Word to the Wise
Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - St. Andrew Kim and companions, Korean martyrs
[1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 and Luke 7:31-35]If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal....... So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love
The lines quoted above are the first and last lines of St. Paul's famous words about love. I know this passage to be one of the most frequently read at weddings! Even folks who have no familiarity with the bible recognize the passage. However, St. Paul did not write these words for weddings! He wrote them for the Corinthian community which was experiencing many challenges! Among those challenges were immoral lifestyles, contentious lawsuits and, in contrast to that, an emphasis on spectacular "gifts" such as speaking in tongues. The purpose of the words on love is to call the attention of the Corinthians to the truest test of Christian community, it's ability to love. Certainly the intimate community established by marriage would be included, but the words are meant to be taken broadly by everyone. The challenges are the same today as they were in St. Paul's time. Love is not some fuzzy feel-good sensation. It means patience, kindness, humility, selflessness and truth. These are all "on the ground" virtues that require constant effort. If love exists only when we think we "feel" it, all of us are in big trouble! We cannot separate out "love" from those other virtues and try to have "love" without any of those nitty-gritty "expectations!" We can write songs and poems about it, but ultimately if we want to know Christ and our neighbor, we must accept "the cross" of self-denial so that we may know acceptance of and by another person. AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
54 ms
4
