These prophets challenge our comforts and call us to live a life that is oriented towards God. Jeremiah was anointed with divine words that were difficult for people to hear. Jeremiah was also outcast for speaking the truth. We, too, are called, as Jeremiah was called to speak the truth and let God’s words flow from our lips. Yet, too often, we ignore the call in favor of the comfortable road.
Saint Paul’s reminds us through his great hymn that we can hear God’s call only when we understand what real love means. People often read this chapter during weddings because it does not mention God anywhere so any religion, no religion can us it. But here is the thing, the question for us is do we read it for what it really means in its context? It is not illegitimate to read it at weddings, as we often do, but it must be remembered that its true context is that of community, of life together in Christ.
If chapter 13 of the first Letter to the Corinthians is entirely devoted to love, that is because for Saint Paul love is the key to a good understanding of what life in community requires. That is Paul’s great concern throughout this letter.
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Verses 1-3 deal with the essential nature of love: without it all the spiritual gifts are worthless. In the second part, from verses 4 to 8a, Paul lists the characteristics of love by means of sixteen verbs. Seven are used to say what love is, and nine other verbs to say what it is not. It is by closely examining these verbs that we discover what it means to love. Finally, in the last part, verses 8b-12, Paul proclaims the durability of love and therefore its superiority over all other spiritual realities. This allows Paul to say at the end that love is the greatest of all