Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C): I Corinthians 12:31-13:13
Picture this little scenario.
You go to Mass next Sunday. During the Mass, the priest suddenly stops and proclaims, “The best Catholics are the ones who sit in the front pews!”
You go to Mass the following Sunday, and a different priest proclaims, “The best Catholics are the ones who sit in the back pews!”
If you sit in the middle, you are already thinking, “And what are we – chopped liver?”
We may feel tempted to say that these priests have made divisive comments. We may say that the priests should not have said what they said. We may be right, as far as that goes.
But consider this. Why did you react as you did? To what extent did the comments themselves divide the community, and to what extent did they reveal a division that is already there, lurking, in our minds and hearts?
There is an old joke about married life that goes something like this: when two people marry, they become one. Then, they spend the rest of their lives fighting over which one it will be.
In the same way, we have all been taught that we are all one in Christ. There are no distinctions, as Paul told the Galatians, between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female. All are one in Christ. But which one, we may ask?
Many of us still harbor a desire that, somehow, we will be different, or better, or closer to God, than the others. We look for some way, or some gift or talent we have, that will help us feel somehow better, holier, truer Catholics than the rest. “I go to daily Mass!” “Well, I go to the only real Mass, the Latin Mass!” “But I have done Cursillo or Marriage Encounter!” “I’m on the parish council!” And so on.
If we don’t feel superior to anyone else, however, this same dynamic works, but in a different way. We begin to resent anyone else who is better than we are in any way, and want to cut that person down to size. We resent excellence wherever we find it, because we cannot see excellence in ourselves. Any praise that someone else receives seems to come at our own expense. We become resentful of others, but do not like ourselves any more because of it. We cannot see how every gift that anyone has, when put to the service of the community, strengthens everyone. We cannot see how praise for one member benefits all. We feel in competition, threatened by others.
This is hardly a new thing. St. Paul saw it happening in the small Christian community in Corinth, a community that he himself had founded through the grace of God. People discovered that they had been given certain gifts by the Holy Spirit. Instead of asking themselves how these gifts could serve the community, they asked themselves which gifts were the greatest – assuming that people with the greatest gifts just had to be the greatest people – far superior to the others! This attitude only divided the community. On the one hand, people were bickering about what were the greatest gifts as a means of arguing about which of THEM were the best Christians. On the other, it created resentment among people who did not have those specific gifts, and whose gifts were not so respected by the community. Gifts that were intended for the upbuilding of all were now being used to divide all.
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul has been dealing with this problem from various perspectives. Here, in our reading, he draws them – and us – to the core point. He promises to show them “a more excellent way”. He puts it this way deliberately, to draw their attention to what he is about to say. They’re all looking for “a more excellent way” in order to prove that they are more excellent Christians! Bait for the hook, we might say.
Paul begins, not by directly criticizing them, but by using himself as an example. Let’s suppose, he says, that he can speak with human and angelic tongues as well. The gift of speaking in tongues was prized by the Corinthians, and all knew that Paul had it. But, Paul says, even if I have this gift in a way that surpasses anyone else, if I do not have love, I am only making annoying noises. Or, Paul continues, suppose I have surpassing gifts of prophecy and knowledge. Everyone in the community knew that Paul knew a great deal about Christ and had these gifts. Suppose, he continued, that his faith could move mountains. Suppose that he made the ultimate self-sacrifice. Everyone knew Paul’s faith and his capacity for self-sacrifice. Still – without love, he says, all of that would be worthless. He would be nothing.
It would be worthless because all these things are gifts for the community, and, as gifts, they must be given in love. Love is never for oneself. It always presupposes another. Love looks for the other’s good. Gifts are meant to serve the community, and not to make someone feel superior to anyone else.
And what can we say about this love? The love that Paul speaks of is ultimately the love that comes from God. We love in this way when we stand firmly in God’s love, and let God’s love enliven our own, and take it to a level we never thought was possible. No human being, alone, could love in this way. But, in God’s love, all things are possible.
Therefore – Paul can say what he says. Let’s look at a few qualities of this love.
Love is patient and kind. When we love in God, we are in it for the long haul. We do not give in to discouragement if our love does not bring immediate results, or the results we wanted. It’s God’s love in us, doing God’s will, not ours. All we need say is “yes”. Because of this, we are free to be kind in all circumstances. Even if the results of our love are not apparent, it’s not necessarily a failure on our part. We love as God loves. We see the good that is potentially in anyone’s heart. We want everyone to know the joy that we have discovered in God’s love.
Love is not jealous. In other words, love is not resentful. We have no need to resent the excellence we see in others. Now, we see these qualities as gifts given for the common good to help us all draw closer to one another and to the Lord. Moreover, we are able to hear (and believe) it when other people see gifts, and excellence, in us. We are not afraid of it, nor do we want to hide it. We thank God for it, and ask Him to help guide us so that we can offer our own gifts in love to all. Another person’s gift makes me stronger. My gift makes that person stronger. Moreover, we know that no human being can literally be everything for us, nor can we be literally everything for them. Only God can do that. Therefore, we do not feel disappointed or resentful when someone cannot fill the abyss in our hearts. Also, we are not shy about telling someone if there is something that we cannot do for that person, no matter how much we love them. It is that very love that impels us to lead them to the Lord who alone can answer these needs fully, who alone can fill the abyss of someone else’s needs.
Love bears all things. Love is willing to forgive the little everyday bumps and bruises that we cause one another. Love looks to the heart, the core, the purpose why we are together as a community in Christ, and does not allow petty things to divide us or to be stumbling stones for us. This does not mean that we ignore or put up with serious offenses or abuse. We look to Paul as an example. In his letters, he does not nitpick. He doesn’t say that this person can’t cook, or that person is too fat, or this other person’s way of talking annoys him. These are the kinds of things that love can bear joyfully. He only brings up sins that are a serious danger for the sinner and for the community, out of a spirit of love and concern for them all. He will also ask the community to forgive the sinner and take him/her back, as soon as the sinner has repented. That repentance, that healing, is the point of it all. We, too, are called to bear the little sins and annoyances with patience and understanding. Yet we, too, may need to point out more serious and deadly sins, not out of hatred but out of love for the sinner and the community.
Love endures all things. Love never fails. At a very young age, we discover that life can be painful. Not everyone will understand or accept everything about us. So, we learn to defend ourselves. We build walls. We wear masks. We hide. We pretend to be something we are not. These ways protect us, to a point, from hurt. However, they become obstacles when we want to reach out in love to another, or to have another love us. Sooner or later, God’s love leads us to be like Christ on the Cross – stripped of our masks and defenses, vulnerable, seemingly weak, even defeated. Yet… in this way alone can we show the true depth of our love. In this way alone can we be open to the fullness of God’s love for us and of others’ love for us. We can be so vulnerable because we believe that love never fails. Our seeming weakness will be a means for God’s grace to touch the weakness of someone else and bring that person new life and hope. Just as the Cross was the ultimate sign of Christ’s love for us, so, too, our willingness to be radically vulnerable ale for others is our ultimate sign of our love for and trust in Christ, as well as our love for all whom Christ has entrusted to us.
The greatest of these is love. Faith, hope, and every spiritual gift we have are meant to sustain us in this life, and to prepare us for the fullness of life that God has promised to all those who follow Him. However, love is the greatest because love is the goal. God is love. God invites us to a share in His very life, the life of the Trinity, which is a perfect expression of love. Love is what God is, we are taught. Therefore, it is the greatest of all. May we trust fully in this Love. It is patient, kind, forgiving. It will never fail.