At the risk of prompting heart palpitations among forgetful male readers, I'll make an announcement: Today is Valentine's Day. I'll pause for a moment as some may need to place a call to the florist.
Valentine's Day, as most of us know, is a day to think about love. There is probably some historical basis for the day, but much of it is lost in traditions and embellished lore. One of the most popular accounts points to a man named Valentinus who lived in Rome in the third century, A.D. Though it was illegal for Christian marriage ceremonies to be performed at that time, Valentinus risked his life to join young men and women who were in love. He was supposedly martyred in 269.
Customs that we enjoy for this holiday have deep roots in the past. According to Wikipedia.com, "By the 15th century, it had evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as 'valentines')." Six centuries have passed, and we're still presenting flowers, boxed candy and Valentine's cards.
Valentine's Day was a big day when I was in elementary school. Shoe boxes were decorated and a large slot was cut in the top; into these each student dropped cards they had prepared for their classmates. It was an exciting time to open one's box to see how many cards had been deposited.
Today I'll observe the occasion by doing special things to communicate my love for my wife, my beloved companion for many years. Do I have to do these special things? She always says, "No", but I'm smart enough to know better. One's love should be communicated regularly.
There was One, however, whose communication of love surpasses all others. We're speaking, of course, of God. He went to great lengths to show us His love, even when there was good reason for Him not to love us.
"For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:6-8). Can there be greater proof of one's love than a willingness to die for another?
Second only to His death on the cross, Jesus' act of washing His disciples' feet amazes us. What would lead such a famous Rabbi to do such a lowly thing? John tells us the reason: "Now before the Feast of Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end" (John 13:1).
Love is like that. When we truly love another, there is no task too lowly or too great. "I'll give you the moon," people are prone to say to those they love. God went even farther than that. "I'll give you My Son," He said. And He did.
On this day on which we show our love for others, let's not forget to honor the One who loves us best. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
Timothy D. Hall
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