Word to the Wise
Friday, May 7, 2010 - Friday in the Fifth Week of Easter
[Acts 15:22-31 and John 15:12-17]This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.
How would you react if someone said to you, "I'll be your friend as long as you do what I tell you to do!"? I don't think the friendship would get off to a healthy start if it started at all! In those that do rest on that foundation, I think there is a very unhealthy dependency! That judgment also rests on the extremely strong individualistic character of our North American culture. In societies where authority rests with the elders and membership in a collective reality is more important than individual fulfillment, Jesus' words would seem sheer common sense even if self-sacrifice would be considered the ultimate expression of it. What are we to think? Even St. Paul, who lived in the Middle East of course, says that "Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die." [Rom. 5:7] But then in the next verse he writes" "But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." Jesus' words must be read in the context of his relationship to his disciples. He has washed their feet and has told them to emulate his example because they call him "Lord and Master." It is this connection, illustrated beautifully in the image of the vine and branches, that sustains the statement, "You are my friends if you do what I command you." That commandment is not simply following the example of the Good Samaritan, but following Jesus' example and staying close to him as branches on the vine. Does this offend against our individualistic cultural biases? Perhaps the statement should be put the other way around: "Do our individualistic cultural biases offend against the command of Jesus?" The latter would be far more accurate! We are called to "the greater love!" AMEN
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