Wingham United Church

February 2, 2025

And the Greatest of These is Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

I’ve been playing a bit loose with the lectionary these last few weeks. A couple of weeks ago, I combined the prescribed epistle readings for two weeks into one, so I could read the whole twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians at once. You hopefully remember that Paul’s message in that chapter was about the fact that God has created each of us with a purpose, and the necessary gifts to fulfill that purpose. He compared the body of Christ to the human body, and emphasized how each part of the body was important to the operation of the whole.

          He went on to list some of the parts of the Body of Christ whose gifts some people thought were more important than others and envied. He mentioned apostles, prophets, teachers, those who do miracles, those with the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who have the gift of leadership, and those who speak in unknown languages, which was a gift many people thought especially impressive, even though Paul pointed out that, unless there was someone there to interpret what was said, speaking in an unknown language wasn’t really all that helpful.

          He finished that lesson up by advising people to earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. If I had been strictly following the lectionary, that is where the reading would have ended last Sunday, and we would begin with this week with the first verse of chapter 13. The lectionary, however, skips half a verse: one sentence that I think is very important.

          I’m sure you are all familiar with 1 Corinthians 13. It is read, in part, at many different services, especially at weddings. In fact, despite knowing that it is completely out of its intended context in that usage, 1 Corinthians 13:1-8a and 13 is my default scripture for wedding services.

          The sentence that the lectionary omits at the end of chapter 12, however, is a sort of bridge that ties the two chapters together and clarifies Paul’s intended message for the church. After speaking of the role each part of the body has to play, and encouraging us to desire the most helpful gifts, Paul adds, “But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.” Some translations read, “And I will show you a still more excellent way.”

          He then goes on to say that even the most envied of the gifts he has mentioned is worthless without love. If I could speak in any language, but did not love others, I would just be making noise. If I were a prophet and could tell you anything you wanted to know about God and God’s plans for your life, without love, it would be meaningless. If my faith were powerful enough to move mountains, but I didn’t have love in my heart, I would be nothing.

          Any God-given gift, talent, ability, skill, or resource is without any value at all in God’s Kingdom if it is not used lovingly. I think we can see this in the world around us. Many people have great skills and abilities, but if they use them for selfish purposes and personal gain, they do not contribute to the betterment of the whole body. It’s like a foot that decides it’s going to go left when the rest of the body is trying to go right. It just doesn't work. That explains a lot of what is going on in the world around us today. Too many parts are trying to do their own thing, thinking only of themselves instead of lovingly considering the needs of all the other parts. For the body to work well and accomplish the most, all the parts need to work together for the benefit of the whole, and love is the tie that binds it all together.

          Love, of course, can mean many different things. Just what type of love is needed to pull the parts of the body together as one. Well, Paul answers that question as well. For starters, love is patient and kind. That’s a good place to start. If we could master just those two, think of how the world might change. Right away, though, it poses a challenge. Of all the gifts of the Spirit Paul identifies in Galatians 5, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control, patience is the one many people struggle with the most. I know I do. And when we are impatient, we are often not kind. Have you noticed that we say things we later wish we hadn’t or do things in haste that we later wish we could undo? It is no accident, I think, that Paul begins with these two things that love is – patient and kind.  

          He then goes on to tell us some of the things that love is NOT. Love is not jealous, boastful, proud, rude, selfish, or irritable. Again, I see a great deal of connection between impatience and irritability. Love doesn’t hold a grudge and cheers for justice and truth. Okay now, think back to the past several days. Can any of us say truthfully that at no time were we any of those things: jealous, boastful, proud, rude, selfish, or irritable? Have you been innocent of them all so far even this morning? How about three out of six?

          We are all going to slip. That’s a fact. That’s why we say a prayer of confession and ask forgiveness. Only Jesus was capable of perfect love. Fortunately, because of the perfect love of Christ, we are forgiven when we are imperfect, but that doesn’t mean we should settle for less. We are called upon to do and be our best every single day, and to keep trying because love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. There is a resilience to Christian love that keeps pulling us closer to perfection, if we make the conscious determination to strive toward that goal.

          Paul goes on to point out that those gifts the Corinthians thought were so special and admirable would someday become useless. One day, each of us will leave this life, and all those other gifts will cease to be. But not love. Love will last forever! We will enter into the Kingdom of perfect love and the love we shared during this life will be remembered and cherished by those we leave behind in this one. That fact is why I also often use this message at funeral services. The love with which we live our lives becomes a legacy in our absence, so, in a way, we live on in those we touched in this life because of the love we shared.

          The last couple of weeks have been tough ones in our community. Young Kurt Stamper’s death has impacted us all. The love that was shown for him and his family during such a difficult time, even by people they had never met, is an example of what we can be when we rise to our best selves. It shouldn’t take a tragedy to bring that out of us, but it is good to know that during our worst hours, the best in us can rise.

          Kurt’s death also brought up another truth Paul mentions in this lesson. None of us can see the whole picture. God does. God sees everything throughout time all at once. We are relatively near-sighted. We can see only a tiny glimpse of a much greater whole, and even that is unclear, like looking into a broken shard of a dusty mirror. All we know is partial and incomplete, and even our knowledge of God is hazy.

          When tough times happen, and they will to all of us, we have to trust that God loves us and will protect us and carry us through whatever comes. It is our faith in God’s love that gives us hope to carry on and provides us with the love we need to live our best lives and contribute to the lives of those we love.

          All the worldly gifts and possessions we could ever dream of will someday be meaningless. Only three things will last forever – faith in God, the hope shown to us in Christ Jesus, and love – and the greatest of these is love.

Rev. Colin Snyder, MDiv.