earn, but it is a continual process.
So St. Paul in his
polemic says that love is essential, effective, and eternal, and Jesus in Luke
would add that love is radical. After preaching his sermon last Sunday, today
Jesus begins to explain his remarks. He reminds the crowd that in the time of
Elijah, salvation came not to those who expected it, but to the widow at
Zarephath in Sidon. And the prophet Elisha did not heal any of the lepers in
Israel, but instead healed the Syrian, Naaman. Now this really angered the
crowd in the synagogue, who were of course, Jews. Jesus reminded them that the
love of God wasn’t just for them, but it was for the outsiders. The idea of
salvation outside of Israel was radical.
Love is radical because
it will not be confined to the bounds we expect. We cannot contain where the
Spirit will go. This is a provocative love, reminding us that God does not
belong to anyone, but everyone belongs to God. The great preacher Peter Gomes
once said that “people took offense not so much at what Jesus claims about
himself, as with the claims that he makes about a God who is more than their
own tribal deity.” Jesus is telling us that we will find love where we least
expect it and that God loves the people whom we abhor.
God loves you, but God
also loves your enemies. God loves radical Muslims and Zionist Jews. God loves
peaceful Buddhists and defiant atheists. God loves conservatives and God loves
liberals. God loves abortion doctors and God loves those who work to overturn
Roe v. Wade. God loves us all. And Jesus came to remind us of that, but he also
came to push us towards receiving that love and sharing it with others.
There was a powerful
piece written in the Huffington Post this week. It was written by Shane
Windmeyer, a partnered gay man and gay rights activist, and his unlikely but
genuine friendship with Dan Cathy, the president of Chick-fil-A. Windmeyer had
launched a series of campaigns against Chick-fil-A after Cathy publicly stated
that profits of the company would support organizations that fought against
marriage equality. Back in August, during the heat of the controversy, Cathy
called Windmeyer and it wasn’t to ask him to stop the protests. Instead,
Windmeyer admits that his view of Cathy was flawed and incomplete. Cathy called
him to ask questions about the LGBT community; he called to listen, not to
convert. And they began to meet and listen to each other. Cathy is still
against homosexual marriage and Windmeyer is still gay. But the two men
realized that the Chick-fil-A controversy was being used to fuel hatred, on
both sides. And through these talks, they came to respect and trust each other.
And so at the Chick-fil-A bowl last month, Windmeyer called off the protests of
the football game, and Cathy stood on the sidelines with his gay friend, much
to the ire of his conservative supports. They both took a risk, they took a
risk in the name of love.
What if we took the risk
of loving like that? What if Democrats and Republicans loved each other like
this? What if Palestinians and Jews loved like this? I realize that what I’m
proposing is radical, but then again we follow a God who was radical enough to
take on human flesh and die on a cross to get the point across. For love,
nothing is impossible.
Love is the answer. Fish
live in water, it is their entire world, and it is all they know. Without it,
they die. The same should be true of love for us. But our culture is a bit like
fish out of this water of love. We can fulfill our mission, continuing the
mission of Jesus. We can be fulfilled and satisfied in love. Love is essential,
effective, eternal, and radical. Through love, we can transform our world to
bring about the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Through love, we
can bring justice and peace to the world. Through love, we can be the hands and
feet, the eyes and ears of Jesus in our world. Through love, we can be made
whole and complete. Through love, we can find true joy.
As we get ready to finish this season of Epiphany
in which we remember the manifestation of God in our world in the person of
Jesus, we give thanks that love came down to be with us, to redeem us, to teach
us, to love us. I’ll conclude with the great prayer offered in the hymn “Love
Divine” by Charles Wesley:
Love divine,
all loves excelling / joy of heaven to earth come down;
Fix in us thy
humble dwelling / all thy faithful mercies crown!
Finish then
thy new creation / pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see
thy great salvation / perfectly restored in thee.
Changed from
glory into glory / till in heaven we take our place.
Till we cast
our crowns before thee / lost in wonderful, love, and praise.
Amen.
