Sixth
Sunday of Easter – May 9, 2921
We know from
experience that one of the greatest blessing in our life is friendship. We
value
our friends deeply. We are very aware that our lives would be the poorer
without them. In the
Book of Sirach, the author says the following about
friendship: “A faithful friend is a sturdy
shelter; whoever has found one has
found a treasure. There is nothing so precious as a faithful friend, and no
scales can measure their excellence. A faithful friend is an elixir of life…”
The descriptions of a faithful friend as a sturdy shelter or a treasure rings
true to all our
experience.
There is only so much
any of us can do to make a friendship happen, because, as we know, a
friendship
has to be mutual. I may want to be someone’s friend, but unless that person
wants
to be my friend, the friendship won’t come to pass. Friendships happen
when two people chose
each other as friends. If I chose someone as a friend, I
need that person to chose me as their
friend for the friendship to become a
reality. Choice is at the heart of friendship, the choice of two people for
each other. One of the more painful experiences of life is when the choice
I
make to befriend someone is not returned by that person.
In today’s gospel
reading, Jesus speaks of his relationship with his disciples (with us today)
in
terms of friendship. He says to us, “I call you friends… I chose you.” He tells
us that he
has expressed his choice of us as his friend. Jesus has chosen to
befriend us. Yet, in the
gospel reading, he doesn’t ask us to chose him as a friend.
In fact, he says, “You did not
choose me, no, I chose you.” Jesus does not call
on us to choose him as he has chosen us, BUT,
he calls on us to remain in his
love.
We are to remain in
the love that has chosen us. We are being reminded that Jesus’ friendship
with
us is of a different quality to our human friendships where mutual choice is so
important
if it is to endure. In a human friendship, if any one of the friends
ceases to choose the
other, then that other person’s choice will eventually
weaken too. This is not true of Jesus’
friendship with us. His loving choice of
us endures, regardless of how we respond. It is
always a given. Our calling is
to remain in that enduring friendship, and, if we fall out of
it, to return to
it.
To remain in the love
of Jesus is not something theoretical. Jesus tells us clearly what it
means. It
means to “keep my commandments” which he immediately sums up in one
commandment,
“This is my commandment. Love one another as I have loved you.” We
will find in our religion
many commandments. Over time they increase in number.
Only about the commandment to love does
Jesus say, “this is my commandment.” It
is as if Jesus is saying, this is what all the
commandments boil down to. As we
remain in the love of Jesus for us, we are to allow that
love to take hold of
us and to flow through us to embrace others. A little earlier in John’s
gospel
Jesus refers to this commandment as ‘new’. It is new with reference to all the
other
commandments that are in the Jewish Scriptures. Its newness consists in
that little word ‘as’.
We are to love one another as Jesus has loved as, as the
Father has loved Jesus. This is a
love which has no trace of self-interest or
possessiveness or manipulation. It is the love
that Jesus showed on the cross.
It seems an extraordinary command; we are tempted to think it
is beyond us.
Yet, Jesus does not ask us to do the impossible. Before he asks us to do
anything, he first calls on us to remain in his love, to receive his love into
our hearts. Only then can
we begin to love one another as he has loved us.
Jesus does not give us this commandment as a
law to regulate our lives, but as
a source of joy. He declares in the gospel reading, “I have
told you this so
that my own joy may be in you and your joy be complete.” Without love it is
not
possible to move towards a more joyful, humble and delightful Christian faith.
To the
extent that love is at the heart of our faith, it will be a joyful
faith, a sharing in the
risen Lord’s own love and joy.
Fr. Don, cp