A Song of Love
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Linden Heights Baptist Church
February 14th, 2016
INTRODUCTION
Today is Valentine’s Day. If I am reminding you of this it may be too late. What type of commercials might you expect to see in the days before this holiday? The aisles of stores offer easily accessible boxes of chocolate and arrangement of flowers. The music on the radio is interrupted with reminder of the importance of jewelry for showing one’s love. The passage that we are looking at today is one that is frequently read at Weddings. This is done because the entire subject of this chapter is love. And it is appropriate to look to this poem as one thinks of love. This is such a common time this passage is referenced that sometimes people can be more familiar with this chapter independent from the wider part of Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth. After all this chapter holds together in such a way that one might even think that they might simply take this part of the letter and understand it without any reference to what Paul has to say elsewhere about subjects addressed in Corinth. This is a letter in which Paul offering words to help the church in Corinth to faithfully live out what it means to be people who have been baptized. And while this letter has implications for any relationship of love, it is not specifically about romantic love. He is talking about the way believers are to see themselves to relate to one another, and to the world.
Haddon Robinson a professor of preaching tells the story of a time he was on an ordination council examining a candidate to the ministry. One of the pastors on the committee asked the candidate a question that he thought was kind of simplistic. The pastor asked the candidate, do you love people? Robinson tells how his immediate reaction which he did not state out loud was…what do you think this candidate is going to say to that? The candidate answered the question with the obvious…yes I love people. But to this answer the pastor revealed he had a reason for this line of inquiry. He asked, how do you know that you love people? This morning I want to ask two related questions. The first question is do you love people? And related to this question is the second, how do you know that you love?
1If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If…is a conditional clause….this indicates there is an alternate possibility. What makes alternatives? There is choice? We might not have creamer in the office because we have used it all. Or we might not have creamer in the office because no one uses it. Is there an absence of love because it was never there. Or is there an absence of love because it has been “used up”. How can love be “used up”? It is amazing the depth and breadth of ideas that we are able to convey through language. But the speaking in tongues…the gift of language…the ability to communicate is compared with that which gives no distinct sound. The sounding of brass or of a clanging symbol is loud, but it does not communicate anything.
2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
What does it mean to have prophecy? The NIV translation interprets this to mean the gift of prophecy. Sometimes in a Christian setting we may slip into using jargon terms that leave outsiders confused. I suspect the gift of prophecy is one such designation. Prophecy can be speaking truth to power. Prophecy can be an illuminating word of what God will do in the future. Prophecy can also be calling people to respond faithfully to God’s instruction. If I can fathom all mysteries. This of course is a hypothetical situation. No one understands all mysteries. And yet even if one were to understand all mysteries…and all knowledge such knowledge would leave one incomplete. Knowledge allows you to learn how to build your own home or maintain equipment. Knowledge might enable you to live securely. But to live securely in the absence of love is incomplete. If I have all faith…the faith to move mountains..this is another line of comparison employing hyperbolic imagery to make a point. What is the point that is being made? Faith is not simply the understanding of what God has revealed, faith is the trust that God is doing what God says. Faith is the confidence in things promised…it is when people rightly place their hope in God. Jesus described the power of faith in referring to the ability to move mountains. Faith is something that connects the believer to God. Even a minuscule amount of faith empowers the believer. We see mountains all the time. They are not moved. A small rock can be moved, but not a mountain. So if you did have this ability you would have great strength. This is the comparison. The strength that comes from knowledge and from faith is inadequate if one does not have love.
3If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
If…we find another conditional statement. This indicates volition one is choosing to give away all that one possesses to the poor. This was done in the early church. In our day it would take a lot to even catalogue all of our possessions. Those who endured the privations of the Great Depression sometimes held onto items that later generations would regularly discard because they had in their memory times when they did not have such things. Instead of keeping things to provide for oneself or one’s family in this hypothetical construction one is giving everything one could otherwise depend upon to meet the needs of others. The poor are always present. There are people who not only would make use of our possessions should we give them, there are those who have genuine pressing needs. If one were to do this it would be quite sacrificial. One has let go of one’s own security to meet the needs of others, potentially leaving oneself to be in position of vulnerability. In this hypothetical listing of sacrifice he progresses from the sacrifice of possessions to one’s very physical health. If one were to give even one’s body to be sacrificed in the complete and total surrender of one’s own personal interests to advance the gospel this would gain one nothing in the absence of love. What is meant by the term gain? How do we gain things typically? I know how one gains weight. In fact I am pretty accomplished at such an endeavor! There are some things we gain by acquiring. We gain property through a financial transaction. This of course isn’t how we gain friends.
4Love is patient, love is kind.
Love is….How do we understand the meaning of something? Does a word come to mean something based on how people use the word? Or perhaps would it be better to appeal to experts. Perhaps definitions should come from people who have “studied” the issue? Is it possible that we can lose a sense of just how much our very use of language reveals how we are being shaped to see the world? This is the word used for love whenever love is connected with God. This love is patient. Patience seems like we might be allowing someone else to take advantage of us. What exactly does this term patience convey. I think of one example being sitting at a traffic light and exercising the self-control to not allow an unfair delay to provoke an exaggerated response. When might patience be more accurately described as indulgence? Patience isn’t just doing something slowly…but rather doing something at the appropriate pace…at the pace that is fitting. Love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
There are some things love does not do. Why would love not do something? There are a few ways of exploring this statement. Running doesn’t walk. To love means something that is in contrast with some other way of relating. What does it mean to describe a way of relating as being marked by envy? It may not be a particular accomplishment that one envies but it may be the way others view something as a success or have some desire to be in their company. When love is rooted in reciprocity envy can be an especially tempting way of responding to the development of potential imbalances in the relationship. So when your relationship is based on you being able to provide something..and also your being able to receive something then any disruption of that balance is threatening to the security of one’s love. One may not even realize that they are filled with envy at the success or whatever in their beloved not because they want to be like them, but because they don’t want to lose them.
Love does not boast. Where envy is often hidden boasting is quite evident. Boast seeks attention. Boasting seeks affirmation. In particular these elements often reveal a hidden lack of confidence. Boasting want to make clear that there is something of value in the individual who is boasting. Perhaps this comes from a deep fear that they will not be valued without people understanding just exactly what they have done. Sometimes of course boasting can even slip into claiming credit for things that one has not done. Love is not proud. I think there is an aspect where the three are connected perhaps in the fear that the person who is acting in this way has that they will not be cherished. Pride comes to inadequately evaluate one’s own accomplishments. This may be an accomplishment but it may also simply be some attribute. One may be proud of a family name..or proud of something some who is related to you has done.
5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
We continue with a series of descriptions about that elements present in a relationship that may be called love. Love does not dishonor others. It may be that we dishonor someone because we are angry. It may be that we feel like someone has done something that is so bad that we do not want them to be affirmed and celebrated. Sometimes the truth is we dishonor someone because we may want someone to suffer. Perhaps they have made us suffer. Perhaps they have made someone we love suffer, and we simply want the same for them. By tearing down someone it may keep us from feeling like we are coming into an unbalanced relationship. They simply act by intuition. Something feels wrong. Something feels threatening. And yet they don’t realize that they are feeling threatened because they do not know what love truly is.
Love is not self-seeking. For many this may seem counter to their understanding of love. For many there is no place outside of self-seeking pursuit. Happiness under such an understanding is found in balancing one’s own interests with the interests of someone else or with others. When these interests are in harmony then love may be pursued. But this offers a different and threatening point of contrast. Love is not in self-seeking, but it draws one outside of oneself. It doesn’t say that love is never angry, but that love is not easily angered. Love is not prone to outbursts. Where does anger generally come from? Anger seems to often come from frustration. When what we want does not happen. No green lights. No more ripe bananas. Our food is cold. The list of things for which we might find ourselves frustrated is legion. Love keeps no record of wrongs. I think this is something that cautions many of us. It is so hard sometimes to not let past experiences shape how we view the present. Again this seems to be rooted in many of the behaviors that are not loving…namely rooted in fear. Envy..boasting…pride…self-seeking…anger…it seems like many of these are variations of the same desire to protect oneself. Keeping a record of wrongs can be done to manipulate. You should do this because remember what you did to me. Keeping a record of wrongs can seem to provide some measure of safety. I shouldn’t expect anything different therefore I will not be disappointed and so then I will not be hurt. It can also be a way of tearing down others in order that we might feel better about ourselves.
6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
Love does not delight in evil. Who would delight in evil? What leads to this kind of response to evil. I think perhaps it might be helpful to explore in some measure what the counts as evil. Typically people do not delight in something that is a perversion of the good. But for this to happen someone must find that distortion to be pleasing in some measure. When we think of delight there are several ways one might approach such a response. There is delight that comes from physical stimulation. Our nerve endings are affected in such a way that we experience some pleasurable sensation. We are physical beings so even…and I realize this can get quite confusing…and I am not informed adequately to speak to this but it does seem worth considering that our emotions are mediated through physical processes. So just as there are some physical sensations that make us feel good….our back is scratched…there are also good feelings that come emotionally from certain experiences. It may be sensations of euphoria that come from feeling dominant. We may feel some adrenalin rush when we have experienced some element of danger.
Truth is an inconvenient concern when it comes to people with power. For those whose agenda is driven by power the main concern is in what will I delight. And I think there are even those for whom their idea of truth has been affected by this response. They come to see that which is true to be that which they delight in. Rather than considering that truth is something that we conform ourselves to.
7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love protects. Protection can come from many different sources. We protect some things in ways that will not work for other things. We may protect our money by locking it up inside of a vault. But there are some things that we cannot protect in this way. We cannot for example protect our feelings in this way. Even when we think about our financial resources generally there are different ways we protect them. Locking the funds in a safe is one way to protect people from sneaking into one’s house and making off with an envelope of cash. But we realize that sometimes our resources need protection from other influences. Sometimes the funds need to be used but they need to be employed in responsible ways. Sometimes what protects requires some action that may seem to be making one more vulnerable.
Love always trusts. This is an interesting description. What is it that requires trust? The presence of something that is inconclusive. In what areas of our life might trust be challenged? Are there not times when loving a rebellious teenager as an example might mean that we double check their story? Does this mean that we are lacking in love? I don’t think Paul is naïve about the power dynamics of dishonest speech. But the breakdown in trust is not the condition to which we are striving. Love always hopes. Love does not give up on people.
CONCLUSION
When I worked at the Johenning Center in Washington I took a group of fifteen to a Baltimore Orioles game. These children were all under twelve. I was counting these children every time I turned around. I wanted to make sure that each and every one of them was present. It may be that at times in our life we like the Christians in Corinth need to be reminded of the first importance of love in our relating to one another. We need to fear its loss as much as we might fear losing a person entrusted to our care.
Do you love? How do you know? These questions offer us a way of evaluating and perhaps recalibrating our response to one another. We have priorities in life. Our time, our money, our thoughts, our free time reveal what we value. We can allow others to set our priorities for us. We can allow our circumstances to set our priorities. Paul reminds the Corinthians the aim of the Christian life is love. God grant that we might be refreshed in this life anchoring pursuit.
Reflections 