This was originally a sermon for a funeral where the family chose 1 Corinthians 13 as the reading.
I've made it gender neutral and taken out references to the person whose funeral it was for and simply post it as encouragement from 1 Corinthians 13 for a time of grief.
We are more used to what is known asthe Love chapter in 1 Corinthians being read at the celebrating of a wedding notas we contemplate a funeral. As Inspiration for the start of relationships, nota way of providing comfort as we say farewell.They are words that give Lessons for life, not so much to lessen oursorrow. But you know I think this scripture is so fitting and powerful for thisoccasion.
Firstly, as we cometo celebrate a, a much loved and loving person’s life, a child, a spouse, parentand grandparent, a friend and person offaith that it encapsulates the values and the virtues we cherish and willremember most.
In context Paul wasspeaking of gifts and talents that God had given to his body, the church forthe common good, to serve and build one another up. And as we gather we lookback and see the gifts and talents and achievements a person has had, and whatthey have contributed, as God has enabled them, in their own sphere andcontext. Beyond that as Paul says we remember a more excellent way… the way oflove, the best of the character of a person….the characteristics Paul calls love.
The passage speaksof the highest attributes of love… Patience and kindness; commitment andloyalty shown in practical caring. Forgiveness: committed to a relationshipeven in the midst of hurt and when we get it wrong. Seeking truth: wanting whatis best and good for the other person, humility and selfless service; puttingthe other first. Never failing; being committed to the very end; a love Paulagave and which he also received in return. The qualities of love that findtheir origin in the Love of God, shown in Jesus Christ.
Secondly, these arethe characteristics of love that in times of grief, in the face of theharshness of life and sorrow bring comfort. What helps us get through it is toknow that we are loved and surrounded by people, a community, who care and willbe there for us. Who support us by kindness, a willingness to forgive and givespace on days when we just don’t have it all together, to speak truth when wefind ourselves unable to work through the process in a healthy manner. When wejust need a hug or someone to be there and listen to that same story again.
But they are alsowords of comfort because they are a description of Jesus and of his great lovefor us. The love and abiding presence of Christ that we can know in our ownlives… Jesus who said and Low I am with you to the end of the age… who invitesus to cast our burdens on him because he cares for us. Who said blessed arethose who mourn for they will be comforted.
My father died whenI was 21 and as palangi we didn’t really have the rich traditions of culture andfamily to surround and embrace us and help us in our grief. Us Pakeha tend toleave a grieving family to their own devices. But three friends came the night after he haddied. They sat down and one of them said “ we are here for you Howard. If youwant to be alone we will go and leave you. If you just want to sit and be quitewe will sit with you, if you want to talk we will listen, if you want to dosomething we’ll go with you. In their love, there willing to be present with menot only did I feel friendship and experience the quality of love Paul speaksof in 1 Corinthians 13, I caught a glimpse of Christ’s presence and Christ’scomfort and love for me. The same love that is present as this community andfamily gather night by night.
Finally thispassage is relevant to us because of the hope it brings. Paul moves on fromspeaking about the qualities of love to talk of the passing nature of knowledgeand prophecy, which were things the Corinthians wrongly valued above thegospel, and as he talks of them passing away he begins to speak of a time when instead ofseeing like a reflection in a mirror that we will see face to face, and whilewe know in part now there will be a time when we shall know as completely as weare known. He is looking at the Christian hope, that the love of God shown inJesus Christ, his life his death and his resurrection, mean that those whobelieve in him will find eternal life with him. Will be with Christ, as Jesussaid in John chapter 14 “ I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come backfor you and you will be where I am”. In1 Corinthians chapter 15 Paul will move on from looking at gifts and talentsand love to speak of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He will say that we haveassurance that we too will be raised to life in Christ, because Jesus rose fromthe dead. That we have confidence inthat fact because Jesus was seen by many witnesses, he ate with them and wastouched by them, and because of that we too can have confidence that we will beraised to eternal life with Christ, as Christ had said. Paul sums it up byquoting the book of Hosea “Where o death is your victory, where O death is yoursting” and finishes by affirming we have the victory through our Lord JesusChrist.
The hope is thatthe love of God, from which the list of qualities we value in each other in ourreading today comes from. The Love of God, that we experience in the love offamily and friends and in Christian fellowship. The love of God shown in JesusChrist, his life death and resurrection, is a love that invites us intorelationship with the eternal God, through Jesus Christ, a relationship thatgoes beyond the grave to eternity. It isa love that in death gives us assurance that we will be with Jesus Christ in a place of no more decayor death. It is the love we to can know as we come to put our trust in JesusChrist.
