In the Epistle (1 Corinthians 13:1-13) selected for Quinquagesima Sunday, or as I call it, Sight Sunday, S. Paul gives us a teaching on FAITH, HOPE, and CHARITY (or, as some translate it, LOVE, meaning Christ-like love) – not only on what they mean, but also on how they relate to each other. And another key to understanding how these three are related comes, perhaps unexpectedly, from the Gospel reading (Luke 18:31-43) chosen for Quinquagesima Sunday, wherein we learn that Jesus gave his Disciples a GLIMPSE of his upcoming Passion, but, at the time, they could not SEE how it fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies. Jesus then passed by a blind man who begged for mercy and asked to receive his SIGHT. He received his SIGHT. Our Lord could have said, thy faith hath healed thee. Instead, he said, thy faith hath saved thee. Thus, a mystery revealed: FAITH by the Spirit allows us to accept the Lord’s gift of salvation, and gives surety to the HOPE that is within us. And HOPE takes us to the beginning of not only our understanding of LOVE, but also, through love, the restoration of our SIGHT. S. Paul states in the Epistle reading, “For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then I shall know even as also I am known.” This is our hope through faith with love, and it is why I call this day Sight Sunday. Thus, by faith, salvation and the surety of hope; and by hope's surety, love, the perfection of which we see in Christ’s Passion; and by love, our sight, fully restored. So, if faith and hope point to charity, then what is charity? Why is it the greatest of the three? And what does it have to do with sight?
SO WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED LOVE?
Before describing love, or "charity," directly, S. Paul spends the first three verses of 1 Corinthians 13 teaching a great deal about the impact and importance of love by describing the shattering consequences of its absence (a method of story-telling with a lesson that we see used, for example, in the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life," where the consequences of George Bailey having never been born are so dramatically portrayed).
S. Paul begins this lesson-giving with, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." It is easy to gloss over this verse and miss the enormity of what S. Paul is saying. To be fluent in all languages? How cool would that be? Think of how you could help out as a translator in difficult situations; what misunderstandings you could help prevent or remedy. How impressive would it be to all those visiting from other nations, or to those in other nations where you might travel, for you to be able to understand them perfectly and be understood. Perhaps you might even become a key participant in world diplomacy and negotiations. You could also become very powerful and rich. And who knows where being able to speak with angels might lead. YET, S. Paul says that in the Kingdom of God, in God's eyes, without love, you would only be a loud noise without meaning. Even more, as history unfolds and passes from the future, through the present, and into its dustbin of the past, without love, you would not be remembered as having said anything of meaning or consequence - you would just be a momentary interlude of annoying noise. Without love.
In verse 2, S. Paul writes, "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 have not love, I am nothing." Wow. With these gifts, you would win every debate. You would be able to explain all mysteries to students and world leaders. You would be able explain and guide every new advance in technology and in all the affairs of men; cure and prevent cancer and other diseases. And imagine how impressive it would be to help the construction of roads and cities by using your faith to move mountains out of the way. You would be unstoppable, and could become very rich and powerful. YET, S. Paul says that, without love, you would be nothing. Non-existent in the Kingdom of God, in the eyes of God, and nothing in the memory and consequence of your displays of power and wonder. All would come to naught and corruption, since power corrupts. The fingerprint of your life would fade and disappear beneath the ruination that would follow all such hollow works. In the great harvest, the redemption of humanity by our King and Lord, Jesus Christ, for eternal joy in the new heaven and new earth that John beautifully describes in his Revelation, you would be invisible, unseen, and overlooked. Without love.
Finally, in verse 3, we read, "If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." Imagine giving all you have, all you earn to the poor. What a story line. What a testimony. Most struggle to give a tithe, but you would give all. And not only that. You would give your body to the point of its destruction. How impressive to be like Daniel and his friends, and bravely enter the fiery furnace, suffer the flames, and be willing to die for your faith. Such absolute giving and suffering can be noble exemplifications of love, YET S. Paul says that, without love, these sacrifices would gain you nothing; they would not achieve either the moral standing with men or eternal relationship with God that you might desire. When goods and body are given, but love's vessel, the soul, is withheld, then it is as if all is withheld. This is because without the soul, God rejects all else, and so rejects the man, who is therefore "profited nothing." It would be as if, despite fighting and dying for Christianity, it was judged that you did nothing to attain eternal life. Without love.
These three verses were not intended to be a beautiful and poetic description of love and all its wonders. That is the sort of message the world, and we in our broken nature, yearn to hear. S. Paul intended instead to jar the reader, and disturb the quaint, safe notions men use to reassure themselves of their understanding of the world and life itself. With our typical self-delusions dispelled by the horror of seeing what desolation occupies the vacancies left by love avoided or abandoned, we are then prepared to receive the rest of the lesson on love, or as we often hear it, charity.
The word “charity” is the King James translation of the Greek word, as transliterated, agapé, which conveys a type of love that God has for his creatures; that Christ has for us, who comprise his Bride, the Church. Charity is a love with benevolence, esteem, and good will, and, based on its historic and scriptural use, it truly means something more than simply a feeling or conviction; it means something like a conviction in action; a moral preference that compels action. Indeed, this love, called charity, is more aptly defined as sacrificial action only for the benefit of another (and without any expectation of return). When Jesus commands us to "love" our neighbors as we love ourselves, and, later on in the Gospel of John (13:34) when he gives us a new commandment to love one another as he has loved us, he isn't prescribing how we should feel per se, nor is he prescribing a psychological or social remedy for the ills of human relationships. His purpose is much deeper - an organic, complete restoration of our human spirit, which has been damaged in the Fall from Eden; the complete restoration of our sight. Our first inclination might be that Jesus wants us to feel good about others, and be filled with friendly, sentimental thoughts about them. But that is a misreading and a misunderstanding - not only are such things more difficult to manufacture and maintain in ourselves, they do not go deep enough. Our Lord wants us, instead, to do what is best for others; for our fellow humans; to take action, sacrificial action, for their good, even at our own expense.
The selflessness in Christian charity -- in this sort of love -- is of foremost importance. How do we feel when we do good to someone who, in turn, is ungrateful or treats us spitefully? Or when we are, for some reason or another, deprived of the feel-good feedback we associate with “doing the right thing”? Let us stipulate to the fact that our love of family and friends, and those in need, does come in part with the expectation of a degree of personal satisfaction to be derived by loving them. Indeed, doing the right thing can make us feel good, and that is not wrong in and of itself; but feeling good ought not be the reason we do the right thing. In the charity S. Paul writes about, what we hope to obtain in return for such charity ought not be a consideration at all, not if we truly aspire to true selflessness. But it is difficult even to imagine how to be selfless. So, what do we do?
First, we should recognize that we, in part, really do want the good we do to be recognized - maybe not so much out of ego or for a sense of conquest, but, certainly, as a result of our weakness in the flesh that seeks positive reinforcement and affirmation; we want to be able to let the sound reverberating from our charitable act drown out the voice of our conscience that reminds us of our sins. Coming to grips with this is the first step to accepting that it is not possible even to approach selflessness without God's help.
With God's help, with the aid and instruction of the Holy Spirit, we can come to see how showing true charity gives us the capacity suffer and sacrifice. Indeed, the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit helps us put ourselves, our convenience and comfort, second to showing the love of Christ and doing something purely for the benefit of another person without the expectation of return or recognition, even in the form of gratitude.
What is more, we learn that when a charitable person hears something negative about another person, he doesn't immediately conclude the worst or impute the basest possible motives to that person, nor does he take pleasure in the real or imagined bad behavior. Instead he seeks the truth, and he actually prefers knowing the truth to wallowing in salacious rumors and suppositions - when he is guided by charity, love, and embraces that gift.
While we might at first prefer gifts other than love, such as faith and hope, we come to learn that it is best to hold fast to that which is permanent and unchanging, rather than onto things that can fail and vanish, S. Paul writes, "Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail ... whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." The three greatest gifts are available to everybody. They are faith, hope, and charity, and even among them charity -- selfless action -- is the only one that will last.
"Charity never faileth," because charity describes the behavior of Jesus himself. Jesus was the supreme example of love – "Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends." The crucifixion is the supreme act of charity. Charity is also the supreme power behind our faith and our ability to serve the Lord. S. Paul writes favorably about our spiritual gifts - and, indeed we want to know what they are and use them, but he also says they are as nothing without charity. Charity is there to help us. As Peter proclaims in his first book (4:8), “charity shall cover the multitude of sins” - thus, as we strive to be more charitable in a truly selfless way, we do make Grace our master, and not the Law; and sin has no more power over us as we use our spiritual gifts.
This suggestion appears in many places, and has been preached in many ways in numerous sermons over the years: to see what your spiritual gifts are, start out by asking God to help you to be more charitable.
AND WE GET BACK TO THE THEME OF SIGHT
S. Paul concludes the chapter by describing the final fruits of charity in terms of how our inability to truly see clearly will be remedied. Our selfishness and the general fallen state of the world and our nature mean that we cannot see things as they really are. We don't see ourselves clearly, and we can't perceive fully how God is working things out through what happens to us. S. Paul says that it is like looking through imperfect glass -- the image is distorted and not clear – "Now we see through a glass, darkly."
At the end of time we shall be able to see everything clearly and without any distortion. We shall see ourselves as God sees us, we shall clearly see and understand the unfolding pattern of our lives, and we shall finally be able to understand what God was up to all along. "Then (we shall see) 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."
Thus, by faith, salvation and affirmation of hope; and by hope's affirmation, love, the perfection of which we see in Christ’s Passion; and by love, our sight, fully restored.
