1 Corinthians 13:1-13 and Luke 18:31-43
Let
the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts together be
acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
From
next September, our daughter plans
to spend
her
final undergraduate
year
studying
Chemistry in
Berlin.
Obviously we will
want
to visit her. But we’ll enjoy the visit
so much more if we make the effort to learn a little German in
advance,
and the right
time
to start doing that is now!
This
connects
with a helpful remark made by
Tom Wright about our 1 Corinthians passage. He says, it teaches us
that the language of Heaven is Love. Love
never ends, and
in the end it makes sense of everything else. So,
the thought follows
on,
we’ll
enjoy Heaven much more if we make the effort to learn a little of the
language in
advance,
and the right
time to start is now!
So
what kind of heavenly language is the Love of which this passage
speaks? And
how do we learn it in advance?
Looking
at
the passage, the
first thing that strikes me is that
this Love
is not the toned-down and
limited version
that
is
often spoken about
in
ordinary life. Love
as
described here is tremendously
tough:
it endures all things, it bears all things. This
Love
is
about making
things
happen. And it is tough about the
reasons
for doing things as well as about
what
actually
gets
done: however
magnificent
the
achievement,
if
it is not rooted in
this
Love
then
in the end it
will be
worthless.
On
the other hand, the
passage tells us that this Love
is also extraordinarily kind:
Love
believes all things, hopes for all things. Love
is ready to do whatever it takes, from the heart.
This
makes
me a
bit
ashamed.
Last week, I was hard at work in my office, when a student burst in
with a question. I wasn’t at my best: I suggested they should come
back in one of my weekly office hours, but it wasn’t … convenient
for them. So I ended
up answering
their question after
all,
but I really wasn’t in
the least bit
gracious
about it. I
was too
focussed on
the
work that had been interrupted.
I’ve a lot to learn about Love as the language of heaven. It
doesn’t mean being a softie, it doesn’t necessarily mean giving
everyone what they think they want, but I fell a long way short of
Jesus’ Love in that encounter.
So
what does real Love look like? Our Gospel passage gives two glimpses.
First: Jesus telling his disciples that He has to go to Jerusalem
even though it means he will be put to death by His enemies. Why? The
clue is in His final remark: “and
on
the third day the Son of Man will rise again”. This
is the only way to unlock
the promise of resurrection
for us all.
Jesus’
Love
is very tough, and this remark
is
indeed
supremely
tough: enduring a terrible outcome up
to and through death itself,
knowing that this has to be done for the sake of the whole world. We
need His Love to be very tough, so it is strong enough to help us
through the dark times of life, and to be there for us when life
comes to an end.
With
such a difficult mission ahead
of Him,
we wouldn’t be surprised if Jesus focussed entirely and
exclusively on
what lay ahead. But no, we then see Him interrupting everything to
talk to an insignificant blind beggar, drawing out what the man
really wants, and then transforming the man’s life by giving him
sight.
Jesus’
Love is not only very tough: it is also very kind. It is kind enough
to deal with my failure to cope with my student. It is kind enough to
deal with all our sins and failures, however serious. It is kind
enough to wait for me to respond – though I shouldn’t delay too
long!
How
do I work this out in my own life? How’s this going to help me deal
with the next careless student to come to my office? Let me share
with you my three-point plan for continuing to learn the heavenly
language in advance of my forthcoming trip: you may want to have a go
too, for the same reasons.
Number
1: I will remind myself of what Jesus has done for me: take
Communion to show myself that I am letting Him right inside my life.
Number
2: I need lots of help to learn this heavenly language of tough kind
Love. I will ask God to fill me with His Holy Spirit, so that
I can let the Holy Spirit of Jesus work his Love out in my life all
through this coming week.
Number
3: I need to stay alert and remember I am always on duty as a
follower of Jesus. Jesus’ Love is liable to lead me to quite
unexpected places.
We
need Jesus’ Love to be tough and kind. And, thankfully, Jesus’
Love is tougher and kinder than we can imagine.
Amen
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