Lunchtable Theology | Friday | 9/18

The Garment Is Love

1 Corinthians 13:1–3

If I speak in tongues of human beings and of angels but I don’t have love, I’m a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and I know all the mysteries and everything else, and if I have such complete faith that I can move mountains but I don’t have love, I’m nothing. If I give away everything that I have and hand over my own body to feel good about what I’ve done but I don’t have love, I receive no benefit whatsoever.

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Early Christians like Augustine and Gregory the Great saw the wedding garment as a picture of love.

That makes the final part of Jesus’ parable especially powerful.

A person may have faith.

They may possess gifts.

They may know theology.

They may serve, lead, teach, discern, or accomplish impressive things.

But if they refuse love, they have rejected the very life of the Kingdom.

Paul says something remarkably similar:

“If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”

The King invites everyone.

And then the King provides the garment.

That garment is love. 

So the Christian life is not simply about accepting an invitation to heaven someday.

It is about allowing the love of Christ to become the clothing we wear now.

Love for God.

Love for one another.

Love for neighbor.

Love even when it costs us something.

We do not earn our place at the table through love.

We love because grace has already brought us to the table.

Reflect: 

If love is the garment of the Kingdom, where is God asking you to “put on” love today?

Pray: 

Jesus, thank you for inviting me to your table and giving me everything I need to remain there. Clothe me in your love. Let the way I treat others reveal that I belong to you. Amen.