My Friends

John Chapter 15 was the Gospel I chose for my ordination mass.  It is my favorite Scripture passages in the entire bible.  It is a very powerful and moving chapter.  The passage speaks to me about three things, perseverance, love, and friendship.

All three are connected and related, none of them stand in isolation or apart from one another, for you cannot be a friend without love, nor can you call something love unless perseverance is involved, otherwise the thing would just be fleeting.  Jesus speaks of all three in John chapter 15.

Think on the Apostles, especially the author of today’s Gospel (we are not 100% sure who actually wrote the Gospel of John, it could have been John, but it was more likely one of his disciples who heard these stories and put them to pen, if you will – but for simplicity sake we will refer to the author as John) and his relationship to Christ.

John and his brother James were fishing with their father Zebedee and when Jesus called them, they immediately left their father and their fishing.  To immediately leave just by being called speaks volumes, for who would leave their livelihood at the drop of the dime to go and follow a stranger, unless the Holy Spirit allowed them to see Jesus for more than just the outward appearance, but that they saw something deeper, they saw love itself.

All the Apostles would go on to become friends with Jesus as this chapter tells us, “you are no longer slaves but friends.”  They are friends because they walked with Jesus their entire lives, just about all of them becoming martyrs for their faith.  But it was in the daily walk of life that they learned about love.

The Apostles perseverance is clearly seen in the lives they lived.  You have to remember that at this time Christians were being persecuted, they were a minority.  They made a brave transition from their life in Judaism to Christianity.  They also were different than the pagans who worshipped many gods. Most of whom looked to Caesar as a god.  It could not have been easy to go from town to town, village to village and city to city preaching the Good News.  They met resistance, were arrested, beat and tortured.  Yet, they pressed on.  It was the grace of God that gave them this strength but also their great love of Jesus.  No different than the love we have for our Lord and for each other.  Think of how a parent will go to any means to take care of a sick child or a child taking care of a sick parent - that is perseverance.

Friendship is also based on intimacy and our own friendship with Christ is very intimate, for He shares his very life with us, He is living in us when we receive the Eucharist.  “The two shall become one flesh and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.”  In that sharing we also are united in death and in life with Jesus, we share both with Him, very powerful concepts indeed.  To share death and life with someone is a bond that is unbreakable; it means we are joined together in every way.

Finally there is love.  Love is sacrificial in nature it never looks to self but is always outward looking, meaning that when it is true it looks to make others happy and fulfilled, isn’t this what Jesus did, “I did not come to be served, but to serve.”  Yes, all of us desire to be loved, it is a great feeling knowing that we are loved, but the feeling is even stronger when I love others for love’s sake alone.

The entire Gospel or the ethos of Christianity is found in John Chapter 15.  God is our friend, we are His friends.  God loves us, we love Him.  Jesus persevered in His love for his people; we persevere in our faith in Him.  Think of how powerful that is, that Jesus (the Eternal Logos) would call us His friends, and we are His friends!  Remember that always and that true love calls us each to lay down our lives for our friends and most of all to give our lives to the source and fount of that friendship, Jesus Christ our Lord and our friend.