Sunday, January 31, 2010

Corinthian and Christian Love

Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

There’s not much left of the ancient city of Corinth today. There are the ruins of a temple to Apollo, with only seven of the original 40 columns of the temple remaining. You can walk through the ancient marketplace and see the rough stone ruins of storefronts, much like the one where St. Paul ran his tent-making business while he lived in the city. You can see the Bema, or speaker’s platform, where Paul was cleared of criminal charges by the Roman authorities. And high above the city, you can see the hill of the Acrocorinth, the acropolis of the city. In ancient times, a large temple stood on this hill dedicated to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. There’s not much left of this temple today – just a few ruined foundations. But the stories from the ancient world survive. Stories that name this temple as one of the most important and well-known temples ever built to the goddess of love. Stories that tell of the abnormally high number of prostitutes who lived around this temple and in the city of Corinth itself. Stories that declare Corinth to be one of the most notorious cities in the ancient world for its corruption and depravity. To call someone a Corinthian in ancient times was to recognize that person’s public immorality. St. Paul had difficult work to do to make the Corinthians Christian. And it is against this backdrop that we read and can understand his letters to the Church in Corinth.

The kind of love that came from the Temple of Aphrodite was a self-centered love – a love that used other people personal gratification. It’s almost a natural human tendency to want first of all what will make me happy – to focus all of our desires and decisions and what is best for me, what I want, what I like. This was the kind of love that was known in Corinth. But the love that comes from Jesus, the love that was preached by Paul, is not self-centered. Christian love does not seek its own interests but is willing to sacrifice itself for the good of others. Christian love uses patience and kindness to serve the needs of other people, while also recognizing that love impels others to serve our own needs. Christian love respects each person as a child of God and directs all of our words, actions, and decisions not to inflate our own egos or push our own agendas but to honor the presence of God in the people around us. And most importantly, Christian love is universal; it calls us to love all people, without favorites – not just our family or close friends, but each person we encounter. We don’t have to like everyone or become their best friend, but as Christians we are called to love everyone with patience, kindness, respect, humility, graciousness, and truth.

So what does this mean for us? Christian love means that we think about other people before we think about ourselves – whether that means sharing our resources with people in need, or respecting other people on the road when we are driving. Christian love means that we do not gossip about other people or spread rumors; we do not talk behind people’s backs or tear down their reputations. Christian love means that we do not ignore people when we encounter them or develop an exclusive circle that leaves out people we don’t like. Christian love means that we do not let arguments and disagreements lead to 20 or 30 years of not talking to someone who used to be a close friend. Christian love means that we are always looking out for others and offering a helping hand whenever we can. Christian love means that we do not judge other people, but instead recognize Christ in them. It’s not easy to do, and none of us are perfect at exercising Christian love. But that imperfection cannot make us complacent or unwilling to try. Even the people of Corinth seemed willing to learn a new kind of love, a love that had been absent from their city for many centuries. If we call ourselves Christian, then we must make a best effort to live the kind of love that St. Paul taught the Corinthians – a love that is not about me, but about God; a love that recognizes and serves Christ in the people around us. We have a choice. We can be like the Corinthians, or we can be like Christ. What way do you choose?

The ruins of Ancient Corinth with the Acrocorinth in the background

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