Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Today's Meditation:
When you have “Reverend” in front of your name, you are asked to officiate at weddings. And I have officiated a boatload of them. Long before Google came into existence, during which time prospective couples could google “Best Wedding Bible Verses,” pre-Google era couples would somehow arrive at settling on 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13 to be read at their wedding ceremony.
There is a reason this passage is known as “The Love Passage.” However, I always have to bite my lip when couples ask that it be included and read in their wedding, as I know the background of this text.
Paul wrote this letter to a divisive church. There was conflict and disagreements about leadership, worship styles, and etiquette, marginalization of poorer members, and lawsuits between believers. Paul writes that this quarreling body of believers should strive to exhibit agape love, the kind of love that is sacrificial and seeks to put others first. As one commentator has said, "Paul describes this kind of love in terms of what we do, not how we feel." *
In this Lenten season, let us practice this kind of love that is sacrificial and seeks to put others first.
Prayer:
Loving and Gracious God, we are the Bride of Christ, the Church that Jesus loves so unconditionally. In my own life, may I demonstrate this kind
of love. Amen.
Jesse G. Mabanglo
* Stan Mast, “1 Corinthians 13: 1-13, https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2016-01-25/1-corinthians-131-13/