Word to the Wise
Friday, May 19, 2017 - 5th Week of Easter - Fri
[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." [John]
The "Farewell Discourse" at the Last Supper defies any scheme of overall organization. One is reduced to meditating segment by segment. When the evangelist put together all the information and traditions that were available, he may have been confronted with something of a jumble himself. It is a bit like waking up in the morning after a long and important conversation well into the night before with friends about the relationship existing among them. If everyone in the group were asked what was discussed and in what order, there could be quite a bit of variety and differing emphases. The evangelist seems to have written down everything that everyone in his community and earlier communities could remember about the Last Supper and other times and put it all in one speech. This takes nothing from the inspired nature of what was said and written, but it does create challenges for understanding or finding an overarching theme other than going back to the Prologue of the gospel and working forward once more!
Today's segment carries forward a bit of the Vine and Branches image. The relationship that Jesus speaks of in that image is now called "love." This love may extend to giving one's life for a friend. Jesus declares the disciples to be his "friends," but this means that they must keep his commandment of love to love one another as he loves the disciples. That includes us, today. Jesus clearly followed his own commandment in giving his life for us, which leaves us to face the challenge of following that commandment. The washing of the feet of the disciples at the beginning of the Last Supper set the example. Love will always have a face (or a foot to be washed). AMEN
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