January 31, 2010 — Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
“Does Anyone Know What Real Love Is?” — Vicar Mankin
Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download. (Right Click)
Grace, Mercy and Peace be unto you from our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our sermon text for today is from Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians which was previously read.
A few summers ago I had the privilege of attending some college friends’ wedding. At first this wedding didn’t seem all that different from the dozens of other weddings I have attended in my life time. The bride was radiant, the groom was nervous and their two families were thrilled that these two were finally getting hitched. My first clue that this was going to be a wedding I would never forget was when the Unitarian priest walked out and asked us all to “discover” our seats. After we sat down, she began the ceremony. She had taken elements from both of the couples backgrounds, Jewish and Anglican, to compose the marriage rite. During this whole affair my teeth kept sinking deeper and deeper into my lip. We heard that wonderful old hymn, “Stand by Me.” We heard the bride and groom recite their vows of undying like for one another. Then came the final straw, the gospel reading (Yes, they called it the gospel reading.) from the “Velveteen Rabbit.” It was a rather lengthy section, or maybe it just felt that way, of how to know you are real. To summarize: You know that you’re real when you realize that you are loved. You know you’re loved when people play with you even when better, newer toys come along. As I sat there listening, I turned my head in disgust only to see the once happy faces of the families, turn to disappointment and distain. The whole thing left me thinking, “What is going on in our country?”
DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT REAL LOVE IS?
Our world uses the word “love” a great deal. We hear people use the same words to describe the love for their new car as they would use to describe their wife of 30 years. Human love is a funny thing. We know there are different types of love, but we use the same word to describe our feelings. The fact of the matter is, human love apart from Christ, is a very imperfect kind of love. It is self-serving. Pop sociologists tell us that we should love someone because of how they make us feel about ourselves. After all, we should be constantly looking inward. My new phone makes me feel good about myself – I guess I love it too. Our love is self-centered. Due to our total corruption, brought on by Original Sin, even our love is tainted. Apart from Christ Jesus, human love is in a pretty sad state. No matter how much love you are given, or, you give, in this life, without Christ it can never be real nor will it make you “real.” Christ’s love for us is unique and awesome in this world. It is only fitting that our epistle for today is such a popular reading at Christian weddings. It describes real love that can only be found in God’s gift of Christ Jesus; a real love that makes us real.
What would our life be like without Christ’s true love? Saint Paul tells us, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not 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 have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” Without the love of Christ, our lives are pretty hollow. It wouldn’t matter if you were the best public speaker—capable of captivating huge audiences—what do you have without the love that can only come from Jesus? Throughout history, we have seen brilliant speakers who were able to move people to do extraordinary things, but without Christ what they convince people to do is wicked and ultimately nothing more than fury and noise that results in heartache. The result is like a gong being struck over and over out of time with the rest of the music. How many “prophets” and “holy men” claim to know the path to enlightenment and promise the knowledge of the mysteries of life, but have proven to be little more than liars and charlatans. No matter how much faith you place in them, they will gain you nothing but damnation. Without love, more specifically, without the love of Christ, you are nothing.
St. Paul even talks about the people here in Seattle. I look around and see thousands of atheists here in the city, who donate their possessions, money and time to all kinds of charitable causes but without Christ and Christ’s love they gain nothing. Without love, without Christ, no matter what you have in this live, no matter what you think you know, no matter where you place your faith, no matter how well respected you are, without Him you have nothing. Without Christ that Shakespeare quote, “Life is a tale told by an idiot -- full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” is all too apt.
So what is “real” love? What is Christian love? St. Paul tells us,4 “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.8 Love never ends”. To find examples of this real love, we have to look no further than Jesus and it is this love that we are to emulate. Patient and kind, how often do we see this behavior from Christ to the disciples? Again and again they miss the boat, they don’t understand what Jesus is telling them and what does he do? He patiently and kindly corrects and loves them. How many of us show this kind of love? When we see someone we love falling away and turning their back on Christ or the Church, how do we witness to them? Again, St. Paul tells us in Romans, “Let love be genuine (real). Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection… Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Rm. 12:9-10, 12)We patiently and lovingly wittiness to them, if it takes a lifetime we hope and pray they come back to the love of Christ. How do we love those who don’t know Christ and His love? Simply put, we love them. But we don’t do it by being arrogant or rude. One of the main complaints against Christians I have heard is that they have a “holier than thou” attitude. It can be easy to forget that non-Christians and Christians have the same disease: sin. Christians are just blessed enough to know there is a cure, but unfortunately many forget they are not the cure for sin. Only Christ is the cure. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” (Rm. 15:1-3) When you are reproached by someone, rejecting you, over Christ, they are really rejecting Christ. The converse is also true when someone accepts Christ they are not excepting you but Him. How can we then be boastful or rude when it’s not about you but Christ? As Christians we do not rejoice in wrongdoing but in truth. When my friends were married by that charlatan of a priest, I did not rejoice. Thankfully Christ’s love kept me in check, and instead of jumping up and yelling and making a fool of myself, and consequently Christians everywhere, I sat there quietly praying for that couple. After all Christ died for them too. My love for them as a Christian tells me: Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. My only hope for them is Christ. It is His love that bears all things; through His love He bore all of our sins on the Cross, even theirs. And I pray even if it takes a lifetime that they come to believe in Him. I have heard so many stories of fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, family and friends who have that one person in their life that doesn’t believe. But through Christ, they bear, and believe, and hope, and endure all kinds of disappointment and tragedy until that lost soul is turned around by the Holy Spirit. This is what real love looks like, not worldly love but Christian love. This is the kind of love that never ends. Christ’s love for us will never stop. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. (1 Cor. 13:8b-10) When Christ returns all of the knowledge of the earth will be worthless, all of the predictions that we have made will be either fulfilled or proven false. When the perfect One comes all that will remain is love. This life, this existence is but a shadow of the splendor and glory that is coming. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Cor. 13:12) This life is a mirrored reflection of what is real. Soon we will see what is real, either at our death or at Christ’s return we will see God face to face. That same God who created us in the womb, knew us before we were born. We will have no need for hope, or faith. We will live by sight. All that will be left is faith, hope and love—these three; but the greatest of these is love. A love that will never end and that can only be found in Christ Jesus.
Now may the peace and love of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until live everlasting. Amen.
