God is love, the Bible says. Christians have come to understand the love that God is as referring to the Trinity, as the relationship of divine persons. The love of God cannot be found in a king sitting on the throne above it all. Rather, God’s love is dynamic and alive, in the giving and the return that characterizes relationship. As St. Paul puts it in the letter to the Corinthians we describe the divine relationship as the grace of Jesus, the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The other thing the Bible makes clear is that the Triune love of God overflowed, burst out of heaven, gushed forth in a burst of creativity. God so loved that the divine word was spoken and there was light, the waters above were separated from the waters below, the heavens and the earth were created, the stars spangled the night and the earth teemed with all kinds of living creatures. God so loved that God made humanity in the divine image, male and female he created them. God so loved that when humanity became perverse he re-booted creation with Noah and the Ark. God so loved that when slaves were languishing in Egypt, Moses led them through the Red Sea and into the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
God so loved, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. Here all the parents in the congregation might throw up their hands and say, Wait just a gosh darned minute. I would not give my child, my son or daughter for they are what I love the most. I can’t imagine giving up my child no matter what the circumstance. How can God give a beloved son! The image that St. John’s gospel presents is NOT that of giving up this, in order to get that. Because I love the world I give up my son. Rather, the gift of the Son is a greater involvement, a bigger investment. Love is not a zero sum game. By zero sum I meant the idea that you only have so much love and when you give it away it is gone. Rather, love is like a lighted candle. You share the light with another candle and the light grows. Love is like a magic penny. The more you give it away, the more pennies you have in your pocket. Love is a multiplier, not a divider. So when God gives his only Son it is all about love growing. God so loved the world that he gave his son who would share divine love with all whom he met. The love that he gave spread from person to person in imitation of the kind of love that God has as the Trinity. God so love the world that he gave his Son who embraced us in the arms of love so that all of us could participate in the very life of God.
However, there is a profound realization that flows from this reality. Since we have been invited into the very love of the Triune God, we must imitate God’s exuberant love. Our love as Christians should overflow, burst out, gushed forth just as divine love does. We can’t be content loving our tiny circle of family and friends. Our love, since it comes from a creative and creating God, is meant to be shared with all the people we encounter in life just as God shared the Son with us. St. Paul in the epistle give us some very concrete suggestions on how to act so that the love of God can grow and increase as God intends. He gives six commands: “rejoice, mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, greet one another with a holy kiss.” Then the God of love will be with you. Our prayer for the week should be how to heed these commands in our everyday life.
Rejoice. No matter how things seem to be going; no matter the family trouble, the financial woes, the national tragedy, the wounded planet, the aching heart; this is still God’s world and God is not finished with us yet. We can always rejoice because God assures us that in the end all will be well, all manner of things will be well.
Mend your ways. Since the love of God has been planted deep in our being we must live in a way that reflects that love. We need to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. We must get our values from the gospel and not from Madison Avenue. We must think in terms of people and not things.
Encourage one another. It is easy to tear down, to criticize, make fun, to flame. Since we have the love of God we see every individual is made in the divine image. So we need to build up, to affirm, to support one another
Agree with one another. Or a translation I like better, “be of the same mind.” Obviously we are not going to agree about everything. Some people will like the White Sox. Some people will like the Orioles. But we can all be of the same mind. We can agree that a kind word is better than a nasty slap. We can agree that when I help somebody, my living shall not be in vain. We can agree that whatsoever we do for the least of the brothers and sisters, that we are doing for Jesus.
Live in peace. And, of course, since as human beings we are constantly giving and taking wounds, we live in peace once we are willing to forgive and able to accept forgiveness. We cannot live in peace by holding onto resentment and grudges. We can live in peace when we accept God’s forgiving love in our hearts and share it with others.
Finally, greet one another with a holy kiss. What St. Paul is driving at is how important it is to make concrete our commitment to putting some flesh on the bones of faith. Our dealings with one another must make real the love of God that has been planted in our hearts.
God is love. We are invited into that love. Spend that love. Share the love. Give that love away. You’ll end up having more.
