May 5, 2024 Sixth Sunday of Easter The text is John 15:9-17.
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[Jesus said:] 9“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”
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May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
Grace, mercy, and peace are yours from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The manner in which the readings that are selected for Lutheran churches to include in our worship services each Sunday usually results in unrelated gospel passages being chosen. However, that isn’t the case when we examine last week’s reading from John and the portion of his gospel that is designated as today’s passage. In fact, today’s verses are a continuation of the reading from last Sunday. Taken together they form a portion of what is called Jesus’ Final Discourse.
Chapters 13 through 17 of John’s gospel recount this series of teachings and prayers that Jesus shares with his disciples during the last evening he spends with them, prior to his arrest and crucifixion. And this morning’s verses expand upon what Jesus taught about the relationship between his followers and himself. You may recall that he used the metaphor of the vine and branches to explain how he and those who follow him are connected to one another and are inter-dependent. “I am the vine, you are the branches”, Jesus tells his disciples. He teaches that because of this connectedness, they, and we are enabled to produce the “good fruit” that faith encourages Christ’s followers to create. These are the good works that followers of Jesus are compelled to perform, and we are aided in doing these because we acknowledge that Jesus abides in us, and we in him. We understand that, through the vine and branches analogy Jesus uses, that we are enabled to produce these works of generosity, compassion, and kindness because Jesus abides, “remains” within us. We are not alone when we act as servants to others.
In the verses last Sunday as Jesus was expressing how important it is to acknowledge that he remains with us, he used the word, “abide” eight times to make his point about him living within us. And in today’s reading he repeats the word three more times. But as the focus shifts, we hear that Jesus now teaches about the love that results from abiding with him and the Father. The word, “love” now takes center stage in Jesus’ discourse, so much so that it appears nine times in the verses we read this morning. But next week’s teaching from Jesus is taken from John’s gospel several chapters later than this morning’s passage, and his message then is not related to what he taught this and last week. So it’s clear that Jesus’ teaching about vines, branches, abiding, and good fruit is intended to reach its conclusion in the words he speaks this morning. It’s all about the love; God’s, Jesus’, and ours for one another. Jesus began his discourse by inviting his followers to, “abide in me”. He concludes his teaching by saying, “abide in my love”.
But before inviting his disciples to remain in the love of Christ, he reminds them that the love he has for them is the same love that God the Father has for Jesus, the Son. And this is a very special type of care, affection, and devotion; the kind that expresses the divine love of God for Jesus and the world.
There are three words in the Greek in which John writes for the different types of love that may be expressed for others. Eros is romantic love, philos is the love for one’s friends, and agape is the special, unconditional, divine love of God for all Creation. In today’s passage Jesus proclaims that it is this divine agape-love that God has for Jesus that is the same love Jesus has for his disciples. And at the end of this morning’s teaching, Jesus commands them to have this agape-love for each other. God the Father loves Jesus as only God can; Jesus loves the disciples in the same way God loves Jesus; the disciples are to share God-like love for one another. They, and we are to care for each another in ways that express divine love;… pretty intense demand. Jesus knows the love that God has for the world, but he proclaims that the world can only recognize God’s love if those who follow Christ express that same love for others to see. The world is made aware of God’s invisible love for all Creation if those who are the branches bound to the vine of Jesus carry this love into the world through visibility of the good fruit they produce.
But as Jesus sends the disciples forth to obey his command to practice agape-love for each other and the world, he makes a statement that, to be honest, until quite recently I have struggled with. He declares that his disciples, having learned all he has to teach them, are no longer servants, but they have now become Jesus’ friends. And in spite of the comforting lyrics we find in the old-time hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”; again, I have always been somewhat uncomfortable with the notion that Jesus and I are friends. It feels as if the relationship between myself and the actual Son of God has been reduced from divine and mortal to that of a couple of pals; you know, like fishing or golf buddies. But since diving a bit deeper into this morning’s verses, I’ve become more comfortable with the concept of being Jesus’ friend. And this is because once again the words Jesus chooses puts the offer of being his friend into a different perspective when the reciprocal love that defines this friendship is considered. While Jesus announces that his disciples are now his friends, he uses the word with the Greek root for brotherly love, philos. But when he commands them to share love with one another and the world, he reverts again to the divine love of God, agape.
Thus the friendship that Jesus promises is manifested by sharing love that expresses Godlike quality. This declaration that we are Jesus’ friends; well, then it’s clear that he views friendship with him in a much deeper, more meaningful way than I, and perhaps some of you might have considered. Jesus’ agape-love extended as far as him laying down his life for his friends, for those for whom he has divine love. And while he doesn’t suggest that the disciples need to prove their love for one another by surrendering their lives as he did, he does intend that they express their agape-love by putting other’s needs before their own. And in doing this, now as friends of Jesus, we bear the good fruit that results not only from Jesus abiding within us, but with the intention to perform these deeds of servanthood motivated by the knowledge we are acting out of a desire to make God’s love visible to others.
So the metaphor that Jesus began using at the start of this portion of his teaching now becomes more meaningful when we look at it in relation to the ultimate point he intended to make. His Jewish audience, his disciples were acutely aware of the relationship among vineyard owner and vines and branches. This analogy historically served as the image that explained God’s relationship with the people of Israel. God is the vinegrower, the vine is Israel, and God’s people are the branches that find themselves connected to God, to Israel, and one another. Jesus adapts this acknowledgement of the people’s connectedness to God and each other by introducing his role as the Son of God into it. He declares that his attachment to God the Father connects God, Jesus, and those who believe in Jesus in a new way. He teaches that the abiding of his disciples with him, and he within them results in their ability through this connectedness to bear good fruit.
And these good fruits are not only material works of charity, benevolence, and servanthood, but the good fruits that arise from abiding in Christ’s love are expressed through the love his followers have for one another; and more importantly, make God’s love so obvious that the world is unable to deny it. Jesus teaches them and us, saying “abide in me” and “abide in my love”. What a blessing it is that that Jesus offers us when he invites to be his friends.
Will you pray with me? Good, and gracious, and holy God, Jesus, your Son calls us his friends. He has assured us that we are blessed with your love because he abides in us and we in him. Help, us, guide us, inspire us to produce the good fruit that shows the world we are your children. And we pray these things in the name of the risen Jesus, our friend; the One in whose love we remain always. Amen.
God is Good, all the time. All the time, God is Good. Amen.