Sermon for
Quinquagesima
As spring approaches, we begin already to see the flowers
starting to come up. In particular, in March you will see the daffodil and the
narcissus start to come out in the flower beds. The narcissus, you may already
know, has a particularly sad story behind it according to the Greek Myths.
In this particular myth, we see a handsome young man who
deals very cruelly with the women who fall for him. Once such is a nymph called
Echo whose love for him is so strong that, even when Narcissus rejects her, does
not stop loving him. She mourns and pines away until only her voice is left,
doomed only to repeat the last few words in the sentences she hears. As a
punishment, Narcissus is doomed to fall in love with his reflection. In this
way, Narcissus suffers precisely what he inflicts on others: he cannot receive
his own love and eventually he, like poor Echo, wastes away until all that is
left is the flower that bears his name.
This is all very well, but is this Christian?
[PAUSE]
As Christians, we are to be in the world but not of it. We
may observe the story told about Narcissus and ask ourselves, “is this true? Is
God telling us something through this story?” Indeed He is, and He uses St Paul
to explain it to us in one of his most famous pieces of writing to us.
He tells us quite clearly: we can be expert communicators,
we can be the wisest scholars, we can be the most generous person there is yet,
if we do not have love, then we have already become nothing. Like both
Narcissus and Echo, if our love is not really the Love that God is, we have
already wasted away. What has gone wrong?
[PAUSE]
Looking carefully at what St Paul says, the work that we do
to become expert communicators, wise, and generous people is not true love
because any love that we are showing is being directed inwardly towards
ourselves. We can give up everything we have for the sole purpose of gaining
respect and affection of others. Some people do indeed do that. They are
prepared to make sacrifices so that they can manipulate others through some
form of respect and admiration. If our motivation is not from true love, then
everything that we do, and everything that we are actually becomes nothing. It
will all pass away when we die, and we shall die indeed because God is not
there.
Much of the problems in society come about because people
think they know what love is. They will demand the right to love whomsoever they
want and express that love however they want. Yet, if we look very closely at
their language of rights and love, we see that they are motivated only by a
ghost of what love is. Many people behave like Narcissus and spurn true love in
favour of a love that bigs up their own achievements or even their own beliefs
about who they say they are. They reduce themselves to just being a
communicator, a wise man, or a “nice guy”, or something else and expect us to
love only that aspect of them. It’s like writing your name on a piece of paper
and telling people to love that paper rather the real you, the you that really
is, not a nothing that really isn’t.
What is this love, then?
[PAUSE]
It’s very simple. God creates us. God wants to create us.
God has no need to create us. He does so out of no desire for Himself, but
rather that we should be. This is His love and it is directed out from Himself
to us, not back in on Himself.
Our love for others needs to be directed out from ourselves.
This is why St Paul says, “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth
not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself
unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil,
rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never
faileth.”
People who suffer for the good of others and are kind direct
their love out from themselves. People who envy, or puff themselves up, or
behave in an unseemly fashion, or get irritated, these are concerned only with
something about themselves.
[PAUSE]
The trouble is, we now face the Joey Tribbiani question. Is
there anything that we human beings do that isn’t actually selfish in some way?
Possibly. Possibly not. However, one thing is clear: we cannot be anything
unless we have love and draw that love from God Himself. Lent is about an examination of our relationship with God and working on turning to Him as our Creator. As long as we are looking
to Him and to Him alone, whatever we do doesn’t matter for it will always be
done with Love.
Come May, the narcissus will be gone, wasted away into itself. Will we?
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