6th Sunday of Easter
John 15: 9-17
"Friends"
9 ¶ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
17 This I command you, to love one another.
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
I would like to reread two verses from our gospel lesson this morning.
12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Jesus is speaking about friendship this morning. He is speaking about loving one another. But what does not really mean for us today.
How do you love someone? How are you a friend?
The next two stories illustrate at least two aspects of what friendship and loving are all about.
Listen:
A lady, during one of the coldest spells of the winter’ noticed an eleven year old boy standing barefoot over a heater grate on a street corner selling his evening newspapers.
"Son, where are your shoes and socks?" asked the lady.
"I ain’t got none!"’ was his reply. Taking the boy by the ham she led him into a department store and bought him some thick wool socks and heavy shoes.
The boy quickly ran out of the store, but then turned suddenly toward the lady and asked," "Lady, are you God?"
Surprised the woman said with a smile on her face, "No,,but I am one of his children."
"Well, I knowed you must have been kin to him somehow," said the boy as he ran off to continue selling his evening papers.
Another story of friends found in Harper’s Weekly.
"200 feet above the East River, workmen were constructing the Manhattan tower of the Queensboro Bridge many years ago. Two workman were working at the very top waiting, for a steel beam to be brought into place by a crane. There were several men working below them and several below that all the way down the line.
When the the beam arrived, the two men at the top began to fasten it in place, but all of a sudden the beam began to slip. The few rivets that were holding the beam would not keep it from falling and crushing the men working below. The two men knew that couldn’t hold the beam and they knew it was sudden death for the men working below.
But instantly one of the men turned to the other and gasped. ’’I’ll stick to it if you will,"
The other nodded and they held onto that beam. Meanwhile below, the men saw the emergency, and hurried with ropes to tie off the beam to stop its downward plunge.
These two men saved the rest from certain death, but in the process, they lost a hand as the beam smashed the hands that were holding it "
Friendship, love, caring these are the qualities which were seen in these two stories.
The lady was a friend, to that 11 year old boy who was standing bare foot in the winter cold.
Loving friendship knows no boundaries. The two men on top of that tower, knew the workman below. They knew the families, they knew the heartache that a tragic, sudden death might cause, so they were friends enough, loving enough to sacrifice a hand so that others might live. Jesus says, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
Friendship, loving our neighbor is the way Jesus says we can love God. Friendship, loving our neighbor means we are willing to give something of ourselves for them.
Someone once said,"God wills that we should love Him in our neighbor. The true opposite of love is not hate but indifference. Hate, as bad as it is, at least treats the neighbor as a person, whereas indifference turns the neighbor into an it, a thing, something with no feelings, no needs, and no wants."
The lady,the two men could have seen their neighbors as a thing.
The lady could have said, "So what that little boy has no socks or shoes in this cold weather, so what, it is no matter of mine."
The men could have said,"Why try to stop this beam from falling, it is not our fault if they get hurt. Let them fend for themselves."
But they weren’t indifferent, they cared, they loved, they saw these people, the boy and the other men, as human beings with needs and feelings. They saw them as their friends.
I would like to look closely this morning at the idea of what it means we are to be friends of Jesus and he is to be our friend.
Jesus says very clearly in the gospel lesson this morning that we are his friends.Friends, because we know, he has told us all that he has heard from the Father. He chooses us to be his friends.
He has called us to be his through our Baptism. He has chosen us to be with him in a warm, loving relationship. Jesus shows no partiality. He loves and treats us all as equals.
In that some regard, as we love our neighbors, as we become friends with them we are to love them equally..
Maybe the following will help us to understand this equality before God:
"A famous Duke was out for a ride and came across a small country church which had just begun its midweek worship. The Duke joined in the singing as he found a seat in one of the pews.
When it came time to receive the elements of bread and wine at the Lord’s Table, the Duke followed along with the rest in line. As the Duke found a place at the communion rail, a partially blind beggar approached from the side and took his place next to the Duke who was clothed in his finest .
An usher thought the beggar didn’t belong next to finely clothed Duke so he approached and tried to get the beggar to move over, or get up and wait for the next table. When the Duke realized what was happening, he raised his head from prayer, wrapped his arm around the beggar and said with a smile, "Here at the Lord’s Table, here in God’s kingdom, we are all one."
At Jesus’ table, we are one, one with Him and one with each other. We are equally forgiven sinners at the Lord’s table. We are friends with Jesus, and friends with each other.
Pastor Carl Uehling writes in In Augsburg Sermon Series Book about friendship. "You need not care about a friend, but you choose to do so. You are under no obligation to tell a friends how you feel, what you hope, and what you’ve done, where you’re going, but you want to share your life with that person, even as your friend will share in equal measure with you.
A friend could walk out the door of our life at any moment, but will not. Neither will you leave that friend. You would do anything for that person and that friend would do anything for you."
Friendship is a very precious, and valuable possession, a prized jewel something which to hang onto for a long time.
There is a television program I enjoy watching it is entitle Any Day Now. It is about the friendship of two girls growing up in the south back in the 60’s. They develop a friendship that is more powerful than all the hatred around them. When, Renee, the black goes finally goes off to college, it seems that their friendship might die as Mary Elizabeth, stays home and marries her childhood sweet heart Colier.
When Renee’s father dies, and she comes home for the funeral, she and "ME" as Mary Elizabeth is called, see each other again and it is as if no time has lapsed in their friendship. Renee decides to stay in Birmingham and take over his father’s law office. Renee and "ME" remain friends.
As you watch this program you admire, and maybe wish for a friendship like that. Someone who can listen to all that you say, someone who you will know will be there for you, no matter what.
That is the kind of friendship Jesus has with us and we should have with him. He is the friend who is with us no matter what and listens as we bear our soul to him during the good and bad times of life.
A closing quote from gracemail@egroups.com
by John Walsh...
Friendship is a strange thing...
We find ourselves telling each other the deepest details of our
lives...things we don’t even share with our families. But what is a friend?
A confidant? A lover? A shoulder to cry on? An ear to listen? A heart to
feel?
A friend is all of these things and more. No matter where we met, no
matter how long we’ve been together...I call you a friend. A word so small,
yet so large in feeling, a word filled with emotion, a word overflowing with
LOVE.
Truly great things come in small packages. Once the age of
friendship has been opened, it can never be closed. It is a constant book
always waiting...waiting to be read...and enjoyed. We may have our
disagreements...we may have our disappointments...we may argue...we may
concern one another... friendship is a unique bond that lasts through all
tribulations.
A part of each of us goes into our friendships...our
humor...our experiences...our tears. Friendships are
foundations...necessary for life...and love.
Friends ...you and me... You
brought another friend and then there were three ...we started our
group...our circle of friends...there is no beginning... there is no end.
Even though I don’t speak to you all everyday... or even as often as I would
like to...You have all crossed my path of life in one way or another...some
of you I’ve only bumped into... some have walked a while with me... and some
of you will continue to walk with me...but DON’T EVER THINK FOR A SECOND
that since we aren’t in constant contact... that I don’t think of you all...
because if it wasn’t for coming across all of YOU... who knows? I would a
be a completely different person... and... well...I’m happy with how I’ve
turned out so far. Thank you.
And Jesus said:
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
Amen
Written by pastor Tim Zingale May 19, 2003
