2 Kings 4:25-30. Key verse:  30 “And the mother child said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Key verse: 5 ”[Love] Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not, her own.”

This Lenten season, like all Lenten seasons, we occupy our hearts and minds with preparation. In anticipation of the Passion Story, of Jesus’ death on Calvary and his ultimate victory on Easter morn we immerse ourselves in the rituals of fasting and denial, in special services like Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday. We focus on the events of the savior’s life leading up to his betrayal. His triumphant ride into Jerusalem, his purging the temple of moneychangers, his moment of despair in Gethsemane.

And beside the fact that Easter truly is the biggest day on the Christian calendar – sorry Christmas – and that it’s the culmination of The Messiah’s life’s work on earth, and it’s THE WHOLE FOCUS of Christianity, I must ask, what’s the point here?

Not to trivialize what is obviously the single most important event of our faith, but what is the point beyond death and resurrection?

Asked differently what is the motivation behind God fulfilling his covenant with Abraham (and ultimately Adam)? And what drives Christ to volunteer for the job?

We all know the very easy and obvious answer is found in John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” It’s the modern equivalent of shorthand for the basic tenet of the Christian faith, Salvation through Jesus Christ, through Jesus’ blood. And why? Because he loves us.

Love. Love is the key here. Love is that motivation. Love is the source from where the Messiah’s actions spring. Love is the pinnacle. “Faith hope and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.”

There is no higher ideal of a Christian’s life.  Scriptural references abound:

Love is sacrifice. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

Love is all encompassing. “For God so loved the world.” Referencing John 3:16 again. No one gets left out.

Love makes glad, it uplifts.  Luke 6:35 says, “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.”

Love redeems.  Isaiah 38:17 reads: “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind my back.”

The above are fine examples of love carried into the world, of love in action. But what of its essence? What is the nature of love?

Our New Testament scripture is more enlightening in detailing what love is not. Reading from the New International Version, while love is patient and kind for sure, it also does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, is not rude, is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil. And going back to the King James version, Love “seeketh not her own good.”

“Her”?

I find it interesting that the only time a human characteristic is ascribed to love, it is given in the feminine. It could be merely a term of art. Poetic license if you will.

But consider the point at which Paul chooses to refer to love as “her,” in the middle section of verse 5 where we learn that love “…Seeketh not her own…” In every other reference to love in the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians Paul uses the third person possessive.  It could be noted that in other interpretations of this scripture, love is left in the 3rd person. I choose to favor the King James version for the purposes of this presentation.

In this one characteristic of love, at least in the King James version, love is feminine. Love seeks not her own way, or if you’ll allow me, her own good. Well if not her own good, then whose? I believe the answer is illustrated in the Shunammite woman from our Old Testament lesson.  For her kindness to the Prophet Elisha God blessed her and her much older husband with a son.  The Shunammite woman told Elisha that she needed no boon for her kindness but was glad of the blessing. One day while in the field with his father, the boy took ill. He was carried back to his mother where he died in her lap. As our reading states she immediately went to find Elisha, and upon meeting him declared that she would not leave him until he went home with her. Eventually Elisha prayed over the boy and God restored him to life.

There are two junctures in this story where the Shunammite woman displays selflessness or seeks not her own good.  The first in which she prepares a room in her home for Elisha for his use when he travels nearby. She refuses to take reward when Elisha offers it. The second in which she travels to find Elisha after her son has died. Elisha’s reputation as a man of God – as The Man of God – is well known. Scripture says that he had a double portion of the spirit of his mentor Elijah who with but a word, stopped the rain from coming for a number of years.

Our text does not say so but one can infer that the Shunammite woman took quite a risk in confronting The Man of God. She fairly rebukes him when she finds him. “I didn’t want this child Elisha,” she seems to say, “but you had to go ahead and meddle, and now he’s dead. What are you going to do about it, Elisha?” You can almost hear her say.

In both instances the Shunammite woman was not seeking her own good, but attending to the welfare of others, even at the risk of her own life.

This then, it can be said, is the essence, the nature of love; selfless giving, even unto death. We often say that God is love. And Paul refers to love as “her.” And I’ve just offered to you that at its core, love is feminine.

I submit to you then this day then that God is a woman.

Now we believe that God is a spirit, or at least beyond the gender concerns of mortality. So I’m being a bit facetious in my supposition. However in practically every reference to God in scripture – and anywhere else for that matter – he is described in the masculine. So I think it’s fair to argue for a feminine interpretation, at least, in talking about the love of God.

Consider again the Shunammite woman. Scripture says that she was wealthy, a woman of means. She wanted for nothing. She was self-sufficient. It’s fair to assume that she had plenty of responsibility with the considerable holdings she shared with her husband and she had her own plans to carry out. Yet she set it all aside, first for the needs of Elisha and finally in putting herself at risk for the life of her son.  She was willing to extend herself for the needs of someone other than herself where she certainly didn’t have to.

In similar fashion God is self-sufficient, the uncaused first cause. She wants for nothing. She has considerable holdings. She has Her own plans and responsibilities. Yet She sets them aside for even the least of Her children. Children who wander into Her house needing shelter, needing support, needing comfort. God gives Her all for Her children. Even at the sacrifice of Her own son. Despite the fact that She doesn’t have to.

Consider beloved that God does not need us. Is not required or obligated to come to our rescue when it is we who have transgressed against God.

Time and again, isn’t this the mark of a woman, of a mother’s love? Wiping ungrateful noses, catering to the needs of often thoughtless children, asking for nothing in return. This is not the love that branches from eros, from “I love you because you love me,” that feel good love that we hear constantly on the radio. This is agape love. Selfless love. The love of a mother. The love of God.

We often proclaim that God is love. We say that we want to be more like God as embodied in Christ Jesus. Then perhaps we could benefit from the example of Godly women in our lives.