The Greatest of These - 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (Epiphany 4C)

 

Love - I know it may feel like a couple weeks early, but love is in the air today. Our passage is one of the most well-known excerpts from the New Testament and Paul’s writing. If you’ve been to a wedding, most likely you’ve heard some bit of this. It’s hard to dismiss love at a wedding, right? I’m not sure Paul would agree using this text at a wedding ceremony is appropriate, but we’ll get into that later. I’m sure I could make a whole series of this one chapter, but I promise to get you out of here in a reasonable amount of time for lunch, if you’re worried about that.

Who thinks there should be more love in the world today? Show of hands…. Don’t be shy. Many, if not all of you… right? We look around at our world, and we don’t see that there’s enough love, that people aren’t acting with love. Is love an action? Or is it just a feeling? We have countless bits of movies and television showing what love is from just about every possible angle. But what’s the most truest love? We get that from Jesus - he explains in the Gospels that loving God and loving neighbor are the most important commandment. It’s interesting how this all works out. Another option for preaching today from the lectionary was the gospel story of Jesus teaching in the temple and at the end saying, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled.” And then - chaos breaks out. The men in the audience were flabbergasted - and angry. They ran Jesus out of town! Not exactly the most inspiring story, but it gives a contrast to the teaching Jesus provides in the rest of his ministry. Loving others is not always easy. There may be opposition to it - and sometimes that’s certain, especially when we love those who are deemed to be unlovable and outcast, like Jesus would continue to do.

So - here we are, chapter 13 of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. The last couple weeks we’ve been talking about spiritual gifts, how to identify them and that all gifts are given from the same God through the Holy Spirit, each playing a different yet complimentary role for the good of the community. Paul then turns a corner, launching into this monologue about love, worthy of the most serious poets of all time. 

Let’s break this up into three different sections: The first three verses, the next three verses, and the last five verses. The first three verses are kind of a prologue to the rest of the chapter, making it sound like love is a result of the gifts, not that it is a gift itself. There are multiple saying around the idea of intentions, but as Paul gets into it, it’s like he wants the intentions of love to count - and they do. What he’s getting at is, that the Corinthian church is in conflict with itself, because of being new, not having a good understanding of what this community is supposed to look like. Paul goes into great detail in the first few chapters explaining what the arguments are about. Paul then argues that most importantly, LOVE is essential to life, especially life in community. This is not so much as waxing poetic about how God operates, but more like keeping them accountable for their bickering. He talks about what love is, what love isn’t, and this may have been more provocative at the initial readers than what we might think today.

In the second three verses (4-7), Paul describes love, its characteristics, both positively and negatively. He contrasts these virtues with what he observed in the Corinthians while he was with them. For example, love does not envy (v. 4), but the Corinthian church are envious and strategic (looking back at chapter 3). Love does not boast, also in verse 4, but the Corinthian church does (in chapters 4 & 5). Love is not shameful, just as he was teaching in chapter 7. Love is not self-seeking, as Paul models in 10:33 - saying “just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, so that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ”. Love does not delight in injustice - even though the Corinthians were known to manipulate their courts (found in chapter 6). This love that Paul speaks of is an answer to the questions that the Corinthians maybe didn’t realize they had. But - which attribute speaks most to you? Which one is the most difficult for you? 

In the last section (8-13), Paul is comparing and contrasting love with other virtues. He shifts his rhetoric from abstract to ethereal. “But as for prophecies, they will come to an end” All these gifts he’s be talking about throughout chapter 12 and all his other letters, they will end, or change. Could it be that people will develop out of their gifts? I guess it may depend on whether they keep using the gifts with love. You can have all the knowledge you want, just as Paul suggests, but that will come to an end. Think of how much knowledge we’ve acquired since Paul’s time? They would be shocked at our world, to say the least! But yet, when those Corinthians looking at our same society, would they see glimpses of their own? I think so, because loving is hard, leaving yourself vulnerable is hard. 

But ultimately, how does love never end through the greatest of these virtues? Love comes from God, who uses believers as beacons to the Light; even as Paul talks about that all these other gifts, which time will run out of, there will always be love. Are these lofty goals for any person, let alone a community? Absolutely. Does that mean we shouldn’t strive for it? We should be loving as God loves us. Remember - the things we do with love, they are going to be remembered more than those we are just doing for no reason, or because we feel an obligation, or if we are even doing it for self-promotion. How has God shown you love? In my life, I’ve felt God’s love in so many different ways, whether mercy, or blessing, or even just an ongoing presence in my life.

Love is not a spiritual gift, but when we practice our gifts and talents, love can be the result. When we step into a place where we feel that God is calling us, whether that’s on mission, in our workplace, or in the grocery store, we can feel uncomfortable. But our gifts will carry the message much more than we will on our own. The key is to lean into that tension, that discomfort. See where it leads. Maybe you make a connection, maybe you don’t. But you led with your heart. You tried. That’s what God wants. To love and serve others you have to be willing to be interrupted. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions…” There is a clear difference, though, between allowing our lives to be interrupted by the things of God and allowing interruptions of our own making to steal our time. We should ask ourselves why we are easily distracted by just one more show on Netflix or scrolling endlessly through Instagram but irritated by a person who needs to talk when we need to get out the door. Jesus showed us that people are a priority, and the believer can model that, even in the busyness of modern life.

Let’s go back to the beginning a little bit. Remember I said the Gospel message for this week was about Jesus fulfilling the prophesy and then being run out of town? Does that look like the church loving him? Does that look like mature believers? No - the men in the temple were worried about their power. With Jesus showing up, it didn’t make sense and that they were fearful of losing that power. How does Jesus act, though? He remains in love. No matter what anyone else does, he knows he needs to love. But compared to what Paul says back in our text in 1st Corinthians, rephrased, power is useless if it lacks love. Jesus healed and taught because of love, not because just that he COULD. Why did he go where he did? He followed the Holy Spirit.

Just like in Jesus’ day, power in our society really benefits those who can write the rules. UNLESS, there is love. There must be a vulnerability to look outside your own interests, and offer mercy. Those who trust in God’s will and might, also trust in his Spirit and will trust in love of the community and those who can do nothing for them. Remember, as you leave this morning and go about your week, love is a verb; it requires action to make it useful or effective. Love Never Ends - being the body of Christ means being the body of love, no matter the resistance or power that is in front of you. God is bigger than anything humans can create, and His will is being preached and taught in churches all over this globe. 

Even with all that, there are still two fundamental truths of love that could be added to Paul’s list here, first - you will never look into the eyes of anyone that God does not love; and second - there is no power you have or nothing you can do for God to stop loving you. No distance we can run - Lord knows I tried - that he cannot find you and turn everything around. Friends, we have a God whose love has no limits, is eternal, and essential to life.

Paul never says love is easy, or that doesn't take work. He doesn't say that it even feels good. He speaks truth about love. Love as fulfilled by God, the greatest love of all. 

Amen.