Thank you, O Lord, for the gift of love,
which is the greatest of all things ✠ in the name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. Amen.
It’s all about love. First John says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” As many theologians have said, “Love is the grain of the universe.” Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has said, “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.” And today in the reading from First Corinthians, we heard “The greatest is love.” This, I hope and pray, is not news to anyone: that love is all that ultimately matters. But love is something like the vast expanse of space – limitless and full of wonder. Though I often talk about love, it is a topic that, literally, could not be exhausted in all eternity.
On
these Sundays after the Epiphany, we’re continuing to think about what Baptism
is and does, and for today, the aspect of Baptism that I want to lift up is
that Baptism is a sign of God’s love and a ritualistic and sacramental
assurance that we are loved. To be very clear about this, God does not love us
because we have been Baptized, rather God gives us Baptism because we are
loved. It’s something like a couple – sure, they could choose to never actually
get married and still live “happily ever after.” But something happens in a
wedding – commitments and intentions are shared, a relationship is celebrated,
blessings are bestowed, and love is named in a profound, public, and
transforming way.
What
I want to make sure is clear is that God does not begin to love us at Baptism.
Baptism is when we are immersed into this love so that we can always be
confident of this love that resides within us through the gift of the Holy
Spirit. Baptism gifts us with an event in time that concretizes God’s love for
us. Even if we were Baptized as a baby and have no memory of our Baptism, we
are assured by parents, godparents, certificates, and church registers that it
actually happened – that there was a definitive event in world history in which
God’s love for us was proclaimed for all to see.
Of
course, there’s more to Baptism than it just being about love, but love is the
foundation of Baptism. For all of those other aspects of Baptism, that’s what
all of the other sermosn in this series are about. For today though, let’s
spend some time in and on love. Our modern issue with love is that it often
falls into one of two traps. The first is moralism. Love becomes a commandment,
which it, most certainly, is not. We can be bludgeoned with love – told how we
are to love God, love our neighbor, love our enemies, love ourselves. Yes,
these are good things, but they can feel daunting. When politicians and singers
talk about love, it seems like love is the solution to all of our problems – if
we could just muster up enough love for each other, all of our problems would
magically go away. But we all know that’s not how it works. Love cannot be
controlled. If you love someone, you can’t make yourself not love them. And if
you don’t love them, you can’t make yourself fall in love. That’s why we call
it “falling,” it’s something that happens to us more than it is something that
we are in control of. And so when we are told to love people that we don’t
naturally love, we are being asked to do the impossible, which is a heavy
burden for any of us to carry. When love is turned into moralism, it is
resented and rejected as being too difficult.
The
other pitfall of love is sentimentality – when love becomes sappy and
saccharine. If moralistic love is all about what we are supposed to do, this
other side of the spectrum is that love is impotent and does nothing more than
evoking “warm fuzzies.” Sentimental love is nothing more than a feeling; and
more often than not, it’s not even a feeling, it’s more a passing thought. One
theologian has said that it is not atheism that is the greatest threat to
faith, but sentimentality. A sentimental faith runs at the first sign of
danger, does not protect us in the storms of life, and ultimately has nothing
in it worth living or dying for. A sentimental faith is one that is always
focused on things that are intangible and cost us nothing. So versions, or
perversions might be a better word, of the faith that always talk about heaven
ultimately trade in things that demand nothing and impact little.
Understandably, this is why so many reject faith – not because they reject God,
but because they want nothing to do with a sentimental faith.
How
then can we understand love in a way that is not moralistic or sentimental?
Well, the best answer to that sort of question is always the same. It’s a
problem that we have in our culture – we think of everything from our point of view.
If we think of love first not as something we have to do but something we
receive, then it changes everything. And we have to know how to read this
passage from First Corinthians before jumping into it, otherwise we’re going to
completely miss the point.
To
put this as clearly as possible – 1 Corinthians 13 is not about weddings. I’m
guilty of having this passage read at our wedding, and chances are you are,
too. The problem with this passage being associated with weddings is that it
either becomes a sentimentalized sort of love where it’s all about the
emotional charge of a wedding or it becomes a moralistic love where the couple
thinks that they are to never be envious, boastful, arrogant, rude, or
irritable. If you can get through the honeymoon with none of those feelings
coming up, you’re doing better than most. Marriage, by definition, is two sinners
choosing to become one flesh together, but the sinner part remains. If we take
this passage to be the model for marriage, we will absolutely fail. And that is
because this passage isn’t about us.
You’ll
remember that last Sunday, we read from the previous chapter in which St. Paul
talked about the Church as the Body of Christ, with various parts and
functions. The point was that every part is necessary and that we can only
function together, not individually. Christianity is not a solitary exercise. But
there were issues in the Corinthian church – factions were forming and some
were developing an air of superiority saying things like “I am the eyes and you
are just a bellybutton, so I deserve extra honor and status.” It’s really not a
wedding where this should be read, but rather the in court-appointed mediator’s
office.
This
is why St. Paul begins with “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of
angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy going or a clanging cymbal.” The
same goes for prophetic powers, or the sort of faith that can move mountains,
or practicing charity by giving away all of our possessions, or even giving our
body over to martyrdom – without love, these are nothing. Now, what’s so
interesting here is that the sentence does not read “If I do not love,” but
rather “If I do not have love.” There is a subtle, but real, difference. Love
is not something we to produce, it is something that we receive.
If
we are not aware of God’s love for us, then everything that we do is just sound
and fury signifying nothing. Without God’s love at the core, though we might be
doing the right thing for the wrong reasons eventually our luck will run out
and we’ll end up doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons. Receiving God’s
love is what enables us to participate in that love by rejoicing in it and
sharing it. Love does not seek a reward, but rather wherever love exists, it is
both rewarded and rewarding because God is love. In Jesus Christ, God seeks to
implant this love in us all so that God’s blessing of abundant life will
flourish in us.
And
as proof and example of this love, God took on flesh in Jesus and showed us
love’s full measure. Jesus is patient with our sins and inability to understand
him. Jesus is kind and is our Good Shepherd. Jesus is not envious, or boastful,
or arrogant, or rude – rather Jesus exudes the joy and peace of God in all
things. Jesus is not irritable or resentful, though we did our worst to him on
the Cross, he lavishes us with mercy. Jesus does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but
rather he is the truth in which we rejoice. Jesus believes all things, hopes
all things, endures all things – meaning that there is no situation, no
uncertainty, no disease, no addiction, no doubt in which Jesus does not bring a
healing word. Jesus never ends – he is the Lamb of God who takes away the Sin
of the world and sits enthroned at the right hand of God the Father. There is
no end to love and in Jesus, faith and hope find their perfection in the love
of God made flesh.
This
isn’t a passage about what we are supposed to do, it is a passage about what
God has done for us. It is meant to evoke a sense of humility and thanksgiving
in us. The bickering and divisions in the Corinthian church pail in comparison
to God’s love. Knowing how deeply and fully God loves us, how can we seriously
keep insisting on our own way? How can we harbor hatred of our neighbor in our
hearts knowing how much God loves us? How can we hold grudges when we remember
that Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins? How can we be arrogant in our
accomplishments when we remember that the Creator of the world took on our
flesh and gave his life for ours? Again, none of this is our work, but rather
it’s about receiving the perfect and redeeming love of Jesus for us.
And
this is what Baptism is all about – receiving this love in a tangible way. It’s
not an abstract message that “God loves us,” it’s an actual event that
demonstrates God’s love through ritual. And, as a Sacrament, Baptism is when
this love takes up permanent residence in us through the gift of the Holy
Spirit. And to help us grow in this love and to nourish us in our faith, God
has also gifted us with the Holy Eucharist. When we pray for our daily bread,
that is exactly what God gives us in Communion – tokens of the very Body and
Blood of Christ, given out of love for the life of the world. The Eucharist feeds
us out of this love first declared at Baptism so that we might grow in grace.
Maybe
you’re wondering, so what then are we supposed to do then? Again, it’s just
about receiving this love. There is nothing to do. That’s the most radical and
challenging part of Christianity – we live in a culture that is all about
productivity, accomplishments, and tasks. But Jesus has already done all that
needs doing. We get to receive that gift of love, we get to enjoy our
forgiveness, to be blessed so that God might bless others through us. The only
thing for us to do is to receive this love so that we don’t end up being a
noisy gong, but instead, we can join with angels, archangels, and all the
company of heaven in singing the endless song of love.
