The Greatest of These

“ For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. ”

What is the purpose of man? Why are we here and what did God have in mind in His creation of us? In the entire universe, it appears that we are the only beings who do not fully understand our purpose, our place. Birds flock, eat their seeds and bugs, they migrate, mate and have no conflict or doubt about any of it. Nor do the bugs, or the trees, or fish or the great elk. All life seems to know its role to play, its reason for being, and goes about being whatever it is in total harmony with itself and its own kind. Not so mankind.

We tell ourselves the story of our fall, and we realize we're broken. We come like a box of pieces without a pattern, without a set of instructions until we encounter other human beings who think they have answers. Our parents had answers, and we used their patterns to try and put our puzzle back together. For most of us, that pattern didn't work. We had teachers, priests and pastors and professors and philosophers who pointed the way, gave us their admonitions, made us their disciples and we got parts of it, tried this and that. But the very fact of our struggle to find who we are and why we exist sets man apart from the creation, the great anomaly, the creature not entirely part of nature with a need not entirely met in all of creation.

What are we here for? Faith leads the way to an answer, and those who have found the deepest answers have founded religious bodies. We approach the temple, the church, the monastery for answers, we apply principles, we worship the God we've found and we sense that we're close to it, our cause, our purpose: then we set boundaries, make rules, establish doctrines, recite our creeds, anathematize heresies, repel error, and learn suspicion, rejection, apartness, and once again feel lost, apart, alone.

And we look back on that first day: the Creator spoke all things into existence, but it appeared to our first father that God shaped him out of clay and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, Our souls were made from that interaction with the Spirit of God and the material of His creature.

In describing the Trinity, I once heard that the Son is the perfect expression of the Father's wisdom, creative mind and will, but the Spirit is the Love that passes between them. I don't know if that paints a true picture, but if the mind of God set our material parts in order, perhaps the Spirit of God imparted both our spiritual nature and our mortal souls, capable of more than thought, more than creativity, more than invention: we are able to love.

If we are not here with the first and most important purpose to love, then surely we are a funny monkey and a mere anthill of activity. Our skyscrapers and most beautiful cathedrals may only speak of our architectural genius. Art and music, even the Bible and hymnody, the language of worship, and the love of families may only be seen as accidental, beauty only found in the eye of the beholder. But if we are made to love—love God first and best, and to love each other—then high is our purpose and divine our calling into the realms of angels.

God called Moses at the sight of a burning bush and led His people to the wilderness to cleanse them of wrong belief learned in Egypt. The Law established truth and a holy worship, but there was yet a higher and deeper Law only hinted at in Judaism. The later prophets caught sight of it, these early fathers of faith longed to see it. A new Covenant would be written in our hearts, and every child shall know God and learn essential truths because God dwells inside and speaks from within. Sin will be washed away, and in freedom and equality God's people will truly know God. Jeremiah 31:31-34

This New Covenant came when Jesus held the cup out to His Apostles in the upper room : “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 1 Cor. 11:25 Jesus, when asked about the highest Law of all, referred to two passages from Moses that were not found in the Ten Commandments: “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40 It was imperative for Christ to give two great commandments, for the second would lead us to His own New Command, given just after He offered them that cup:

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:34-35 “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” v 15:12-14 “These things I command you, that ye love one another.” v 15:17

If mankind was made for Love, then the greatest commandment would be love. In fact, all commandments would have something to do with love, and Jesus said just that. Every Law, every prophecy, every word of Scripture, if rightly understood, should lead us to the end of our existence which is love. And St. Paul agreed: “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8 And so did St. John: “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God… Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” 1 John 4:7, 11-12

I was blessed this week to spend a day with an old friend, Pastor Gaylord Enns, who shared his revelation of the past few years in seeking and finding the depths of this Command of Christ and what ever happened to it in the Church. My reflections today are a mere by-product of his words and his great heart. For we may truly boast about finding and preserving right belief, true worship, excellent theology, scholastic brilliance and beautiful church buildings, but it would be ridiculous to claim that Christians have practiced love for one another in the manner and meaning of Christ's New Commandment. “Love one another,” He commanded, then He died for us to show us how much that meant. Before departing our world, Jesus set a purpose for the apostolate: “ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you...” Matthew 28:19-20 The word “observe” means to guard, to watch without ceasing, to preserve and maintain all that He commanded. And what did He command? To love one another . We have watched almost everything but that.

Where does such love come from? We haven't got it in us by our lower nature, but by God's inbreathing, His Spirit given to us, that makes us able to love even as He loves us. St. Paul wrote the Thessalonians: “as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.” 1 Thes. 4:9 St. Peter also wrote : “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.” 1 Peter 1:22 And John: “This is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another… And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.” 1 John 3:11, 23

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13 The Epistle tells us the relative value of spiritual gifts and pursuits when compared to the love we owe one another. You may raise the dead, heal the sick, preach and bring countless disciples into the kingdom, but if love is not your motive, you perish with the world. Jesus predicted a church devoid of love: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me.” Matthew 7:22-23

If we were to understand rightly the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus tells His own that every act they did in charity, in true love to another Christian, “as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Matthew 25:40 Every Sunday School child knows where Jesus lives. So, why don't we love Him where He can be found? Why can't we love our Lord who lives inside each of the brethren who form the very living parts of His Body?

The purpose of mankind is to love God. St. Augustine of Hippo wrote: “Love God and do as thou wilt,” meaning that if we were to truly love God, with all our being, our will would be united to His and our actions, feelings, desires, thoughts and hearts would be as He is. We would surely love each other, for He loves us thoroughly. If we don't love each other, as St. John stipulated, we can never say we love God, however good our theology is.

Love one another. It's His Command. Surely there are faith, hope & love: these three. But when all is said and done, the greatest of these is love.

PFH+