Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, May 5, 2024
by Madison Johnston, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: Because we know Jesus, we are empowered to love in new and surprising ways.
One of the best scenes from the original Mary Poppins (1964) is when Mary is moving into her new home to serve as a nanny. She puts her bag on the table and begins unpacking it as she sets up her room, nonchalantly fishing out things like a hat rack, a mirror and a potted plant as the kids stare at her with mouths gaping open. When her back is turned, they grab the bag and stick their heads inside to see where all of this is coming from—where all of this fit. But they can’t figure it out.
This passage from 1 Corinthians is basically trying to tell us that, because we know Jesus, we are able to love like we’re carrying around a Mary Poppins bag. Because God loves us so deeply, we are empowered to love deeply, too, in ways that defy reality. Ways that subvert expectations. Ways that surprise other people. Ways that surprise us, even. From an invisible source, we are able to draw precisely what we need at any given moment. And while most things and most circumstances will pass away as time goes on for each of us, this Mary Poppins bag will not. We will be able to draw on love forever and ever and ever.
Paul uses a lot of language in this passage to talk about what love is and what love isn’t. And he openly admits that even this over-the-top description is only a partial understanding of the full picture. The understanding we’re capable of right here and right now. Perhaps a helpful approach to preaching on these verses would include a rewrite or paraphrase. If you had to describe this kind of steadfast, divine love he talks about, how would you do it? If you had to pull things out of your Mary Poppins bag, what would they be? Even if we’re only seeing dimly, what is it that we’re seeing? Even if we don’t fully understand love, how do we feel it—experience it—seeping through in our everyday lives? And how can we ensure that the things we unpack from our Mary Poppins bags are the things we need to set up God’s kingdom?
