May 21, 2006 At Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK
Acts 10 25,26,34,35,44-48 + 1 John 4:7-10 + John 15:9-17
There is in our understanding of this Gospel, a powerful description of discipleship. The disciples of Jesus are his friends. They have been chosen by him. The usual Jewish custom was for disciples to seek and choose their teachers. Not so in the relationship with this teacher, Jesus. He does the seeking and calls. He sets the tone and the style of the relationship, and he does it as much by deed as by word when he crawls on the floor and washes their feet.
The commandment he gives, the mission he proposes for his disciples in not simply to love one another. There is a second part to that verse: “As I love you.” With those words we are far removed from the emotions of affection and the sentiments of greeting card verses, Hollywood, and the torrid affairs of celebrities paraded before us day and night on the magazine covers at the checkout stand. That caricature of love has nothing to do with the divine, and it reveals nothing to us about what has happened to us by redemption.
Again, for the third week, our language fails to give clarity about what is being said here. “Remain in my love” is far too week for the sense of the original language. It means STAY HERE IN PLACE – STICK TO THIS – NEVER WAVER! Remember, this text is a commentary on last week’s verses about branches being attached to the vine. “Remain” is too passive. The disciple is not just standing around in one spot. The disciple is fixed in place, fixed in this relationship, and the strength of that relationship produces fruit.
The wonder here is this relationship called “friendship.” There is mutuality in this suggestion. It means more than being “friendly.” True friends are equal sharing something intimate and unique. Consequently, this suggestion that we be “friends” with Jesus and furthermore be “friends” with God should leave us stunned with wonder and almost recoil at the thought. “Wait a minute.” we might say. Is he suggesting that the old slave and master thing is gone? That is what it says, isn’t it?
Sheep of this flock, branches of this vine, people loved by God and people who live as Jesus loved are lifted out of broken humanity and born again in Divine Life. It is not enough to “imitate” Jesus Christ. That would be role playing – acting like, not at all the real thing.
This Easter Season has proposed again and again; that the risen one is within us,
that the risen one is seen within, heard within, and known within a people who have gathered in his name and consumed his flesh and blood. From then on, it’s not an imitation. It is the real thing. It is the risen Lord. We are the Body of Christ who do what he does, and He does what we do. Reason enough then to make certain that what we do reveals what we have become. Reason enough to make certain that what we say reveals who we are.
This love is not something we give or take, receive or deserve. It is God – a God who embraces all without condition or reservation. It is God – a God who invites us in: into life, into love, into friendship, into service, compassion, care, and into eternity. This is the commandment: Live every waking moment with the knowledge that God is within you, and see that presence in every other human life, and stay that way!