1 Corinthians 13 and Ruth 1:16-18 are often used in weddings even though their context is not that of romantic love. I have not performed any marriage ceremonies, but my husband Jeff has done a few. One of his favorites was when the couple chose verses from 1 John to use in their wedding. Reading 1 John 4 early on the morning of Valentine's Day I was reminded again of how beautifully it describes love:
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. Whether you are married or single, widowed or divorced, whether you received chocolates & roses for Valentine's Day, a silly meme like I did, or nothing at all, know that you are loved by God and called to love others not just on Feb. 14, but always.
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Jesus saves his harshest critiques for the Pharisees and other religious leaders of his day. Matthew 23 is nearly all a list of the ways the Pharisees fail to keep the heart of Moses' Law and also fall short of how the Kingdom of God is supposed to look. Nothing like seeing Jesus display some righteous anger at religious hypocrites. I am always tempted to say "You go, Jesus! Preach it!" This year, after reading verses 5-7 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others," something different hit me. "What," I asked myself, "does this look like today?" Religious leaders tend not to wear tassels and phylacteries (boxes containing Scripture verses, worn on forehead and arm), but some do wear clerical garb or faith-promoting t-shirts. Nothing wrong with that, or with the Pharisees wearing phylacteries or tassels. It was the "extra-wide" attention-grabbing nature of these things--it was the "why" behind the choice to wear them or make them extra wide. Were the scriptures in the boxes or on the t-shirts about God or about how the people wearing them look to others? Likewise, verses 13-29 are titled, "Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees" in my Bible. In each section Jesus calls the Pharisees "hypocrites." Again, it's easy to judge them for their sin, but what is one of the most common complaints of younger people about Christians today? Hypocrisy. Maybe instead of condemning the Pharisees, I should be examining my life by the same measure used for them. Am I a whitewashed tomb--"People look at you and think you're saints, but beneath the skin you're total frauds" (v. 28 The Message). Or am I guilty of following tiny details of the Law while forgetting what's at the very heart of God's law like the Pharisees who "give a tenth of [their] spices—mint, dill and cumin. But neglect the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness."? Do I give money or things publicly and yet fail to show love for other people? And while I'm all fired up about Jesus calling out the hypercritical Pharisees, do I forget how the chapter ends? It ends with Jesus observing that he still wishes he might be welcomed by them so that he might "gather [them like] children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings." The Pharisees were not willing to come to Jesus in repentance to be forgiven and held. Am I willing to allow Jesus to gather me under his wings? |
AuthorPastors Cathy Wesolek and Jeff Stueve share the pastorate at Tyner UMC ArchivesCategories |