Roses are red, violets are blue… So goes the rhyme most of us learned in grade school.  We write this poem on cards, and there’s no other Hallmark holiday more valued for it’s cards than Valentine’s Day. Red is the color of Valentine’s Day, but I suspect most people don’t know why. Valentine’s Day is a time of celebrating love – especially married love – but once again, I would guess that most people don’t realize that this is an ancient commemoration of the Christian Church.

When it comes to the real reason for St. Valentine’s Day, red is not symbolic of hearts, roses, and candy. The red in this sanctuary is both a color of celebration and zeal but also of martyrdom – for it is the red of flowing blood, blood spilled for the sake of the Gospel. For the blood of St. Valentine was spilled because of his faith in Jesus and his death as a Christian martyr.

Valentine was a 3^rd century priest in Rome who gave his life for the Christian faith. Part of his priestly duties, of course, involved consecrating the holy estate of marriage among his parishioners. And in the 3^rd century Roman Empire, just like today, the government was interfering with God’s created intent for marriage, trying to mandate something immoral and unbiblical over and against what is proper and natural.

Emperor Claudius II felt that single men made better soldiers. They would have no family attachments, no distractions, and could devote themselves solely to war.  And Claudius like to wage war.  So he forbade his soldiers to marry so that they wouldn’t have such an attachment to other people or places or even to this life. 

Now, as you can imagine, this didn’t exactly go over well with many people, yet it quickly became illegal to get married or engaged if there was the possibility of being drafted or serving in the military.  Valentine considered it a sacred pastoral duty to continue to bless marriages, defending the divine and sacred institution of the joining together of one man and one woman into one flesh.  Many, especially Christians, continued to get married, though now in secret, coming Valentine in defiance of the imperial order. Valentine was eventually caught, imprisoned, and was beheaded on February 14^th, on or about the year 270.

Valentine is a reminder to us that love and marriage are not trite things, not merely warm fuzzy feelings, or forced sentimentality. Rather true love is exactly what our Lord tells us it is: a willingness of the lover to die for the beloved. The beloved is held more dear even than life itself. St. Valentine could have loved his own life more than his calling, he could have loved himself more than his flock. He could have loved his own comfort more than he loved our Lord. But he didn’t.

St. Valentine knew what our Blessed Lord said in our Gospel text: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” That is why, even as he awaited his death, legend has it that he befriended his jailer. This man had a daughter who was blind and had asked Valentine for help.  Most legends record that Valentine was able to help her, either through medicine or a miracle, and as a result the jailer was converted to Christianity.  Just before his beheading, Valentine left a note for the daughter of his jailer on an odd shaped piece of paper confessing the Gospel and the hope He had in Christ, and signed it, “From your Valentine.”

This quickly became noteworthy to the Christians of the day, who apparently gathered up Valentines body and head and gave it a Christian burial.  By the middle ages, the idea of a “Valentines Day” started to take root, but it wasn’t until the 18^th century that it really started to look like what we have today.  So, yes, Valentine’s Day really is about love, and sending cards.  But above everything else, it’s all about Jesus.

For the perfect lover is our Lord Jesus Christ, who gives His very life for His beloved bride, the Church. Jesus sheds His red blood to save the people whom He loves, and in turn, Christians are called upon to bear their own cross in this life, to serve others the way Christ served us. Our beloved martyrs, like St. Valentine, are the living embodiment of this divine love: “whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Valentine acted out of love for his people and in service of matrimonial love ordained by God. He suffered imprisonment and execution for the sake of the Lord Jesus who Himself suffered death for him and for all people. For we Christians can only, truly love because we were first loved. God loved the world in this way, “that he sent his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” He loves us enough to become incarnate and to suffer and die for us and for the “life of the world.” He loves us enough to save us though we don’t deserve it. He loves us though we do not always nor fully love Him in return. He loves us not because we are lovable, but He becomes despised and rejected, unlovable in our place. He loves us because He is love, and He is merciful.

St. Valentine is a Christian hero, a pastor who lays down his life for the people of God, because Christ laid down His life and took it back up again on Easter. It’s time we put the “Saint” back in ‘Valentine’s Day.” It’s time the Church take back this holy day from Hallmark. For we Christians know what true love is. Love’s color is red because it is sealed in blood. Love does not look like a heart, but it looks like the cross.  True love is what awaits you here in this place, because here God speaks His loving Word and He washes our sins clean, and He gives us the body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of ours sins.

Today, we take a moment in time to honor St. Valentine, whose love was not merely expressed with a clever verse in a greeting card, but rather by virtue of his deeds and by his blood. He was a martyr to the truth of the sacredness of natural marriage, something no government can redefine or compromise.  He was committed to God’s Word, to his pastoral calling, and most importantly to His Savior. May we follow in the footsteps of this faithful servant of the Word, this humble martyr of the Church, whose name is synonymous with love itself. Amen.

This sermon has been modified from a sermon and notes by Pr. Larry Beane and The Lutheran Witness