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Garbage Can Lids

             If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (I Corinthians 13:1-3)

             Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?”

             Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Matthew 7:21-23)

 

            With St. Valentine’s day coming up, this passage had to be shared. That’s not saying it’s not a good passage, just that it’s like going through Christmas without mentioning anything about the birth of Jesus to come to a day celebrating love without mentioning I Corinthians 13. So here we go and let’s begin with what you might call a secular update.

            If I speak with great eloquence, using words that make people want to listen and to quote me, but do not have love, I am only a pair of garbage can lids being slammed together. If I have multiple PhDs and can explain everything that happens in the universe, and if I can speak a word, and man and machine accomplish all I command, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all that I have to the poor and work tirelessly for their wellbeing so that I can prove I’m a good (or great) person, but do not have love, I gain nothing. It recalls the passage from Matthew 7.  Even if we do great deeds, proclaiming to all who will listen that we are doing it in Jesus’ name, if we are not motivated by love, we may as well not do the deeds. In fact, doing them may reveal us to be precisely what we don’t want to be considered.

                So often, it seems as if our response to everything is, “I can’t…” I’m too young, too old, too fat, too skinny, too poor, too rich, too female, too male, or whatever.  I can’t live up to the spectacular level of performance needed to love. But today’s passage makes it clear that the spectacular isn’t what’s needed. It’s not what God is looking for. The mediocre or even mundane is what is needed, as long as it’s done in love for the other person. So go do the little thing.

 

 

 

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