A Sermon preached on August 31 (Pentecost XII) in
Wiesbaden-Frauenstein at the St. Augustine’s Summer Open Air Service
Pentecost XII
Romans 12:9-21, Matthew 16:21-28
It is often claimed
that the various arctic peoples, Inuit etc. have many more words for snow than the
English language, the estimates vary from over 100 to 15 in a study I looked at.
That study included drifting snow, clinging snow, fallen snow on ground, fresh
fallen snow …I think you get the idea. While this claim is sometimes disputed,
what is certain is that New Testament Greek has more words for love than
English, three or four depending on the definition. The authors needed so many
different words because they felt that the idea of love, especially God’s love,
could not be described in one single word. There is agape (self sacrificial love), eros
(not erotic, but love as the striving for union with the beloved), philia (friendship-love), and some
people even add nomos (love’s
expression through a fulfillment of law – see Psalm 119). With my love of
order, structure, and organization I’m probably quite susceptible to the
latter!
In this morning’s
Gospel we heard about a conflict between two kinds of love. Out of philia Peter wants to save Jesus and
keep him from being killed, but in doing so he would prevent Jesus from his
saving, sacrificial act of agape on
the cross. That’s what earns Peter that very stinging rebuke: get behind me
Satan and transforms him, briefly from being a rock to stumbling stone!
And in today’s
passage from the Letter to the Romans, which is perhaps not quite as poetic and
as well-known as the description of love in 1 Corinthians (13:4-7) that is so
popular at weddings, Paul talks about love and defines acts of love through a
series of examples. In the first verse (12:9) the word he uses for love is agape: let agape love be genuine and without hypocrisy, and what is more
genuine than the love of the Cross! In the second verse (12:10) he uses philia, in fact in the original, the
term mutual affection is the word philadelphia.
Paul’s very practical
examples are not his own. Some are taken from that very practical book of the
Old Testament, Proverbs (see Proverbs 3:4, 3:7, 25:21-22), while Paul’s command
to bless those who persecute you and not to repay evil with evil sound very
like Jesus’ commands in the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5:43-45) This is one
of the rare occasions when we find Paul quoting Jesus, or at least those
sayings of Jesus that we know. Of course Paul couldn’t quote directly from the
gospels as they had not yet been written. Paul’s letters are the oldest
documents in the NT. And Paul’s focus is less on retelling the story of Jesus’
life and teaching, and more on how to live a life in Christ.
But regardless
of how original his examples are, they are not easy. We can manage contributing to the needs of the
saints, i.e. of other Christians and showing hospitality to strangers is also
OK. But blessing those who persecute us, living peaceably with all, feeding
your enemies and giving them something to drink – those are tough commands, especially
in times of conflict and especially when the enemy is as brutal, inhumane and
violent as the terrorist organization that calls itself the Islamic State, a
title the vast majority of Muslims reject. Yes it is tough, and you might have
noticed that Paul qualified the command to live peaceably with all, with the
words: (12:18) “If it is possible, so far as it depends on you.”
Nevertheless
we are called to love not the organization, but the individuals, each of whom
is made in the image of God and none of whom was born hating. Let’s not forget
that one reason for the current situation in Iraq is the past cycle of hate and
revenge, of getting your own back, and of repaying evil for evil instead of
trying to overcome evil with good. As we, in my opinion rightly, come to the
aid of the Kurds, the Yazidis, the Shiites, and our fellow Christians, we also
need to be thinking about how we can break the cycle of revenge that is behind
so many of the current conflicts. Practical acts of love and generosity will be
among them as well as the willingness to give things up and never to seek
revenge!
Christian love
is a very practical thing, at least initially it is often more about what we do
than how we feel. It is directly connected to helping others in their various
needs: literally acts of charity from the word caritas, which is the Latin equivalent of agape. But when we behave towards others as if we really love them,
genuine love, care, and concern for the others welfare springs up.[1]
As Christians we
are called to practice both agape love
and philia love. Both have their source in eros love, our love for God, our desire
for a closer union and participation in the divine. Loving God with our whole
heart, soul, mind and strength includes loving those made in God’s image. Love is never just a matter of the heart or mind,
but always also a practical affair, that’s what the word ‘strength’ stands for.
But in the end
we don’t really need multiple words for love, because there is actually one
single word for love, the word for the one we worship and follow: God. Or in
the words of our communion hymn[2]: Ubi caritas et amor, deus ibi est: Where
true charity and love abide, God is dwelling there.
Amen
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