The Greatest of Them...

Up until now, I've been quoting Scripture from the Revised Standard Version, by copy-pasting from http://www.blueletterbible.org/. But at the last Bible Study meeting (on hiatus for the summer), the people who came went in together to buy me a beautiful new New Jerusalem Bible. I've begun reading it, and I love the translation. So I'm going to cite it here from now on!

Matthew 22:34-40

When the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees they got together and, to put Him to the test, one of them put a further question, "Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?" Jesus said to him, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the prophets too."

Love is considered to be the greatest thing in this life, by people in our culture. And they're right. The problem is, no one seems to really know what exactly love is. When you read books or watch tv or listen to pop music, you get the impression that everyone is searching for this thing called "love", and for those who claim to have found it, it seems like some warm, fuzzy feelings that are only temporary, and when they're gone, they leave the lover feeling even more lost and confused about this great mysterious thing that he or she is looking for! How can the maxim, "Love conquers all," be true when our experience of love amounts to a temporary happy feeling?

This concept of love, as a mere feeling devoid of any sense of discipline, work, or commitment, is the main factor behind high divorce rates, low self-esteem, and a host of other societal ills. Love indeed conquers all, and without it...without True Love, we have a world of hatred, violence, selfishness, and despair. So what, then, is this fabled true love that heroines have longed for and heroes have searched for in bygone stories?

St. Paul gives us the answer in the most famous passage about love, without which no discussion on love would be complete, 1 Corinthians 13 (verses 1-8a,13):

Though I command languages both human and angelic--if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. And though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains--if I am without love, I am nothing. Though I should give away to the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be burned--if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever.
Love is always patient and kind; love is never jealous; love is not boastful or conceited, it is never rude and never seeks its own advantage, it does not take offence or store up grievances. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth. It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.
Love never comes to an end...
As it is, these remain: faith, hope and love, the three of them; and the greatest o them is love.

St. Paul tells us that, contrary to the world's assumptions, Love is not just a feeling. On the contrary, it must be something incredibly more! To live the ideal presented in this passage is something that goes beyond warm fuzzies! It takes a determined act of the will--a commitment to seek the good of another above your own! This love is the love that will conquer all. This is the love tha will fulfil. This is the Unconditional agapé love that Jesus demands of us--a love that He Himself has for us!

Above, I quoted the passage where Jesus tells us that the greatest law in the Old Testament was to love God with everything that we are, and to love each other as we love ourselves. But Jesus came to bring a New Covenant, a New Testament--and the Greatest Law in the New Covenant is this: "I give you a new commandment: love one another; you must love one another just as I have loved you" (John 13:34).

How does Jesus love us? In St. John's first letter, he tells us: "Love consists in this: it is not we who loved God, but God loved us and sent His Son to expiate our sins. My dear friends, if God loved us so much, we too should love one another" (1 John 4:10-11). In his Gospel, St. John quotes Jesus as saying that no person can possibly have any greater love than that--to lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). And yet, we see that God Himself has a greater love--an impossible Love!

So it is proof of God's own love for us, that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. How much more can we we be sure, therefore, that, now that we have been justified by His death, we shall be saved through Him from the retribution of God. For if, while we were still enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, how much more can we be sure that, being now reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Did you catch that? Chrsit died for us while we were His enemies! That's the love of Christ, and let me tell you, that love was not based on pure emotional fuzzy feelings! This was raw, passionate commitment to you and to me! That's the love of God for us! And that's the kind of love that He expects from us, for Him, for each other, and for the world!

When you enter into relationships and dating, and, down the line, think about marrying someone, you need to start with this kind of love from the outset--otherwise you're just wasting your time and theirs, and the only result is heartache!

When you seek to help others who are less fortunate, to care for those in need, or to make a difference in this world, that's the kind of love you need, or you will quit when it gets too hard, or they reject your helping hand, or when you realise that helping people and making a difference takes *gasp!* work!

Only this kind of love will shake the world.

Only this kind of love can truly conquer all!