THE LOVE STORY

1 John 4:7-21

Weddings are filled with them: quotes about love. “And now abideth faith hope and love, but the greatest of them, is love.” (First Corinthians 13) That was first written to remind church people that love is more important than arguing over which spiritual gift is better. Here’s another one: “Whither thou goest I will go, where thou lodgest I will lodge, thy people shall be my people and thy God my God, where thou diest will I die and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if ought but death parts me from thee.” (Ruth chapter 1) That quote is actually a daughter-in-law’s pledge to her mother-law-after the mother’s son, the girl’s husband, had died. What devotion. There are other songs that are traditional for weddings ceremonies like “O Perfect Love,” “Though I May Speak with Bravest Fire” and “Be Thou with Them” to the tune of Panis Angelicus. Even folk singer Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary fame wrote his “Wedding Song,” now a modern classic, with his words “He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts, rest assured this troubadour is acting on his part. The union of your spirits here has caused Him to remain, for whenever two or more of you are gathered in his name, there is love.” And did you know that Beatle John Lennon wrote a beautiful song about love that is rarely heard. The words include: “Grow old along with me, two branches of one tree; face the setting sun when the day is done; God bless our love, God bless our love. Spending our lives together, man and wife together, world without end, world without end.” (From WORKING CLASS HERO) From the bard himself, William Shakespeare, to the Bible, there have been love stories. Sometimes love stories are even of a child for his mother as Christian songwriter Mark Schultz told in his song “Letters from War,” whose mother prayed and prayed that her son would make it home from war safely and wrote to him each day, even though his return letters had stopped coming. He had been captured but finally got free, and with the new rank of captain, he returned home to his mother’s open arms. What a story. The head of Pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Ben Carson wrote his earliest book crediting his mother for making him the doctor, the citizen and the Christian he is today. A reference to that is in this month’s church newsletter. And one more example: Tiger Woods has given loving tributes to both his late father and to his mother in the many interviews he has had.

Throughout the ages, men and women have sought this elusive thing called love. People have lost sleep over it. Some have lost their sanity over it. Others have lost their lives over it; hard to believe, but true. Is it worth all the grief, the headaches, and the sacrifice for the sake of love? It is certainly one of the things people instinctively crave. But if we get greedy about receiving love, it is easy to forget about giving love in return. Someone put it this way: “We may give without loving, but we cannot love without giving.” Giving is the key to love. And God set the example. In Jesus Christ, God said: “Love one another, as I have loved you.” In those words from John’s gospel, the word “as” means “to the degree that.” Hence, Jesus says, “Love one another to the degree that I have loved you.” And then Jesus showed and told how much that was: “Greater love hath no one than those who lay down their life for their friends.” And then Jesus did it. Some teenagers go to those extremes for their friends; but let’s not kid ourselves; some parents would give their own organs to save their dying child; some partners would give their life for the one they love; and soldiers have been known to face bullets, bombs, or torture for the sake of soldiers beside them.

Later in his first letter, John addresses love again and again; the beloved disciple, who watched his Savior’s acts of love, wrote about them to early Christians. If anyone felt loved by Jesus and humbled by it, it was men like John and Peter, and women like Mary Magdalene. This is not the romantic love of fiction, but the sense of acceptance amidst a feeling of unworthiness that made them shudder with gratitude. So John in 3:18 of his first letter says, for example, “Little children, let us not love in word or speech only, but in deed and in truth.” They are “little children” because of Christian immaturity, not because of age. And he tells them to make their love count; words are cheap, follow through with actions matter. John was dealing with a group of people who believed spiritual things were more important than physical things. They thought talking about their love for Jesus and others was enough; John was pushing them to act as he pushes us. If a picture paints a thousand words, then how many words would it take to equal the worth of an action? Think of the ways and times you have felt surprisingly loved in your lives. For those who live alone, it may be with an offer to go to lunch, or when someone stops by with a treat, or an invitation to go out for the evening. For mothers, it may be just be hearing their child say “I love you” and then connecting the words to a visit, a special picture album of memories, or an offer to help more than usual. A gift one of our children gave one year was a coupon book of special tasks that could be redeemed at any time. Moms love gifts like that. For boyfriends, girlfriends, or couples, it may be to completely change one’s plans in order to do what the other would enjoy. It is one thing to love loveable persons; what about those who are tough to love? John says it as he heard it: “Beloved” that means you are loved by Jesus as much as I am loved by him; “Let’s love one another for love is of God, and those who love are born of God and know God. Those who do not love do not know God, for God is love.” You have the chance to bring God to a person who has closed the door on God! What an honor; what a high calling; but what a necessary way to transform our world. Pastoral counselors say “show me persons who are abrupt, angry, or moody, and I’ll show you persons who have been hurt in their lives.” What would it be like if God loved us only when we were loveable and ignored or cast us out on the days when we were being insensitive jerks or total creeps? I think there are days when I would miss God’s love, wouldn’t you? Thankfully John and Jesus let us know that God gives until it hurts, loves us forever, and allows us to live with and learn from the consequences of our bad choices. And John gives us the final reminder for the day: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

That’s food for thought for those who long to be loved; the fount of every blessing is also the fount of endless love; if you accept that loving gift, you’ll have it to give … again, and again, and again. Like the circle of a wedding band or a ring around a cross, you can have an endless supply of love. Trust the one who died on a cross, to show his great love even for you.

Jeffrey A. Sumner May 14, 2006