Mission Society of the Philippines

Homilies

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER: LASTING FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD

Jn 15: 9-17

THE DISCOURSE on the “Vine and the Branches” continues, and in this particular passage, the indwelling or abiding that Jesus asks from his disciples takes a new form. He says that we must remain in his love. There are two important things we can take from the gospel for our reflections.

On the one hand, it has been shown by Jesus that one way of abiding in his love is to keep the commandments. Perhaps, this is something to be reflected on because some of us have no good attitude toward God’s and Church’s commandments. Like for instance, when I asked a young man why he does not always go to Church mass on Sundays, his reply was, “It is just a Church law and it is not binding.” Certainly, it could be a problem if we think of Sunday obligation as a mere law. For most of us, especially Filipinos, “made-made laws” are made to be broken or disobeyed. There could be a problem if we apply this to Sunday mass. But if we try to regard the Sunday obligation in another way, that is, an expression of our love for God, then this makes a difference. We all desire to love God. Yet, this love needs concrete expressions, like following his commandment. And one commandment is to make the days of the Lord holy.

On the other, let us try to reflect on relationship of friendship because the word has been mentioned in this passage. Friendship is one of the cherished human relationships. It is one of the central human experiences and in fact, it has been sanctified by major religions. An ordinary human friendship has been understood as a relationship which involves mutual knowledge, esteem, and affection and respect along with a degree of rendering service to friends in times of need or crisis. But it appears that there is more we can get in our friendship with Jesus. As the gospel suggests, there are three important aspects of this friendship that Jesus has brought to the fore. 

First, he shows that friends are worth dying for. He says, “No one has greater love than… to lay down one’s life for his friends.” Ordinary friendship may also have this kind of quality but not as comparable to what Jesus did. The obvious element of friendship that we find with Jesus is love, a love that finds its culmination in the self-offering on the cross. The self-donation of Jesus on the cross is an index that He has cared for his friends so much, that he has loved his friends so much. He is very much concerned of the life of his friends that he died so that his friends could live and could experience joy.

Second, friends are those who keep the commandments of Jesus. He says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” In ordinary friendship, people have some expectations toward another. If a friend is in crisis, he or she needs some pieces of advice to be heeded. If someone fails to do it, a friend would sigh in disgust, “I am already fed up with her because she does not listen to what I say.” The words of Jesus may appear “demanding” but the command to love is essential in our friendship with him. God is love and love is God. Jesus is love and love is Jesus. Love is an element which can never be separated from Jesus. Thus, the command to love is necessary in our friendship with him. We can only be regarded as “friends of Jesus’ if we have that love, and if we share that love to others.

Third, friends share in the secrets of God. He says, “I call you friends because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.” Ordinary friends share each other’s secrets; secrets that they may have hidden from their parents or siblings. Jesus also shared his secrets (that is, his inner life with the Father) to his disciples whom he considered friends. This is a privilege of the friends of Jesus. Jesus shared to his friends his closeness with the Father, as well as, the plan of the Father to save humanity from their sins. If they are not his friends, he would not have bothered to tell them. Since we are Jesus’ friends, we also heard and knew those secrets. In ordinary circumstances, listening to other’s secrets gives us delight. This should be the same delight that we must feel once we listen to the word of God. The Word of God must give us delight.

The rest of the “secrets” of Jesus are in the Bible. Thus if we want to maintain our friendship with Jesus, let us continue to listen to him through the Word of God. Lasting friendship with God can only be had if we continue to obey and listen to him through the Word of God.

 


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