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24.05.2009_John 15:9–7
| 26.05.2009, 10:44 | |
| Rev. Tatiana Cantarella Psalm 98; Acts 11:19–30; 1 John 5:1¬–6; John 15:9–17 "We don’t choose friends, we are chosen" When I was in school, we often went out to play in the schoolyard, which was very close to our housing. There was a lot of space there to run and play. We played football, valley-ball and team tag. In any case, when the games required teams, two captains (usually the bigger and the better kids) would pick their teams, one by one – choosing the best first and reluctantly choosing the last from the least of all kids. I remember occasions when kids would be picked last because they seemed useless in a game… Those that no one picked were graciously given a possibility of running to get the ball when it flew out of bounds or to keep the score… That’s how it is often in real life too. People must choose – whom to have on their team, with whom to work, with whom they are compatible. In Israel, those who wanted to study the Law chose the rabbi they wanted to emulate. The more famous was the rabbi, the more people wanted to choose him, for to study under a great rabbi was a great honor. It was the disciples’ choice. But Jesus reverted the order. It was His choice, He picked His disciples. We assume, that Jesus would have chosen the best and the sharpest to be His disciples. But when we read the Gospel, we realize that often times it was quite the opposite: His disciples turned out to be very slow to learn, weak of faith, doubting and even denying. But Jesus chose them, nevertheless; He chose, knowing their weaknesses, knowing that only some of them will become known (e.g. Peter, James, John) and even they will loose their ways more than once. He chose them, knowing that most of them will be unknown to the world, that one of them will betray Him and that all of them will scatter our of fear when He is crucified and will only gather again after His resurrection, gather at His strong word of encouragement. The way Jesus chooses is the opposite of how the people choose. In everyday life we still have to choose but in Christ it’s different. It is Jesus, who first of all chooses, chooses to live in us and to accept us as we are – with all our weaknesses. What was He thinking when he chose such common people to be His disciples? What a foolish choice it seems to be, for the team which they form would only be good enough for a failure… but if we look at what happened with and through the church in the first century and further on, we realize that Jesus, after all made the right choice, not because they were so great and good but because He Himself is great who chose them. Last week we read the beginning of John 15, which talks about our relationship with Jesus using the image of the Vine, and branches that depend on the Vine and live only as long as they are connected to the Vine, as long as the Father (the Vinedresser) cares for them, purifying them and enabling them to bring fruit. Our Gospel reading today continues to talk about the relationships between the Father, Son and the disciples. The Father loved the Son; the Son loved us and chose us to be on His team, allowing us to continue to live in that love together with other chosen ones. And you see, while in the world we still often choose team mates, colleagues or favorite dishes, when it comes to God, in a certain sense we have lost our ability to choose: to choose God, to choose good and to choose whether we will be part of the people of God. But when Jesus picked up His cross, He picked it up to free the world from sin and to give people another chance. It is exactly because we couldn’t choose God because of our sin, He chose us. He took in His first disciples; He picked us and made us not just His servants but also His friends. When Jesus appeared after the resurrection, the disciples were no longer just His followers, they were His friends. And it’s not that to be called the servant of God is somehow shameful, for such was the title of Moses, Joshua, David, Paul and James. And it’s not that the role of a servant is somehow shameful, for Jesus Himself came and acted as a servant when He washed His disciples feet. But saying that He chose us to be not just His servants but friends, Jesus stresses something very important for our lives. How is a servant different from a friend? The master gives orders to a servant, but a friend communicated with a friend openly, speaking of what he or she knows, sharing about everything that is important, involving a friend in to his or her life and thoughts. A friend is different from a servant because a friend has a trust of a friend; there are no secrets between friends. In Jesus Christ God clearly showed us His purposes of salvation for humanity. It is not by chance that the Gospel calls Jesus the Word, for a word is a means of communication. Christ came into the world as a human and as a living Word in order to reveal God and His wisdom, to reveal Himself, so that we might understand what He is like and to see His heart. Jesus says, “I revealed to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father” – it is such openness that characterizes friends. What makes us Jesus’ friends is being drawn into the story, living His story that sometimes is comforting and sometimes disturbing; story that leads us to the cross and to the empty tomb and lights our path through this world. And when we realize that Jesus opens to us all His purposes, all His thoughts, then His words “you are my friend if you do what I command you” no longer raise our eye brows. It is strange to hear such words from the One who just called us His friends. When someone says, “you are my friend but only if you do what I say” it just doesn’t really look like friendship. But if you think about it: friendship is built on common goals and views, that’s why Jesus adds, “If you do what I command you”. In the Roman courts the designation “friends of the emperor” meant his closest advisors. They had access to him even into his bedchambers in the morning. He would talk to them before he would talk to his generals and governors. And because the words “command” can have two meanings: an order from a higher authority or an admonition of a friend, it becomes clear that Jesus does not give orders, but admonishes us, for He knows the Truth perfectly well. And He opens his purposes to us and involves us into His plans. When we realize, that Jesus has given us all things that he could ever give us, holding nothing back from us, even His own life, even His heavenly position, then His call to keep His commandments no longer seem odd. On the contrary, they become natural. What have we have offered Him so far for what He has already given us? It is our side of friendship that is under question, not His. There is a saying, “when a friend asks, there is no tomorrow”, how true is it in our relation to Jesus who has laid everything aside for our sake? When Jesus, our most faithful Friend, asks us to do something, who would want to wait until tomorrow?! But time and again we set aside his commandments because we think they are too demanding. He says, “come and I will give you rest” but we say, “not now, now we don’t feel like… another time”. He says, “come and taste the goodness of the Lord” and we say, “We are too busy… there is so much we still need to taste in this life…” He says, “I love you so much in spite of all things, just share this same love with others” but we respond “only not in relation to this and that person…” In reality our Lord could have demanded our obedience, but He doesn’t, He just wishes this obedience to be soaked with love. Only love is the right basis for it and not fear. Obedience is the test of our faith. Jesus’ friends are the ones for whom obedience to Jesus becomes a natural way of life and the desire to keep His word a natural expression of their love for Him. Look, three times in a short passage Jesus speaks of obedience (14:15, 23; 15:10): “if you love Me, keep my commandments”, “The one who loves me will keep my word”, “if you keep my commandments and remain in my love, as I kept my Father’s commandments and remain in His love…” As we see again and again all commandments are brought together in one: love as Jesus loved. And as we said last week, this love is not primarily a feeling and is not synonymous with “liking”. Jesus once again stresses that “to love” is to be for another, to act on behalf of another, even with a disadvantage to oneself, to be ready to pay a high price for the good of another. What do we have them? Here is God: true and wise and holy who chooses people for His team. He chooses not like we do, He chooses not the best and the brightest, but the simple, common and sometime even those deemed useless by the world, He includes also us. He chooses as He wishes, so that all, even those who were useless for the world could be on His team. And having chosen us, God completes His purposes mostly through ordinary people. But there is one thing that distinguishes these people: they decided to stay in God’s team of friends. You see, there are also others, who refused to play on God’s team. They looked around and decided that they do not want to be among these people (“what was God thinking putting this people in the team?”) Some people don’t want to be a part of God’s team because they consider themselves too good in the sight of others; they are too full of themselves to be any use for heavenly kingdom. At the same time, those who seem to only be fit for “keeping the score” God uses to change the world. God chooses whom He chooses. The question is this, then: having been chosen for God’s team will we remain in it? God has a plan for all of us as imperfect and skill-less as we are. He chose and set us aside so that we would “go and bear fruit that will remain” (John 15:16). Jesus – is the captain of the team, He picked us all for that team, He made us friends and called us to play according to His team’s rules. He desires that we would not just stand aside and keep the score but that all of us would “go and bear fruit that remains in eternity”. There are many things people do in life. Some write reports that remain for weeks, others assemble cars that last for years, still others build houses that will last for decades… but having been called into God’s team as His friends, we are given an opportunity to do what will have eternal fruit. How? By participating in what Jesus is accomplishing. Having made us His friends, He involved us into his mission in the world, He entrusted us with His plans – to change the world with His love! And what is His mission for us in this world? “To love, as He loved”. A word ‘friend’ in Greek (filos) means ‘the loved one’. To say that we are Jesus’ friends is to say that He loves us. And the definition of His love is in the words “He laid down His life for us”. His friendship is grounded in His sacrifice, in the Lord becoming a servant, in the Judge becoming a victim. To do great things for Jesus, we are not expected to do miracles. He chose us for His team, made us His friends and we do not need to worry about our weaknesses and lack of skills, we don’t need to stress out over other people’s weaknesses and their limitations. What we need is a desire to remain in God’s team, to remain His friends and to bring good fruit bringing new friends into the team, new ‘loved ones’, even those who would never be chosen by worldly standards. We need to love as Jesus loves, that means to love through the bad and the good, through human stupidity and trouble, through beauty and ugliness, through joy and sorrow, to love at all times. For it is this love, given by Jesus to the Church, over two thousand years accomplishes great things and transforms people’s lives. You see, beloved friends, Jesus does not choose people because they are good but He makes good those He chooses. It’s time to cease looking down on people “on the team” who should not be there. Instead, it time to direct our strengths and to allow Him to love us and transform us, to teach us to love as He loves – only then we can change something in this world that we so often complain about. | |
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