November 17, 2024 - The Gift of Love

The Epistle Reading: 1 Corinthians 13
The Gospel:  Matthew 22: 34-40         

The Cub Scout Motto is “Do your best.” When I was a Cub Scout Den Leader and Cub Master I always emphasized to my Tigers, Wolves, Bears and WEBELOS that it was not about being the best, it was about doing your individual and collective best. Of course, there were competitions like Pinewood Derbies where one block of wood with wheels attached would somehow make it down faster than the others, when it felt like the only objective was to be the best. 

I remember one year when my oldest son Jordan was in 4th grade; he spent months preparing for that year’s Pinewood Derby. He read a book about how to make the fastest cars out of that pine block. He carved a sleek design, shaved the metal wheels just as the book instructed, but still within legal limits. He painted it with care so it would not only be fast but would look like the sports car it was. 

Then the much anticipated race day came. Jordan put his sleek race car on the top of the ramp with the others, the cars were released and traveled down the track and his came in 3rd. The car that won that year was not carved at all. The pine block had been painted to look like Spongebob, the wheels were attached, and somehow it was the fastest one down - maybe gravity won that time. 

Jordan was devastated. He quickly put on sunglasses to hide the tears that were welling up in his eyes. He felt like the worst, not the best. 

But he had done his best; it just does not always end up in being the best at any given moment. 

So why does our society so focus on winning, so focus on being the best instead of doing our best whether it is in a sports event, political race, grades in school or in competition for business? Wouldn’t it be better if we could all just do our best individually and collectively without the competition that labels someone a winner and everyone else a loser or lesser? 

Jesus was telling the Pharisees that the race is over God is first when he said the greatest commandment is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,” But he was also emphasizing that it was not a competition of who could love God the best when he added, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If we love God first, we learn to embody God’s love for humanity - the kind of love that Paul expresses in 1 Corinthians 13. Paul is talking about agape - the love embodied most visibly in God’s love for humankind in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This love is an action - a love that seeks not for its own good but for the one who is loved. It is the love that God has for all of us and it is our job as Christians to emulate that agape love for all. We have to try to do our best at loving God and our neighbor, not be the best at it. No trophy needed.

But that is not what the Corinthians were doing and, therefore, Paul needed to remind them what love really is.

The Corinthians were devout in their new Christian faith and rich in spiritual gifts. They had knowledge of God, the gift of prophecy and the ability to speak with tongues of angels but they were also in competition with one another to see who could be the best. They were divided by the competition of their faith rather than united through it. 

We know what they were up to by the “nots” in Paul’s letter. They were envious, boastful, arrogant and rude. They were insisting on their own way. They were irritable and resentful and rejoiced in all of that, asserting that they were individually the best but the others were not. They were, essentially, individuals of a thin faith forgetting to show agape love and love their neighbors as themselves. They were not a faith community.

Paul was emphasizing that spiritual gifts by themselves are not enough. Speaking even angelic words without love is just noise and not a pleasant noise either but the constant pounding on a gong or the clanging of cymbals. Think of it as tone, the emphasis that conveys emotion or meaning. The Corinthians might have been saying: “God loves you” when, if they had added the love in, they would have said: God Loves You and You and You too! 

Even the gifts of knowledge and prophecy are nothing without love. What good is a future when you only care for yourself? What is the point of giving everything to the poor or suffering just to say you did instead of feeling that you must because of love? 

Agape love is an active, selfless love that loves even when others hate. It is a love that manifests in caring where others do not care. It is a love that takes a deep breath and thinks before reacting in anger. It is a love that can wait, and hope for a better future even when today is really tough. It is a love that does not need a trophy or even recognition. It is a love that endures even beyond this life. 

Agape love is what my friend Kim’s Aunt Glady demonstrated throughout most of her life as she worked for the Salvation Army helping others. And when one day in her elderly years she was standing at a bus stop and a man, angry for some unknown reason that had nothing to do with her, punched her in the eye causing her to lose her vision in that eye, she prayed for him knowing that he was really suffering to have done that to a stranger. 

Agape love is shown regularly by Red Cross, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders and many other aid organizations whose workers risk their lives to go into places of war and suffering like Sudan, the Gaza Strip and Ukraine to help the people. 

Agape love is demonstrated daily at shelters on both sides of the border between the United States and Mexico where asylum seekers, refugees and migrants are looked upon as fellow humans on this journey we call life and are given a meal, or socks, or a place to rest if only for a few hours. 

Agape love does not recognize labels, borders or barriers, Agape love does not segregate for any reason. Agape love looks into the eyes of another and says “What do you need? I’m here.” 

All things in this life will fade away. The only true imprints we leave are those we make in the hearts of others. While we can share love through financial gifts to those in need and should when we can, living a life of love costs us nothing but patience. It won’t come with a trophy or a first place ribbon. It may cause some suffering at times when others disagree with our approach but it is a love that connects us to our God: the true source of faith, hope and love. And when you have faith, hope, and love - what else do you really need? 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that those who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Your love is your everlasting life. It helps you survive and even thrive in this life and beyond. 

So let’s work at being our best, most loving selves: patient, kind, faithful, hopeful, respectful and joyful. When we can do that, we will be God’s gift of love, a breath of fresh air to the world.  And it is in love that we most connect to our loving God. Amen.

Pastor Michelle Fountain

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