Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day

1 Cor 13:4-8

Next week we celebrate a day of love and romance

St. Valentine’s Day

We really do not know exactly from where the name and idea came

There are three Catholic saints named Valentine or Valentinus

One legend tells that Valentine was a priest in third century Rome

Claudius II decided single men made better soldiers

Claudius forbade young men of military age to marry

Valentine ignored the law and continued marrying young couples

His refusal to follow the edict cost him his life

Another legend says that another priest named Valentine was to be martyred

He sent a letter to a young woman that had visited him

He signed it, “Your Valentine”

No one knows for certain

Neither are we certain why in February

Possibly on the birthday or day of death of St. Valentine

Some say that it is on the Roman holiday of Lupercalia, a day of purification to mark the beginning of spring

Many Roman holidays were “Christianized” in this way

Cupid is over 3000 year old

He began as the Greek god Eros

Then he was young and handsome

Later, he morphed into the Roman god. Cupid

He looked like a naked baby

Valentine cards began to show up in the 1700’s

The first Valentine discovered that was postmarked in England was 1806

Chocolate has always been considered an aphrodisiac

The Aztec king used to drink 70 cups of liquid chocolate every day

During the 1800’s chocolates became a popular Valentine’s gift

As we consider Valentine’s Day, we consider love

We cannot discuss love without consideration of 1 Cor 13

This is one of the most famous chapters of the Bible

It is quoted in many weddings

And, every year during this time

The interesting thing about this is, Chapter 13 has nothing to do with Valentine’s Day, romance, weddings or anything else we try to read into it

Paul is talking about sharing God’s kind of love through us to others

God’s love for us, and, consequently, our love for others, is . . .

Patient

Towards all men and women

It suffers all the weakness, ignorance, errors, and infirmities of the children of God

And, all the malice and wickedness of the children of this world

Not merely for a time, but forever

— Adam Clarke’s Commentary

The God kind of love can be wronged without retaliation

And show kindness and goodness to those that have wronged it

If the God kind of love finds someone better off, the God kind of love does not envy and is not jealous

The God kind of love understands that God is in charge, and determines the type of vessel each becomes

Some are eyes, some are feet and some are hands

If we have the God kind of love, we do not look at ourselves in competition with others, but as God would see us

We are not unhappy when others succeed, or happy when others fail

The God kind of love causes us to rejoice when other rejoices and mourn when others mourn

The God kind of love is not proud

We cannot have the God kind of love and brag about who we are and what we have done

The God kind of love knows without God we can do nothing, and

Bragging can hurt other people’s feelings

The God kind of love wants anything that is for the good of others, and

Does not demand its own way

A person that has the God kind of love cannot be rude, hateful, vicious or “holier than thou”

The God kind of love does not enjoy evil, porn, violence, hurtful jokes at other’s expense, etc.

The God kind of love rejoices in the truth, seeks the truth and demands the truth

The other side of the coin would read, “The ungodly resist the truth”

The God kind of love can bear up under all things and continue to hope and have faith that all will be well

It can endure all ugliness against the holder of the God kind of love, and

Always brings victory

The God kind of love never fails, is suspended or falls away

Everything else will collapse after a while, but the God kind of love never collapses

What does this mean to us?

Jesus, along with many of the apostolic writers, have told us to love others as Jesus loves us

Yes, as many modern writers have asserted, we should treat our spouses along these same lines

But it goes much further than that

We are to cover all others, not just romantically, with the God kind of love

Out bosses, our subordinates, our friends, our enemies

The stranger that cuts us off, the teacher that chooses someone else

The other person that is hired, promoted, married