Download EROS A sermon by Rev. George E. Blair III on Sunday, February 17

SEASONS OF LOVE: EROS
A sermon by Rev. George E. Blair III on Sunday, February 17, 2013
First Congregational Church of Anchorage, Alaska
Readings:
Old Testament Lesson: Song of Songs: 1:1 to 2:2
New Testament Lesson: Luke 4: 1-13
During the last two Sundays, we explored agape and philia—two of the four
words which the ancient Greeks used for love. Both words are found extensively in the
Greek New Testament. Today we explore a word for love never used at all in the New
Testament, and nor is it used to translate the Hebrew word for sexual love “ahabah” as
“eros” in the Greek translation of the Old Testament.
Eros is unusual in the Greek list of words for love, for it is the only kind of love
which has a God named for it. Eros was, according to Greek legend, the child of
Aphrodite (the goddess of love, beauty, pleasure and procreation), and the God Ares
(the god of war). At the time she conceived Eros, Aphrodite was married to another
God, Hephaestus (god of craftsmanship). So Eros was conceived and born in an
illegitimate relationship, considered illegitimate even by the low standards of Greek
Gods. What probably saved Eros was his grandfather—Ares was the son of Zeus, and
as Zeus’s grandson, no one messed with Eros.
Among the skill set Eros brought to the gods was his love of archery. He
possessed magical arrows, which were used to good effect as the gods continually
messed with the lives of humans by making the most inappropriate people fall in love.
Eros became the symbol of forbidden love, of love affairs and destructive love—the kind
that breaks families apart and scandalizes communities.
His mother, Aphrodite, encouraged her son to shoot his Eros arrows into the
breasts of maidens and the loins of men, and enjoyed the havoc that ensued. But it
was when she became jealous of a beautiful mortal woman named Psyche, that she
made her most serious error in judgment.
Like the wicked queen in Snow White, the goddess of beauty insisted on being
the fairest of them all, and even though Psyche, as a mortal, had limited shelf life as a
beauty, she determined to ruin her life. She demanded of her son that he shoot one of
his enchanted arrows into Psyche so that she fall in love with the ugliest man on earth.
At least, Aphrodite could hope that Psyche would give birth to homely children. Eros
guided Apollo to give an oracle that Psyche would marry an ugly beast whose face she
could never see, and he would wait for her at the top of a mountain.
Psyche’s family was surely devastated, but they would not dare thwart the will of
the oracle. They arranged for the wedding between beauty and the beast.
When Eros sees Psyche, however, he falls desperately in love with her. Some
say he was scratched by one of his own arrows, but it is not so strange that the God of
love would fall for the most beautiful woman on earth.
Eros himself, with a bag over his head, perhaps, or an enchantment to look like
the ugly beast she expected, married Psyche, and the tenderness of his love for her on
their wedding night made Psyche unexpectedly happy. She talked about her happiness
with her sisters, who became so envious they convinced Psyche that not only was her
husband an ugly beast, but he planned to murder her. She was persuaded to kill the
beast first, before he would kill her. With oil lamp and knife in her hand, she entered the
bedchamber, intent on murder. But in the light, she saw the undisguised face of her
husband, the beautiful God, Eros, and in her confusion she spilled oil lamp on his face.
Eros awoke, noticed the knife, and told Psyche that she had betrayed him, and flew
away.
Psyche was devastated and began searching for her lost love. Finally, she went
begging to Aphrodite, who had imprisoned Eros, and Aphrodite gave her three
impossible tasks to accomplish to prove her love for Eros: She had to separate seeds
in an enormous pile of mixed grains, then she had to retrieve a golden fleece from a
flock of fierce sheep, and lastly she had to go to Hades and bring the box with the elixir
of beauty back to Aphrodite. She was warned not to open the box, but like Pandora, the
temptation was too great. Psyche opened the box, which turned out to have the god
Morpheus (god of sleep and dreams) inside, and she became a sleeping beauty.
Eros, escaping his mother’s prison, went to Zeus and pled his love for
Psyche. Zeus was so impressed by the love his grandson had for this mortal that he
not only awakened Psyche, he made her immortal, so the two lovers could be together
forever.
It is not recorded how Aphrodite took the news.
After Psyche successfully completes these tasks, Aphrodite relents and she
becomes immortal to live alongside her husband Eros. Together they had a daughter,
Voluptas or Hedone (meaning physical pleasure, bliss).
In Greek mythology, Psyche became known as the deification of the human soul.
She was portrayed in ancient mosaics as a goddess with butterfly wings (because
psyche was also the Ancient Greek word for 'butterfly'). The Greek word psyche literally
means "soul, spirit, breath, life or animating force". The Greek word is used to
translated “ruah” in Hebrew scripture—the “spirit of God” is the “psyche.”
Fairy tales, Greek mythology, and Christian tradition have always wrapped
around each other. In the New Testament, while “eros” is never used—very unusual in
Greek literature—the word “psyche” appears in some form one hundred two times. In
Matthew’s gospel: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly
in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your psyche.” “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy psyche, and with all thy mind.” And in Luke, the
Magificat: “My psyche doth magnify the Lord,” and in Acts: “Thou shalt not leave my
psyche in Hell (actually the Greek word is Hades), neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One
to seek corruption.” The passage in Acts is reminiscent of the descent of Psyche into
Hades to complete the third task of Aphrodite. Psyche represents the human, as well
as the divine spirit—which is willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause.
And Eros, left out of the New Testament, is best described in the entire Bible in
Song of Songs, sometimes called Song of Solomon. “Let him kiss me with the kisses of
his mouth, for your love is better than wine...” Both Jewish and Christian scholars have
struggled to make this erotic love poem really about something else—about the love of
God for his people, or Christ for his church. But the Song of Songs unapologetically
sings of the love of one human being for another, and includes much kissing and mushy
stuff.
2 Rev. George E. Blair III February 17, 2013 Eros is the idealized lover, called Cupid in Roman mythology, whose dealings
are mysterious, powerful, and sometimes capricious. It is the kind of love which can
bring us salvation, and can get us into a lot of trouble.
Eros is not to be equated with “lust”—a beautiful Germanic word which simply
means “pleasure.” Eros is a love worth living for, a love worth dying for, a love worth
giving up anything you own. David Gates wrote these lyrics, one set of thousands of
lyrics dedicated to eros. They describe for me the sentiment expressed in ancient
writings like the song of Solomon, and are as worthy of the name of love as are agape
and philia, and I close this sermon, with a little Bread:
You taught me how to love, what it's of, what it's of
You never said too much but still you showed the way
and I knew, from watching you
Nobody else could ever know the part of me that can't let go
And I would give anything I own,
Give up my life, my heart, my home
I would give everything I own
just to have you back again
Is there someone you know, you're loving them so
but taking them all for granted?
You may lose them one day, someone takes them away
and they don't hear the words you long to say
And I would give anything I own,
Give up my life, my heart, my home
I would give everything I own just to have you back again,
just to touch you once again.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
3 Rev. George E. Blair III February 17, 2013