EPIPHANY VI
February 13, 2022
“The Power of 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. 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.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. . . . And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. (I Corinthians 13:1-2, 4-8a, 13)
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (Chapter 13) is frequently read at weddings, and his comments on the nature of love go beyond starry-eyed romance and are good practical advice for most human relationships.
But of course, Paul isn’t writing this advice to a couple embarking on married life, but rather to the new churches, instructing them in how to be in harmonious, constructive community with one another. It’s a natural followup to Chapter 12, which focuses on spiritual gifts, how all are equally important, and all come from the Holy Spirit. Many members and their gifts are brought together into one body through baptism and through Christ’s love for all.
Foundational love can be challenging to understand, as we so often view who or what we love in such a human, limited way. Hoping to find some helpful references about love, I turned to my concordance for the NRSV Bible and started searching. Well, guess what — if you look for love, you find pages and pages of references! With passages from Genesis to Revelation, and additionally including loved, lovely, loves, and loving, I wondered how I could find anything specific or enlightening. Each reference indicates the book, chapter and verse, with a part of the sentence including the word you’re looking for. As I scanned, quickly, then more slowly, I realized that over and over the word “steadfast” was paired with love. There were verses that praised and thanked God for his steadfast love, others that assured readers and listeners of God’s steadfast love, and expressions of trust in the steadfastness of God’s love. We learn that love comes from God, and is an expression of his creative power, a gift and a blessing to his people.
After nearly four columns of Old Testament references, I began scanning through the New Testament, and found a whole new approach. The Gospels include Jesus’ teachings, of course, and time after time, he speaks of making love the basis of your relationships with others, of loving your enemies and praying for them, and loving our neighbors as ourselves. The Apostles, whether Paul or others, wrote of the power of God’s love, and that as we reflect that love in whatever we say or do, we bring the Good News of Christ Jesus to all people. We are assured by Paul’s letter to the Romans 8:39: For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The strength and power of God’s love is greater than anything in all creation and he will keep us safe and secure in his loving arms.
Grateful and reassured,
Your friend in Christ,
Mary Rogers