Posted on Sunday, February 22, 2009
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QUINQUAGESIMA

22 February Anno + Domini 2009

"Agape Love”

Luke 18:31-43 (1 Sam. 16:1-13; 1 Cor. 13:1-13)

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels; if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains; if I give away all I have and offer my body up to be burned; if I have all these things, even if I have the whole world, but have not love, I am nothing and I gain nothing. 

Beautiful words penned by St. Paul under inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  It's too bad these beautiful words are so often misunderstood.  1 Corinthians 13, known as "the Love chapter of the Bible,” is a personal favorite of many.  It's a popular passage read during many, if not most, wedding ceremonies.  Nothing at all wrong with this being a personal favorite Scripture passage or of the use of this passage at weddings.  The problem is that many miss the point of this passage.  They read it and think that it's about romantic love, or brotherly love, or familial love, or even intimate (or erotic) love.  But, St. Paul is not speaking about any of these kinds of love here.  He's speaking about agape love - true love - love that knows no boundaries, love that is exemplified in the Person and Work of Love Incarnate Himself, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

If you really want to get at the heart of this passage and truly understand its meaning, then substitute the name of Jesus wherever the word "love” appears:  "If I have all these things, but have not Jesus, I am nothing and gain nothing.  Jesus is patient and kind; Jesus does not envy or boast; Jesus is not arrogant or rude.  Jesus does not insist on His own way (i.e. He does not coerce people and make them follow His way); Jesus is not irritable or resentful; Jesus does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Jesus bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 

Dear friends, there is no such thing as agape love - true love - apart from Jesus.  To interpret this passage without connecting it to Jesus is to misinterpret it.  This is not about feelings or emotions.  It's not about the Hollywood concept of romantic love.  It's not about the butterflies we get in our stomachs or the goosebumps that explode all over our bodies when we're in the company of that certain special someone.  It's about Jesus.

Jesus is this love.  He came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary to be this love for you.  And, this morning, in the Gospel lesson, Jesus shares with the Twelve (and with us) exactly what this love looks like:  "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.  For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.  And after flogging Him, they will kill Him, and the third day He will rise.”

You want to see love, dear friends?  Then look with wonder at the Passion of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Watch Him as He is betrayed, beaten, spit upon, falsely accused, flogged, and crucified.  Gaze upon Him as He willingly takes your place at Calvary, enduring the nails you deserve, shedding His innocent Blood for your sins, bearing the wrath and punishment of God on your account. 

That, dear friends, is agape love - true love.  If you have everything in the world, but have not this love, that is, Jesus, you have nothing.  But, if you have nothing in this world, but have this love, Jesus, then you have everything. 

Oh, how the world gets this wrong.  It knows nothing of this true love, for it knows nothing of Jesus.  How often do you hear it said by the pop-psychologists of our day - the Oprahs and Dr. Phils and many others, and even many Christians who have embraced the pop-psychology of our day - that you must love yourself before you can love others?  How utterly backwards is this?  What if Jesus followed this advice?  There would be no cross, and thus, no forgiveness, life, and salvation.  There would be no Church, where the love of Jesus is dispensed through His Holy Word and Sacraments.  The "you must love yourself before you can love others” philosophy is straight from the pit of Hell, my friends.  This is the devil's philosophy, the same philosophy he employed in the Garden, when he convinced Adam and Eve to love themselves more than God. 

No, dear friends, Holy Scripture is vividly clear:  Do not love yourselves.  Instead, examine yourselves and recognize how lacking is your love of God and neighbor.  And, recognizing that about yourself, repent.  Plead for mercy.  Throw yourselves at the foot of the cross where Love Incarnate suffered and died for you.  There is where you find the healing you need, and there is where you learn what true love is - more than that, dear friends, there is where you are loved truly. 

You must love yourself before you can love others?  No.  You want to love others, then go with Your Savior up to Jerusalem.  Be crucified with Him there.  Be filled with His love there.  Die to yourself with Him there. 

We love, dear friends in Christ, because He first loved us.  The only way we can love God and others is to be in union with Jesus.  That is why we're here in His House this cold and wintery morning.  We're here to be united with Love Incarnate, to be filled with agape love - true love - to be filled with Jesus.  Here, in this Most Holy Place, Jesus fills us with Himself as He speaks His Word into our ears, and as He distributes the fruits of His cross - His very Body and Blood - into our mouths.  Here, we meet Love Himself, but, more than that, we receive Love Himself.  And, having received Love Himself, having been fed on Him, we depart in peace, not in love with ourselves, but to love Him who loves us, and to love others as He has loved us.

Dear friends in Christ, we stand on the threshold of Lent, where we are invited to take the journey with our Savior to the cross.  This holy season best exemplifies all that has been said in the sermon today, for it is a holy season of self-examination and self-denial.  This season teaches us the true meaning of love, for it calls us to recognize how miserable our love has been and to cling to the One who is Love Enfleshed.  Do not let this season pass you by, dear friends.  Embrace it.  Use it.  Be changed by it.  Go with your Savior to the cross.  Learn to cling to Him and His love, for then, and only then, can you heed the call to love as you have been loved.  May God the Father who loved the world so much that He sent His only begotten Son into the world to live, suffer, and die in your place, may God the Son who loved you unto death on the cross, and may God the Holy Spirit who points you to, and fills you with, this love through the Word and Sacraments, empower and enrich you through this holy and penitential season, that you may grown in the grace and knowledge of Love Incarnate Himself.  In His Holy and Precious Name.  Amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting.  Amen.