Love

January 31, 2010 1 Corinthians 13: 1-14: 1

The city of Corinth had a reputation. The church in Corinth, also, had a reputation. You might say that Corinth was the “Sin City” of the ancient near East. Sailors came in and out of its seaports and their time there was characterized by wild and raucous behavior. The wealthy of the city were known for abusing the poor. The church in Corinth had a continual struggle between the “haves” and the “have-nots.” These were not a people, in general, who had a firm grasp of the concept of love. Their lives were distinguished by selfishness, greed, and loose living. They were concerned mainly with “looking out for number one.”
To this church Paul writes a letter about love, outlining for the Christians in Corinth the nature of love and what it might look like among them and in the community in which they live. The idea that he wants to get across to them is that without love, they are nothing! Bankrupt! Empty! Hallow! Even if they turn things around and begin caring for the poor and hungry, if they don’t do it out of a sense of love, then their work is done in vain! If they have faith that is deep and wide and don’t have love then it is all for naught! If they end up being martyred for their faith but have not shown love to others, then they’ve gotten absolutely nowhere.
(Peterson’s version of the love poem here.)
Sometimes it seems to me that we live in a culture that doesn’t quite understand what love is all about either. As human beings, we are lost when it comes to genuine, deep, sacrificial love like the love that Christ has showered on us. Too often we are more worried about our own comfort, our feelings, and our own wellbeing than we are for that of our neighbor. We are too hung up on the kind of love we see on television and so we look at our own relationships and instead of giving thanks for those in our lives that love us, we wonder “what if?” This only causes us despair, distraction and strife. Instead of working at a greater love with those already a part of our lives, we think about walking away, cutting ties, avoiding the pain of the hard work it sometimes takes.
Jesus talked about the greatest commandments saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” What if we really took this to heart and loved others as much as we love ourselves? (Maybe we need to love ourselves more first though.) Would we protect and feed and clothe and educate others like we want to be protected and fed and cared for, or like we do for our own children? What does it really mean to love your neighbor as yourself anyway? According to Jesus it means picking up your arch enemy who is laying at the side of the road dying because he was beaten up by a robber; according to Jesus it means inviting the worst sinner you know (which by the way is a matter of personal opinion) to dine at your supper table; according to Jesus it means risking potential shame and ritual uncleanliness by healing a leper and a paralytic. In essence it means getting out of our comfort zone, forgetting about ourselves and caring for the other. Yes, I said forgetting about ourselves for a change! Jesus forgot about himself and urges us to do the same.
In fact, Christ’s life, death and resurrection were ALL about love, and all about forgetting about himself for the sake of the other! That other is you and me. God’s love for humanity and the whole creation was revealed to us through Jesus Christ, and we confess as part of our faith that we believe that Christ is truly present with us: in the bread and wine, in the proclamation of the word and in worship, and in our hearts—ALL the time. Christ’s love becomes our love. We are simply unable to love like he is suggesting, without him. We can’t do it on our own but the bottom line is that he does it for us, in us and with us because he is truly present, all the time. Christ’s love becomes our love.
Maybe this whole “love thing” hits too close to home for you. Maybe you are saying to yourself right now, “I can love my neighbor, it’s my spouse that I have a problem with- or parent or child or whoever.” Maybe this love thing is fine for you when you think of family but it’s that teacher at your child’s school that you struggle with, you know the one who seems to be constantly picking on your kid. Maybe this love thing works pretty well for you when you think about your immediate neighbors- maybe you have wonderfully considerate neighbors who even shovel your sidewalks when they do theirs- it’s just that person at work that you have a hard time loving because they always seem to have drama going on their life.
The thing is, Jesus was serious! And Paul is serious too. Love for neighbor is not about me or you, it’s about the neighbor! To love the neighbor means to forget about what might be good for me and look at things from my neighbor’s point of need. It is about caring for others more than we are concerned about our own rights. It is about rejoicing when others do well, not pouting because we don’t have something that they have. It is about seeing each person the way that God sees them and not the way our sinful, human eyes see them. Love is about keeping at it, even when it’s difficult, especially when its difficult! It is one of the hardest things in the world to do—and if it were easy and carefree and fun all the time then anyone could do it! But it’s not- and that other thing that is easy and carefree and fun all the time isn’t REAL LOVE! There are lots of others words for it- but love isn’t one of them. You know what real love is because you have Christ! But what might that mean for each of us as individuals and as a community of faith?
Today I would like you to take about 5 minutes to talk about love in your life. I want you to position yourselves so that there are three or four at the most in a group and I want you to answer two questions for one another making sure that each person gets to respond:
1) Who taught you how to love, I mean really love?
2) Who in your life could you love better?



Let us pray. . .
God of love, you have given us your Son, Jesus Christ and we know that he is always present with us. Help us to really see our loved ones in new ways, to see our neighbors and love them as we love ourselves, to see every human being as a precious person deserving of love. Let Christ’s love be our love and let us boldly share that love with those we encounter daily. Amen.