Carol J. Noren reflects on all three
of the readings for this Sunday, focusing on the meaning of love. Given that Jeremiah’s
call story describes the power of God’s word to: “pluck up and to pull down, to
destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant,” Noren notes that God’s
word of love is not simply nice. God’s word, after all, sends Jesus to the edge of
a cliff. And Paul reminds us, love “bears all things…”
Luke 4:21-30
If the epistle and gospel lessons
are read back-to-back on this occasion, the listeners' initial response might
be to ask, “Where's the love among the people of Jesus' hometown?” Not only did
the folks show no love toward Jesus, they were downright hostile and rude, in
response to his interpretation of scripture. . . .
First, while it often seems that
people are easily offended these days, taking offense at the words of another
is a human trait that has been around as long as people have lived in community
with one another.
Second, we confuse love with
niceties, yet being “nice” has nothing to do with being loving, and is as bland
a behavior as there can be. The title of Al Gore's movie (and book) about
global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. . . highlights a characteristic of love that cannot be ignored. If we love
(and in the case of the movie, it would be if we love the earth), then that
love will move us to words and actions that are challenging, difficult, and
downright inconvenient, but necessary, for us and others. The idea that God's
truth and justice applied to all people, regardless of their political or
social status, proved to be too difficult for the people of Nazareth to accept,
but to hide that truth from them would not have been a loving act for Jesus to
do. Recent surveys among Americans in the United States have shown that a
majority of people believe it is okay to lie if the lie prevents hurting
another's feelings, or the lie enables one to be “nice” in a particular
circumstance. How can we promote the deep, abiding, totality of love with
prevailing beliefs such as those?
. . . While Jesus did not set out
to offend others or step on their toes, at times that was a consequence of his
words and actions. Congregations are accused of being nice up front, but nasty
in covert ways. Is that because there is a misplaced emphasis on being “nice”
without the courage to be truly loving? – Carol J. Noren
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Third, Paul's description of love
is one of the biblical gems that many people are moved to memorize. The reading
of it, both publicly and privately, is inspirational and calls us to a higher
standard than we typically set for ourselves in our relationships with others.
Yet, it is not the final word on love. One quality of love that Jesus
demonstrated was to call others beyond themselves to accomplish far more than
was previously expected. – Carol J. Noren
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Fourth, the Old Testament lesson
provides another example of the love God demonstrates, which is the calling of
God's chosen servant Jeremiah into a difficult and dangerous profession that
would not result in a comfortable life, but would lead to a chaotic and
disturbing existence among people who continually rejected Jeremiah and the
message God placed on his lips. – Carol J. Noren
Carol J. Noren, a
United Methodist pastor, is the Wesley W. Nelson professor of homiletics at
North Park Theological Seminary. She served chuches as pastor in Minnesota for
twenty years.
Homily Service 40, no. 2 (2007): 57-66.
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