February 4, 2025

Today's Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:13

Daily Lectionary: Job 1:1-22; John 1:1-18

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away…So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:8,13)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

“Love is love,” they tell me. “Love is this feeling I get when I think of my girlfriend/boyfriend.” “I really love (insert restaurant).” Love these days has become an excuse for disordered relationships (homosexuality, shacking up, cheating, etc.), but is that what love is? Love that adulterates what is true, beautiful, and good? No! Love these days can be a description of a favorite food or celebrity, but that’s just consumption. Is that what love does? Does it consume and throw away the trash? No! Love these days is this emotional hit of dopamine, the feel-good hormone, but what happens when the hormone takes a break? Does love? No! Epiphany is the Church season of enlightenment and revelation in Christ Jesus, and we, just as much as the world, need an epiphany of what true love is. This is the love that is cruci-formed with Christ. That is, a love that Paul says “never ends” (vs. 8). It is a love that is of God who is eternal. It is a love that only reaches its full potential at the return of Christ. It is the love that is purely found and only done through Christ. It is as patient and kind as Christ. It is as humble and content as Christ. It is as calm and forgiving as Christ. It walks aligned to the truth of Christ, and it endures every adversity, small and large. This is the same love that stooped down from heaven to earth and took responsibility for our sin. This is the same love that died for us when we were God’s enemies. The same love that Jesus says, “All the law and prophets hang upon.” It is not a love that comes naturally to those who are poisoned with sin, but it is the very love that bathed us in the blood of Christ through Holy Baptism and the very love that is poured into us through the Holy Spirit. And it is our joy and our opportunity to practice this love daily in Christ. Will we fall short? Yes! Will it still be lacking? Yes! But this is the Divine Love in Christ that daily and richly and freely forgives your sin. So practice love, pursue love, learn love, for the love of Christ will never fail you.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Love in Christ is strong and living, Binding faithful hearts in one; Love in Christ is true and giving. May His will in us be done. Love in Christ abides forever, Fainting not when ills attend; Love, forgiving and forgiven, Shall endure until life’s end.” (LEB 706:1,3)

-Rev. Matthew Synnott, associate pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Peoria, IL.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.