The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany ---- 2 February 2019

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. 

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

·       I know we’ve all heard this passage before. It is most often used at weddings, or I might say, it is often over-used at weddings. It is a lovely passage, outlining the reality of love. However, despite Paul not referring to the love of spouses, none of us are off the hook with regard to love.

·       English has one word for love; obviously it’s “love.” It can say “I love you” to a spouse or to a child, with different meanings. However, we could also say “I love mashed potatoes.” All are equally valid uses of the word and all mean different things.

·       In Paul and Jesus’ time, there were five words in the Greek language for “love”, all with slightly different meanings. Without going into the words themselves, it’d be better to give a thumbnail sketch of each.

·       One word meant familial love, the love of a parent for a child. One meant “brotherly love” or really, friendship. A third involved hospitality. One was romantic or sexual love. The last was self-emptying or divine love. This last word is the word Paul used all through-out this passage from his letter.

·       As we heard last week, the passage just prior to this on in the letter outlines the gifts Paul saw in the Corinthian community: healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues, leadership, assistance and service among others. He says that many of the gifts of the Spirit are present in that Church. He also taught that all these gifts could not be prioritized, as one being greater or more worthwhile than the other.

·       Then he says But strive for the greater gifts. And he goes on to say that all the spectacular and powerful gifts are empty. They are hollow without love. I am a noisy gong… I am nothing… I gain nothing…

·       Paul called this self-emptying love the greater gifts. The Christian community in Corinth was loaded with gift of the Spirit, but they were lacking in one thing – love for each other. In other parts of that letter, Paul admonishes the Corinthian Christians with regard to conflicts, rivalries, and even law suits pending in the courts. It could be said that, quite simply, Paul wanted the people to love each other. From the reading, it appears that he felt he needed to give the community a glimpse of what that sort of love would look like.

·       Love is the greater gift… and it appears to be available to all. Healing, moving mountains by faith, words of prophecy are all hard to come by, although modern day prophets are around, telling us the will and mind of God, often in the face of ridicule and anger. Foretelling the future is not prophecy; it is another gift entirely. Speaking in tongues can be found, but when I know when I heard it years ago, it scared me.

·       What’s so special about love then? Well, anyone can do it. It is a decision, and not something that overwhelms you, that you are driven to do. (That’s referred to as “Passion.”) No special and dramatic gifts are required, like tongues or prophecy. Odd how this greatest gift seems so ordinary.

·       What is truly special about it is this: love is the very life of God and if we love, the life and power of God is in us and can be shown through us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. (1 John 4:16b)

·       It is how Christians are to be known to the world. Jesus told his followers at the Last Supper: By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:35)

·       Paul says that love is the most lasting thing. If we hold to what John says and God is love, then to love is to live in God… and we Christians believe that’s the ultimate goal of human life.

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.