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A Father’s Love
“I am confident of this, that the One who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.”
Philippians 1:6
As a father loves his children, the Apostle Paul dearly loved all of the churches he planted along the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. That love is evident in the letters — traditionally called Epistles — he wrote to them. By the grace of God, these letters have been preserved for us in the New Testament.
Of course, the way a father expresses his love for his children changes depending on the particular needs of each particular child at any particular moment. A father’s love does not change … but the way he expresses his love does. Hence Paul’s different tone in different letters.
Paul’s letter to the Galatians is a stern rebuke of a difficult child. It is harsh, not in spite of his love but because of it. Paul’s letters to the Corinthians are pained appeals to a truly troubled child. They are plaintive, written “with much distress and anguish of heart and with many tears,” reflecting his deep love in the midst of a difficult situation. Paul’s letter to the Romans is a mature, respectful address to a grown child. (In fact, the Letter to the Romans is something like a father introducing himself to an adult child he has never seen, but whom he loves just the same and hopes to meet very soon. Imagine a father who has been away at war or in prison for a child’s entire life. Paul was metaphorically on campaign and often quite literally in chains!)
Paul’s letter to the Philippians, then, is an affectionate, encouraging note to an obedient child. Not a perfect child, by any means, for what human being or human community can claim perfection? But even so, Paul’s warm fondness for the Church at Philippi suffuses this short, beautiful letter that we will read in the Daily Office Lectionary in the next few weeks.
And one little verse near the beginning of the Epistle to the Philippians reveals the reason that Paul loved his churches, whatever expression his love may take in his letters. It is not for anything they have done or that he has done that Paul loves them. Rather, it is because he knows that God is at work amongst them, and he is confident that God always finishes what He has begun.
May we here at St. Martin’s find grace to love one another in that same confidence. When times are good, let us love one another because God has first loved us and brought us together. When times are tough, let us love one another because God has first loved us and brought us together. Whatever the season or circumstance, let us love one another as sisters and brothers bound together in one Spirit, devoted to one Father, who will accomplish in us what He Himself began when He showed us His love in Jesus Christ.
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