1 All You Need is Love? John 15: 9-17 But I have called you friends. 1 That s what Jesus said to his disciples on that last night with them. This text from John s gospel is from a section known as the Farewell Discourse. It is comprised of Jesus parting words to those who had followed him through three tumultuous, exciting, life-changing years and a beautiful prayer for those whom he loved, the ones he now called friends. Friends. For a while now there has been a popular expression, BFF, best friends forever. Yet in most cases these friendships are fragile indeed, temporary and transient, lasting only until the next, new BFF comes along. Then there is the Facebook definition of friend, which can include people we will never meet. I recently received a friend request from a clergy colleague in Texas. We have had some most interesting discussions, and I find his writings intriguing. Friends, however, might be a bit of a stretch. I did respond, though, because we share much in common, providing resources for one another as we walk our vastly different ministries together. However, when I clicked on the accept request button, it was rejected because he had exceeded his friend quota. With 752 friends I doubt he would miss my presence greatly. Still, to be excluded from his ever-wide friendship circle was disheartening. Friends they come in all ages, sizes, shapes. There are friends for a lifetime, a season, particular circumstances, and yes, even FB friends. Friends a blanket term that encompasses much territory. But what did Jesus mean when he called his disciples friends? In this text Jesus did call his disciples friends, moving them from an inferior status in a master-servant relationship to an even keel as equals, peers. It must have been quite astonishing to hear Jesus, the one they referred to as Rabbi or Teacher, say they were his friends. For Jesus, friends were not the ever-changing BFFs of pop culture or a button on FB. This relationship of friendship formed the very foundation for his ministry on earth and now for the task he laid before the disciples, one they were to continue well after he was no longer 1 John 15: 15b NRSV
2 present on earth. It is a command we are to live out ourselves over 2000 years later. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. 2 Who are our friends? Sometimes it can be difficult to tell. Even as Jesus spoke to the twelve, calling them his friends, there was one among them who would in a very short time not act like a friend at all. Judas Iscariot would betray Jesus, turning him over to the ones who would later kill him. Also present was Peter who would betray Jesus in a few short hours by denying he even knew him. All of them, these Jesus called friends, would run away in fear. Yet they broken, messed-up, very fallible folks they were were still his friends. All of them. Friends can hurt, terribly wound us, and still be our friends. That certainly complicates our definition of friendship when we prefer relationships that never grieve us and always support us, adding layers of complexity and nuances that can be difficult to comprehend, even more challenging to live. Jesus announced this gift of friendship as one found at the intersection of the holy and the sometimes messy reality of living. The depth of friendship Jesus extended to the disciples that night would survive even the shock and terror of the events that would soon transpire. Judas would sell out Jesus, Peter would pretend he never even knew him, Jesus would indeed die leaving them all bereft and adrift. But the relationship Jesus had with them would not only continue on but find a new graceful richness and a surprising strength. For Jesus friendship was not simply social interaction or opportunities for entertainment and shared activities, times when life was easy and fun. The nature of friendship, these personal relationships Jesus so treasured that formed the core of his ministry, were shaped by the love and grace of God, carrying with them a joy found deep in their hearts, finding purpose in mutual love and service, and rippling out into a world hungry for true, deep, meaningful relationship. Friendship, with all its challenges and pain, offered a window for God s grace to flourish. 2 John 15:17 NRSV
3 Jesus did say, however, that loving one another is a commandment, an order, not an option or convenience. Even as I say that, I am struck by the daunting nature of that command. I certainly fail, time and time again. We all do. How can one force love? How can love be commanded, even legislated? All the laws in the world cannot turn people into those who love others. We have witnessed that in our culture with anti-discrimination laws protecting race, gender, religion. We know of programs developed to help the hurting and vulnerable. Yet hatred s voice is loud, tearing us into sharply divided factions, volleying its venom at those least able to respond. Love one another seems impossible. This past week my son and I toured the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic Site in Atlanta. We stood on the steps of the Ebenezer Baptist church where he began his work. We walked the Freedom Walk to the Center for Nonviolence. We stood before his grave. And we watched and listened as, through film and words, through displays and art, the story of Martin Luther King, Jr. was powerfully and movingly relayed. Watching scenes from Selma, Montgomery, Memphis, the March on Washington brought back so many memories. I had watched these very clips on the TV in my living room, I read of the incidents in my local papers. I witnessed them unfolding in the schools I attended, the theatres I frequented, in the stores where I shopped, even in my family. This was no history lesson for me. Though in so many ways it was not my story in that by genetics I was on the side of the oppressor, it was my life as I recalled the pain and turmoil of that time, as I struggled to put together what I believed deep in my soul and what I had learned from the culture in which I lived. We all struggled to make sense of the confusion, the fear, the hatred that collided with the work and words of this one man whose voice gave birth to a movement grounded in God s precious love for all creation. As I stood there, not too many blocks from where my mother had been born and not far at all from where my family had been for generations, I cried. I discovered a friend there, one I most likely will never see again, but a friend. We cried together she, the descendant of slaves from that area and me, the descendent of slave owners from that same region heartbroken over all the pain.
4 For Dr. King it was never his personal agenda but his faith in the love of God, a love that few actually wanted, no one expected, but a love demanded by God. King believed in the power of relationships, of friendships, of people coming together as one, to change the world into one defined by love, grace, and justice. Jesus said, And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. 3 That was King s goal not to merely enact laws creating an artificial justice but to transform hearts and souls so that God s love would be seen, felt, and experienced by all. We are called to be friends, we are called to love one another, we are called to impact the lives of those around us. As I listened to a sermon from Dr. King s funeral, one he had delivered two months earlier right across the street at Ebenezer, I thought of this text from John and what it meant that Jesus has called us friends. In his own words, this is how King wanted to be remembered: I d like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I d like for somebody to say that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.. I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try to feed the hungry. And I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try, in my life, to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say, on that day, that I did try, in my life, to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right side or your left side, not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your best side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition, but I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world. 4 What a beautifully amazing description of that very friendship of which Jesus spoke. A friendship whose goal is to create and reflect a world of God s love and justice. A world that finds hope in the waters of grace and forgiveness that rain upon us all. That was the legacy Dr. King wanted to leave, that was the mission of Jesus Christ, that is the claim God has placed on each one of us. We are called to be, as German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, Christ 3 John 15: 16a NRSV 4 From The Drum Major Instinct in A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. Edited by James Melvin Washington. Harper One. 1986 Coretta Scott King, Executrix of the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr.
5 taking form in a body of believers. 5 That is true friendship, one that finds its life force in the Church, the Body of Christ, in communities of faith like this one who seek to follow God, in all our relationships. Through this friendship we share we find that the love of God instills in us all that, not only can we do this together, it is the very reason we live. We follow this life knowing there will be times of heartache and trouble, even betrayal and death. Holding our friendship together, though, is the gentle power of God s love, the healing breath of forgiveness, and the Spirit of grace that enables us to begin anew time and time again. The communion we will soon share is just such an expression of the gift of friendship, one defined by the grace of God that weaves us all together as one in this wonderfully difficult and amazing journey we call life. When we eat this bread and drink this cup, it s not a memory of Jesus who died but an announcement of the present belief that we do not go through this world alone. This act tells of the future hope that God s love can and will become a reality. So let us share today in this beautiful sacrament, and let us remember Jesus words, This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 6 It is a love flowing freely from God to us, from us to one another, out into all the world. It s a love that finds joy in who we are and in who we can become. It s a love that finds its life purpose in working together side by side as together we become God s love in the world. It s what it means to be called friends. Now to God who is able to do far more than anything we can ask or imagine to God be the glory. Amen. Rev. Melodie Long United Presbyterian Church Sackets Harbor, New York May 1, 2016 5 Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A Life Together. 1939. 6 John 15: 12 NRSV