John 15:9-17 (Easter 6B)
St. John, Galveston 5/5/24
Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Christianity is sometimes seen as strange to people who aren’t Christian. That being the case, living as a Christian can raise any number of questions. For instance, why do you believe in Jesus? Why do you follow Him? Why do you devote your life to Him and to your faith? Oftentimes, I think we respond to questions about our faith as if we were strictly servants of God. That is, we do the things we do because we are told to do them in the Scriptures. Or, we might simply say, “That’s just the way it is.” But, I wonder what our conversations would be like if we were to speak of Jesus in a much more personal way, if we were to speak of Him as our friend. We do at least sing about our friendship with Jesus from time to time.

“What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer.”

“Can we find a friend so faithful
Who with all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.”

Still, I suspect, to speak of Jesus as our friend seems a bit odd to us. I mean, Jesus is my Savior, He’s my Redeemer, He’s my Lord and King, He’s my Shepherd, my Resurrection and my Life, He is my strength and my shield, even my song. But, “My friend?” It just seems a bit odd. Too personal perhaps.

And yet, in this morning’s Gospel reading, Jesus calls us to reflect and to meditate precisely on that aspect of our relationship to Him. In terms of the context of the reading, Jesus was with His disciples on the night when He was betrayed. He was conversing with them, preparing them for His death. In the days ahead, they would watch as their church turned ugly, their dreams of peace were shattered, and their Passover celebration was marked by death. To prepare them for those tumultuous days, Jesus told His disciples ahead of time what was really happening. He spoke of the greatest love of all, a love that saves, a love that moves a person to lay down their life for the sake of their friends.

“This is my commandment (He said), that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends.”

As Jesus speaks of it here, the foundation of friendship is love evidenced in sacrifice. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” I think the truth of that statement is evident to all of us in our friendships with other people. Part of what it means to be a friend, is to be willing to sacrifice on behalf of one another. I suspect that we’ve all known that person, or perhaps we still do, who is always there for us, who is willing to drop whatever it is they’re doing in order to help us with whatever it is we need.

Even more so, Jesus has made you His friend. Oh, it’s not an equal friendship by any means. Your sacrifice, your willingness to give and to love is always less than His, not necessarily by choice, but simply by virtue of your very being. Still, having laid down His life for you, Jesus calls you His friend. And so you are.

He is the one then that you turn to, knowing that whatever you’ve done that might have marred, or tarnished your friendship with Him, will be forgiven, because He has already loved you unto death, even death on a cross. In that regard, I’m mindful of a Biblical story of friendship, one that we might not think of when we first think of the subject. For whatever reason, Judas had decided that he would betray Jesus. He had arranged a sign with authorities, to indicate which person in the crowd was Jesus. The sign was a kiss, a common 1st century sign of friendship. So it was that Judas approached Jesus that night to give Him a kiss. And looked at Judas and said, “friend, do what you do quickly.” Indeed, “who will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?” Jesus saw Judas as His friend, even though Judas was about to betray Him, and He wanted Judas to receive the blessings of His coming sacrifice, His death, as it were, for the sins of the world. “Friend (He said), do what you do quickly.”  

Interestingly though, immediately after Jesus spoke of friendship in terms of love and sacrifice, He said to His disciples, “you are My friends if you do what I command you.” What’s so interesting about those words, is that it seems like Jesus immediately takes the discussion of friendship and of love out of the context of grace and the gospel, and He moves it into the context of the Law. In fact, based on what Jesus says, it seems that our friendship with Him is conditional on our keeping the commandments. “You are My friends (He says) IF you do what I command you.”

It is true. God’s command is for you to love your neighbor as yourself. There isn’t any getting around that aspect of your relationship with God. Therefore, when you love and serve your neighbor, you’re doing nothing more than demonstrating God’s love for you. Another way of putting is, Jesus’ love for you, that love that moved Him to call you His friend, is the same love that moves you to live toward your neighbor as a friend.

To understand and apply Jesus’ statement, that “you are My friends if you do what I command you,” there are a couple of questions you can ask yourself. First, as an individual, have I kept the commandments of God? Certainly the answer that question has to be a resounding NO. None of us have kept the commands of God, in part, because they are only fulfilled in perfect love, a love, as the Scriptures say, that “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. And so, while I, or you, may have kept the commandments in some mechanical or external fashion, we certainly haven’t kept them according to their fullest expression, that is, according to the command of love.

And yet, there is another sense in which you and I have kept God’s  commandments. That is according to the active obedience of Jesus. It is the Gospel sense of Jesus’ statement. Jesus perfectly kept all of the commandments of His Father. And, He kept them for you, in your place, in your stead. So, God sees you as having kept His commandments because Jesus’ life has been credited you. You aren’t, therefore, only forgiven for your sins, your failures to keep Gods commandments, you are, in fact, counted holy and righteous in God’s sight. So, listen to Jesus’ statement again, and this time, evaluate whether or not you are His friend based on the Gospel and not on the Law. “ “You are My friends if you do what I command you.”

Jesus is your Savior, He’s your Redeemer, He’s your Lord and King, He’s your Shepherd, your Resurrection and your Life, He is your strength and your shield, even your song. And yes, He is your friend.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +