The 7th Sunday after the Epiphany-Year C
Sunday, February 23, 2025
The Rev. David Wilcox
Given at St. Mary Magdalene, Belton
It’s been just over a week since Valentine’s Day, and we were able to celebrate it here at St. Mary Mag with a beautiful little wedding, but that got me thinking…. Valentine’s Day is kind of a funny holiday. We’re celebrating a saint that actually may be two or even three different people from so long ago that the records are all a bit fuzzy – it’s really more of a legend at this point. The primary legend is that Emperor Claudius II was having a hard time recruiting for the Roman army because men didn’t want to leave their wives. (I suppose not wanting to be hacked to death in battle might have also played a role.) The emperor outlawed marriage. Valentine was a priest or maybe a bishop who continued to marry folks secretly until the Emperor found out, and then it was “off with his head” on February 14, 270. Another part of the legend is that Valentine left a note for his jailer’s daughter, who had befriended him and signed it “from your Valentine.” It’s a nice legend – but I doubt most people who celebrate really give it any thought.
We say it’s a holiday about love – and it is – but primarily romantic love. And, in some ways, that is unfortunate. If we are going to celebrate a holiday about love, perhaps we as a culture should widen it to include it, not primarily about romantic love. Love is a wonderful thing to celebrate, and it is, of course, what we celebrate each time we come together here. We celebrate God’s immense love for us, our love for God, and our love for each other and all the world. If we’re going to celebrate love on Valentine’s Day – then let’s really celebrate love – all love.
But that’s where things get a little more difficult. As we all know, as folks who love and are loved in various ways, love is a wonderful thing, but it is also a very, very complicated thing. It’s certainly about much more than chocolate and flowers. As Christians, we look to Jesus as the one who showed us what love is really about – and that’s service, sacrifice, and even death. The Cross of Jesus is the ultimate symbol of love, and it reminds us that love is absolutely not an easy thing.
In today’s Gospel, we hear a continuation of last week’s Sermon on the Plain. In it, Jesus gives us some direction about how to love. Jesus said, “I say to you that listen, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
This was counter-cultural when Jesus first said it, and it is definitely that way now – perhaps even more now. Our society tends to focus on winners and losers – tribalism – division. There are those who are like us and those who are against us. We see it all too clearly in our politics, but it has infected every part of our society. Luckily for us, this is not God’s way. If it were, we would not exist right now – God would have smitten humanity in a most Biblical sort of way for our sin, and selfishness. Instead, God loves us. God loves us so much that he was willing to pour out his love – in the life of Jesus, the life that led to the Cross. God loves us, and God wants to save us from the way of sin and death. And because God loves us, we should be thankful and try to love others as God loves us.
Every time we gather for worship, we pray the words Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” I have often wondered if it shouldn’t be the other way around. Help us to forgive others as you have forgiven us. Remind us when we want to hold grudges, when we want to feel superior to others, when we can’t see each other as God’s beloved – as our sibling – that you have loved us and continue to love us despite all of our faults – all our sins against you. It’s a reminder that I know I need.
So how on earth are we supposed to do that, to love in that counter-cultural, counter-intuitive way? I don’t think we can on our own, but luckily, we aren’t left to our own devices as we seek to live into Jesus’s call. God has provided two things that help us try to live and love like this. The first is his grace. Grace is defined in the Catechism as “God’s favor towards us, unearned and undeserved; by grace God forgives our sins, enlightens our minds, stirs our hearts, and strengthens our wills.” It is God’s free gift to us. It is only with the help of God’s grace that we can love like our Lord has asked us to love – it is only grace that helps us try to love others like God loves us. And so, we should pray for God’s grace in our lives – each day – asking God to strengthen us – to stir our hearts in this way. But we also receive God’s grace in each of the Sacraments. At Baptism – God’s grace was given to us. When we come to Communion and receive Jesus’ Body and Blood – we are filled with God’s grace. So, receive the Sacraments often.
The other thing that helps us to live and love like Jesus is being part of this church community. It is here, in a community, that we both learn and practice living and loving like this. Coming to church and participating in our life together is all practice for the life we are called to live outside these doors. Our neighbor Patrick Mahomes did not become a great quarterback by only practicing on a couple of Sundays a month. He did it and does it by daily practice of some sort or another. To live and love like Jesus – we have to practice.
But love is complicated. Love is hard work. Loving like Jesus means risking everything we have. It means putting others’ needs, wants, and even lives above our own. It means serving each other. It means dying to self so that others may flourish. And none of that is easy. So today and every day – let us pray for God’s grace to love as Jesus has taught us to love in both his words and his example, and let us continue to practice – practice each and every day with one another this kind of love so that we can go forth from this place and love everyone we encounter just as God loves them – just as God loves us. Amen.
