Loving God, our human tendencies toward pride and selfishness get in the way of your love and prevent us from growing up into Christ.  Continue to work in our minds and hearts by the power of your Spirit, transforming us in your love through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            Last week, as Paul first visited Corinth, we observed that it didn’t take very long for divisions to show up in the community of believers there.  We also noted that one of the things that divided them was actually the gifts of the Spirit.  Those who had the ability to speak in tongues were boasting about it, and when they gathered for worship, chaos ensued.  It seems that they all wanted to speak in tongues and prophesy all at the same time.  Thus, Paul writes to them that “all things should be done decently and in order” when they gather for worship (1 Cor. 14:40).

         Today, then, when we hear what has been called the “love chapter,” it is right smack in the middle of Paul’s whole discussion about spiritual gifts.  He is not writing to people who are in love with one another, or even to people who know what love is.  Rather, he is writing to people who are lacking in love, even though that’s what faith in Jesus is all about.

         As Paul writes about the gift of love, he reflects on what love is as well as what love is not.  Thus, those who are envious or boastful or arrogant or rude are not acting out of love.  There is also no love in those who are selfish or irritable or resentful.  And, those who delight in doing what is wrong do not have love for God, or for others, or even for themselves.

         These days, you do not have to look very far to find a lack of love.  There is nothing more selfish or arrogant or resentful than the protests that have been taking place against public health orders.  It is all about me, me, me, and my rights, which apparently include being a danger to both yourself and others.  There is no love for God or for others in these protests.  The same could be said about those who have been rude and abusive to store clerks, as well as to those of Asian descent.  The lack of love in our world has never been more apparent.

         At the same time, the need for the love of Jesus has never been greater.  And so, how can we be a source of love in a world that so desperately needs it?  Perhaps it would help to start by understanding what the love that comes from the Holy Spirit actually looks like.  This is the same love that Jesus exhibited during his life on this earth.

         The description that we find in 1 Corinthians tells us that love is patient and kind.  And so, when we are being patient with one another and kind to one another, we are being a source of God’s love.  We also learn in today’s reading that love rejoices in the truth.  What a contrast to all of the people who seem to delight in ignoring or covering up the truth!  Can you imagine actually rejoicing in the truth? – and perhaps especially in the truth of God’s love and salvation that come to us through Jesus?

         Part of the description of love in today’s reading seems to invite us to dig a little deeper.  Love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:7).  At face value, it is hard to figure out why love would believe all things and hope all things.  However, when we dig a little deeper, we discover that the sense behind these words is to believe the best about others and to hope for the best (Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 10).  And so, it is an expression of the love of God when we believe the best about other people and hope for the best for all.

         There is also love for God and for others in enduring persecution for the sake of Jesus and being willing to risk being ridiculed for our faith.  And, while bearing all things might seem to be pretty much the same as enduring all things, it may be communicating the same idea as love covering “a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8).  It almost sounds as though love makes up for that multitude of sins – particularly the love of Jesus.

         We can gather from the way that 1 Corinthians is written that the gifts of the Spirit that were causing the most problems were knowledge, prophecy, and speaking in tongues.  Those who had these particular gifts were puffed up with pride and thought themselves better than the other people in the church.  Hence, the image of seeing “in a mirror, dimly” (1 Cor. 13:12).  That’s what we actually see and know, says Paul.  In other words, you don’t know as much as you think you do.  Full knowledge and full sight will only come when we meet God face to face.  As for love, however, it is here now and continues into eternity.

         While love is lifted up as the greatest gift, there are a surprising number of spiritual gifts that are mentioned in today’s reading.  Tongues, prophecy, and knowledge have already been mentioned.  The kind of generosity that would give away all our possessions and the kind of faith that can move mountains are also mentioned.  Then, finally, there are hope and love, and none of these gifts are much help when they are used without love.

         The key for all of us, especially if we feel as though we are lacking in love, is that all of these things are gifts of the Spirit.  We do not produce these things in and of ourselves.  They are gifts of God.  At the same time, any love that we have for God or for one another comes out of the love that Jesus has already shown for us.  May we, then, open ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit, using the gifts that God has given us, and becoming a source of the love of Jesus in our world.  For, Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Amen.

Easter 6 (NL 2)                                 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

May 17, 2020

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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