The Agape Love

The word agape can be defined as the unconditional love of God or Christ for humankind. This was the first word that came to mind once I read the poem. It reminded me of going to church on Sundays; I go faithfully and wonder sometimes why God did for not only me but everyone here on earth. If that is not agape love, I don’t know what is! We are currently in a sin cursed world, where every time you turn around someone is doing some kind of evil. However, regardless of the harshness of the sin that is committed, we know that without a shadow of a doubt, God will forgive us for each and everyone of them. Even though I am a firm believer of the Divine Creator and his agape love, I sometimes wish that I could find some of what is so attractively described in its verses of the poem. The poem is a beautiful, intimate demonstration of the unconditional love bestowed upon a sincere regretful sinner. In the poem George Herbert uses allegory by transforming the characteristic of love into a person. Over the course of the poem, love becomes equated with the Divine Creator and the Lord Jesus. It seems that Christ is calling a sinner to come and experience his agape love. Regardless of the type of person you are or the things that you have done, he accepts you for you. The feeling that I get from this poem is that a sinner receives the ultimate gift which is salvation. One verse that really stands out to me is: “I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear, I cannot look on thee”, displays complete humility. Even the strong Christians that are pure of heart feel unworthy to look onto the face of God! The sinner feels somewhat unworthy to be loved because of all the sins he/she committed. The sinner says that he/she is unkind and ungrateful and cannot look at Love. Love then took the hand of the sinner and said “Who made the eyes but I?” The words self acceptance comes to mind, accepting that there is someone out there that will love you regardless The sinner came to realize that just maybe there was someone who would take all of the past guilt and present sin away. God knows the good and bad things that people do. No one was put on earth to be perfect. In the poem love speaks in a warming tone and persuades the sinner to receive an invitation to dinner. However, the sinner is hesitant, sad about past guilt and present sin. Love is the host at the dinner. Its kind of crazy, what host serves at his own dinner party, let alone a guest? Nevertheless, the guest offers to serve, feeling unworthy to sit at the table. Love insists, “You must sit down and taste my meat.” In the Holy Bible there is a similar saying found in John 6:54 “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them on the last day.” When Love insists that the sinner sit and eat it shows that we are accepted by God filthy and guilt ridden. He doesn’t care about your outer appearance. His main concern is what is inside of your heart. Through loves gentle persuasion the sinner finally accepts the invitation and eats. When Love took over the dinner, it reminded me of Mark 10:45, “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The person who was sent to be served was now doing the serving. That tells me that no man too good to do a good deed. No matter what your social status you are never too high to give a helping hand. If everyone could do as love did in the poem, I think that world would be a much peaceful place to live. You never know that good deed that you do may make someone’s day and keep them from doing something bad like killing themselves. “Love” may have been reflective of how George Herbert felt about his relationship with God. He knew he was a sinner, as is every other human being on earth but he also knew that God’s love was so great that he would forgive us if we ask for it. God is love… that may very well be the reason Herbert uses that name for God in this poem. Work Cited
Herbert, George. “Love.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing.Ed.X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 5th Compact Ed. New York: Longman, 2007.781.

Cited: Herbert, George. “Love.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing.Ed.X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 5th Compact Ed. New York: Longman, 2007.781.