If I speak God’s Word with
power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I
have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m
nothing.
Paul is using exaggeration or
extreme hyperbole, just like last week when we commented that we could
understand “all mysteries”. He is
saying, even if you wear a Super Spiritual Superhero and Super-shero cape
(which I wonder what color that cape would be? Maybe chartreuse, just because that is fun to
say). Even if you could perform miracles
that mystify the minds of people, even if you could cause world peace to happen
in the blink of an eye as everyone joined hands to sing "Kumbaya,"
even if everyone thought you walked on water.
Paul proclaims you’ve missed the point.
You are not here for fame and fortune and followers on social. If what I do/say/and how I show up is not
fueled by love, then my efforts may fall short of releasing heaven from my soul. Please note that the love Paul is describing
here flows not from humans but flows first from God. The love we need to feed and fuel our whole
lives is a pure gift (unearned and undeserved) from God. Paul is inviting people who are at each
other’s throats to think about what is motivating and moving within them and
between them. Which is a good question
for us: what is motivating you today? Is
it a divine love that needs to be let loose in the world? Or is it the desire for respect and to be
revered? Is it to score points on an
imaginary scoreboard of life? What
motivates us is complicated and contradictory, because we can say
and even believe that we are moved by love, but really our ego is wearing a
mask that wants our friends to admire and for us to feel like we achieved
something.
Paul is also being sarcastic
here…because you and I know that we can’t know ALL mystery and
make EVERYONE comprehend our point of view.
I have never moved a mountain or a rock or a pebble or a speck of
dust. I have never changed another with
a sermon. But I do believe, like a river
slowly shaping a stone with its slow flow, love does change us. I have been married to my best friend for 25
years now; her love has changed me. I
have served our church for 11 years, your love has changed me. I have friends whose words spoken in love
cause my shy soul to shift, not in spectacular or splashy ways, but
slowly. This is what Paul is
saying. You can aspire for great things
and step on people to get to the top, or you can let great love (God’s love)
guide you and ground you every day. That
is the invitation that challenges and changes us when we let it. I pray today you fold up the chartreuse cape
and be who God creates you to be ~ ordinary, beautiful, and especially
loved. Amen.
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