Agape
Matthew 18: 15-20 (NIV)
“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
This week, Rochester grieves.
On Thursday night, a young man was killed while doing his job. He was a police officer.
Daryl Pierson chased after an armed suspect who fled after a traffic stop. The suspect opened fire, killed Pierson, and injured an innocent bystander.
Daryl Pierson was an eight year veteran of the Rochester Police Department. He was thirty-two years old, and had a wife and two little children at home. And he was the first RPD officer to be killed in the line of duty since 1959.
I could tell you that life isn't fair, but you already know that. The only thing out there less fair than life is death. Death is deeply, deeply unfair. And the violent death of a man who was protecting and serving his community leaves you nearly without words.
We can complain. And we can blame. And we can dwell in the dark, dark grief. We can talk about the convicted felon who illegally possessed the firearm that took Officer Pierson's life. And then we could go on and on until the cows come home about our gun control laws. But that won't help anyone, and it won't bring this young man back to life. We can talk about the suspect, and we can talk about what kind of upbringing he must have had that would bring him to this life of crime. We can talk about absentee parents, and violence on TV, and the lack of prayer in public schools. But those unending debates won't lead us anywhere.
And then, just as I was writing these very words this week, there was an emergency news report of a private plane that left the Rochester airport, went off course, and flew for a short time over Cuba before crashing just outside of Jamaica. No one's positive what happened, but it looks like the plane's cabin lost pressure, and the pilot lost consciousness. The two people on board were beloved of the Rochester community: real estate mogul Larry Glazer, and his wife, Jane. Rochester grieves. And death is deeply, deeply unfair.
Where do we turn at a time such as this? Where do we look for light in the darkness? We look not to our own selves, but to what unites our whole human family. Love. Love unites our whole human family. And not just any kind of love.
We only have one word in English that means love--or so it may seem. But in Koine Greek, the language of those who scribed most of our New Testament, there are four words that all mean a different kind of love.
You may have heard me use and define some of these words before, and if you have, then you get to enjoy knowing where I'm going with this. But there are four words in Koine Greek that mean love, and two of them show up in the New Testament.
1) First there's "philia". Philia means a friendly, familiar, or brotherly love, as we hear when we go visit Philadelphia, PA--the city of brotherly love. Paul used this word to describe the kind of brotherly or sisterly love he wanted his communities to show one another. Philia urges us to show one another kindness and respect.
2) Then there's "storge". Storge is a family love. Storge doesn't show up in the Ancient Greek manuscripts of our New Testament, but it's the kind of love a parent shows for their child. It's a love that cares for others, and shows responsibility.
3) Thirdly we have "eros". Eros refers to a romantic, passionate love. The word eros itself doesn't show up in the Bible, but is very much the love described in the work of Old Testament poetry that we call the Song of Solomon. Eros is the love between a husband and wife.
4) But the fourth kind of love goes so far beyond the first three. Agape is more than a passionate love, more than a friendly love, and more than even a mother's love. Agape is God's love. The writer of 1 John used the word agape when he wrote, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1 John 4:7-8 NIV) Agape is the very essence of God. This kind of love doesn't just come from God, this kind of love is God. Agape is the love we can give to others that will allow them to know God through us.
Agape is love for a broken world. Agape is a huge love, an all-consuming love. Agape is a love that draws from the passion of eros, the brotherhood of philia, and the family ties of storge. But then grows bigger still.
Agape is the love that Paul spoke of when he wrote to his church in Corinth, and urged them to work through their differences. When he wrote, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV)," he was writing about agape.
Agape is love for a fallen world. A world where bad things happen, and people make mistakes. No other kind of love can speak to that brokenness. Brotherhood only goes so far. Passion fades. And even when you love your neighbor like your own blood, you can only do so much.
We as mere humans can only do so much. When we love even with all of our hearts, and all of our strength, we can only do so much on our own.
So we turn to a greater love. A love greater than all of us. The deepest, and purest well of love. Agape.
We can only use the Greek word itself to describe this love, because none of our English words even come close. Loving-kindness doesn't capture it. Self-sacrificing love doesn't capture it.
The only word we have to describe such a love is the name of this love incarnate: Jesus.
Jesus is the salve for our fallen world. Jesus is the healer. And from where we're sitting, there's no reason to talk about anything else. If we want to find our way in the darkness, we need to come to Jesus.
Jesus is the very face of agape. Jesus' love is the only love there is that captures this word. Jesus' love is a love that extends to everyone. Jesus' love is a love that is endlessly kind, and constantly living in the truth. And Jesus' love is a self-sacrificing love--the love of someone who loves us more than himself.
That love is what we find in our darkness, and it is the only thing that can help us. But it's more than enough.
That love is enough to bring us together. In this morning's Gospel passage, Jesus urges us to rely on his uniting love to settle our differences. He tells us, if we disagree, work it out amongst ourselves. If we need to turn to our church for help, that's fine. That's what our church is here for anyway, to help. If you need witnesses to help you work out your argument, you can find them right here. We can find whatever we need right here, together, in our church. Because we built this place out of Jesus' agape for us all. Because of that, we have all we need.
It's easy to lose hope, to lose faith, when we have a week like this one. When we barely catch our breath from one terrible death only to hear about two more, it's easy to lose hope. We grieve. And death is deeply, deeply unfair.
But Jesus' love, that agape love, is stronger even than death. There's nothing in earth or heaven that's stronger. That love bears a name and a face. And it's with us no matter where we are, and no matter what we're doing. As long as we have our community, we have that love, because, as Jesus said, "where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."
Amen.
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