As you look at the topic of today's sermon in your bulletin, you can rest assured that this is only a week's portion of the year's preaching cycle. Thus you know for a fact that I have not chosen this particular topic with anyone in mind. I will speak tactfully about the subject and as we see that Jesus fully agrees with Moses, I only ask you to agree that divorce is sinful, but allowable. The Pharisees here are simply asking to see if Jesus is in agreement with the Law given through Moses. Dr Keener observes that "Even the Rabbis distinguished between what the Scripture commanded and what it allowed as a concession; by asking what Moses 'commanded' Jesus forces them to recognize that Moses explicitly only 'permitted,' not 'commanded', divorce, on any grounds."

Normally, the Teachers of Israel would discuss "the grounds for divorce" and not ask if it were lawful. In the context of the biblical law, divorce was allowed when one party to the covenant of companionship violated the terms of the contract. While Jewish law permitted polygamy, the Greek custom stood against it. So we should well note that in Jesus' quotation of Genesis, He uses the Septuagint translation which inserts the word "two" for "they". He further defines this meaning in verses eleven and twelve in saying whenever one marries another. Certainly, the focus of Christ's teaching here are on the topic of divorce, the specific language here certainly can be used to support arguments against polygamy. A notation that Joseph Smith apparently missed when he seemingly attempted to father the Mormon cult almost single handily! And this is a premis that we should be well grounded in as the legal definition of what constitutes marriage in this country comes under further assault. Unbelievably, some feminists are beginning to agree with the Mormon cult because they think it would be nice to have a second wife around to take care of their children and husband.

But, I digress. Years ago in another congregation, one of the young wives began to develop a greater sensitivity to what constituted sin, especially since we had recently touched on Matthew's report of this same incident. So we had a brief discussion on my front porch one afternoon. She admitted that she had been divorced early on and only as she grew older and wiser did she commit herself to her second husband and their children. But, that summer afternoon, she was worried about having been once divorced. We followed the text to its logical conclusion, briefly examined the grounds for her divorce and I assured her that whatever part she had played in marrying unwisely was certainly forgiven through the blood of Christ. There was no need to talk about that again. Neither is the any need to stir up any old memories that any of you might have at this redeemed point in your lives.

Here as elsewhere, the Scriptures are clear about certain things that we ought not to do, some things that really ought not to be even named in public. Absolutely, do we know that these clear commands not to do something have their place and purpose, and people are warned by them and encouraged to be better than they might. We have only to remembe Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No!" campaign against drugs and amazingly drug use did indeed go down, at least until the present administration admitted to not inhaling!

Having said all of that, let me move on to the context of Paul's great Ode to Love in his first letter to the church at Corinth. The reason I do this is too often in Christ's Church we focus on the shall nots without giving instruction in what we should be doing. Especially in the English language are we at fault for misunderstanding the "prime directive" if I may use a worldly term - to love one another with the same love that God shows to us.

And part of that reason is the limitation of our language in having only one word for love when many other languages have three or four words that reflect the various nuances of the term. For the general outline of my notes following, I am certainly indebted to C.S. Lewis and his wonderful volume entitled: Four Loves. In the biblically used Greek, there are four words for the idea of love. Three of these are natural loves and the last is a higher love. Just as the Greek philosophers imagined the very Words of the prime mover to have true meaning, so does the higher love of our Father God give meaning and understanding to the natural loves understood by the Greek linguistic heritage.

The first love is "storge" This affection as we should translate is especially defines the relationship of parents and offspring. It is a love that is to some extent shared with the animal world. We have only to consider the faithfulness of several breeds of geese and other birds to each other to understand that parenting is a partnership of two. This animal affection can be used down on the farm to accomplish husbandry goals that might not normally happen. I can remember the year that one of our mother hens hatched out a half dozen ducklings. Much to her consternation they loved to play in the rain puddles.

On one occasion, one of my rabbit does died in bunny birth and I had to divide her litter among three other does who had also had babies that week. Unfortunately I had three too many. Then I remembered that the barn cat had just had a small litter of four. So I tempted mama cat with a treat, then rolled the three bunnies around and around with the kittens. I then put some salve on mother cat's nose to distract her sense of smell. The next morning, all seven babies were nursing together contentedly! Mama cat never minded that some of her brood had longer ears than the rest! Another time, I helped some baby chicks out of their shell and they always came to greet me when I went out to the barn. As I was growing up I also noted a great affection between our work horses and my dad who had raised them from birth.

Another understanding of this Greek word for affection is what we might feel of certain objects. A warm comfortableness. Archie Bunker's chair, which is now enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution. A favorite sweater, a children's blankie. I still remember a certain nieces' affection for her blankie that only ended when she was getting ready to start school.

The second word in the Greek for love is "philia". This is the Greek word for friendship. This is the least natural of the loves and is learned by association. It is especially strong in the work place and in school where we spend more than just "quality" time with our fellow workers. Military friendships are especially strong and the term "band of brothers" has a long history in military annuls.

One of the tragedies of the modern work environment is the mixing of sexes too closely where such "platonic" relationships too often turn to other forms of love. It is for this reason that the greatest opponents to mixed military crews are the spouses of those who must endure the government experimentation. A decorated Air Force officer was let go from his career because he objected to being locked in a missile silo for extended periods of time with a female airman. A popular movie just a few years ago, explored this problem - when Harry met Sally! The plot was fairly predictable. And in my area, more than one pastor has told me that the assembly lines in Central Ohio are the cause of more marital distress than any other factor they can think of!

The third word for love in the natural ordering of the Greek is "eros". I will tread delicately here! Eros is translated as a lust for self centered gratification. The Greeks had a tale of Narcissus who loved himself so much that he pined away looking at his own image.

These passions have many foci, some people can even have an erotic experience with a chocolate sunday, or as one lady admits - when it comes to Oreos, she can't eat just one, the whole package must be consumed! When I was in Europe, there was a Sergeant who collected beer cans. His quarters had small shelves on all the walls and one can from all o the six packs he had purchased were on display. He had been to the ends of the earth gathering his collection. Someone asked him what he would do when he retired. He said he would go home and drink the rest of his collection which was aging is some garage stateside!

This eros as we can well see in our culture is over more than a Passion of Seriousness, it becomes obsessive immorality. And when one gives themselves over to this tawdry worship of Venus, death and destruction come in its wake. Families, kingdoms and wars have happened because of eros. Sadly, even an innocent aspirin factory in the Sudan was destroyed to divert public attention away from a torrid relationship in our own White House. Sadly, eros is the dominant "love" in our culture and the once civilized appreciation of the Higher love of God is seldom known.

This brings us to our last consideration. "Agape" Such is cultural ignorance that one of my students once thought there was something fishy about the word. No, not the sign of the fish to indicate a relationship with Christ that you might see on our church logo. What the student had in mind was better defined as "aguppy" if I may coin a word. We can best translate this word in English as "charity" - the undeserved love given for no reason, the first love by which the Creator has loved us. This is the greatest love for we understand that greater love has no man than to lay down his life for another.

Soldiers who love their country, their homes and their families will die in countless numbers to protect the objects of their love. Martyrs aplenty have died for the faith once given to the saints. It is this concept of love that stands behind every concept of love. Even eros has its limited place between husband and wife. Yet above and beyond every other consideration, "Agape" shows us the great and glorious love of our Father God, who loved us before time and sent Jesus Christ to die in our place that we might have eternity with Him. Let us consider this love as the foundation for all of our own loves. Hear what the Apostle Paul has to say about "Agape". And in the original Greek, this is the love to be found in his great Ode to Love: 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13. What more can I say, let Paul's definition be your practice and your goal, always and forever. And may you lay the lesser loves along side of the higher love revealed in the Scriptues and do them in light of that higher administration and understanding. Amen.