Pastor Tom Johnson, May 9, 2021
In recent weeks we have heard a lot about love in the Scripture readings—especially John’s Gospel. “For God so loved the world he sent his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” You’ll remember the great commandment: “To love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.” The second is like it, “To love your neighbor as yourself—to love one another as Christ loved us.” And today: “No one has greater love than this than to lay one’s life down for one’s friends.” “You are my friends,” Jesus says. “You did not choose me but I chose you.” “We love because he first loved us.” In other words, we befriend Jesus and other people because Jesus befriended us first. The best way to make friends is to be a friend first. Instead of trying to find a friend—be a friend to those around you. This is Jesus’ example. What was an insult from religious leaders is a badge of honor to Jesus: “I am a friend of sinners,” Jesus says. “You are my friends.”
There were a few jaw-dropping moments while I was in seminary. One was when one of my professors said, “You believe that Jesus loves you, died for you, and rose again for you. But many of you don’t believe Jesus likes you.” It almost comes as a shock to hear that God not only loves us but that he likes us. I believe this is the effect Jesus wants to have on us. So much talk of love to fulfill the law, it would be easy for us to think that Jesus loves us out of obligation. No, Jesus says with his words today, “I love you and I like you.”
In our Scripture today, Jesus says he wants our joy to be complete. He wants us to be assured that we are not just the bride of Christ; we are the friend of Christ. He loves us. And he likes us. That is Jesus’ challenge: do not just love others in word only. Be friends to them from the heart and in action. Do not let your love be a theological abstraction but a joyful and authentic expression of friendship. Jesus reminds us that the greatest expression of love is to lay one’s life down for our friends. True friendship is sacrificial. It’s giving of one’s self for the benefit of another. When we are true friends, we are not fixated on ourselves. The proverb says, “A person of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother or sister” (18:24). This is who Jesus wants us to be—such genuine friends to one another that we are family. Jesus says, “You did not choose me. I chose you.” As we think about what it means to be a Christian, we may think that love is an obligation. We have to love. We have be loving, saith the Lord. “I have to love you,” we might think, “but I do not need to like you.”
No, Jesus wants our joy to be whole and complete. He wants us to cultivate love in our whole being. Christ-like friendship does not begin by our being drawn to a person because of their magnetic personality or perks from the relationship. Christ-like friendship begins by being a friend to that person first. It means listening. It means learning about the other person. It means finding ways we can be a support, an encouragement, and a companion. Authentic friendship says, “I choose you. I will take the risk of being a friend to you without any expectation or anything in return.” We accept others as they are just as Jesus accepts us as we are. We befriend others without expecting anything in return just as Jesus befriended us when we did nothing to earn or deserve such authentic love. True friendship is rare because it is a risky. We may be rejected. We may get burned. Proverbs 11:30 says, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and a winner of souls is wise.” It is wisdom to make friends.
Jesus’ powerful reminder to us today is that you and I are worth the risk. Jesus put himself out there. He showed interest in those around him. No one was invisible to him. He cared about the struggles, pain, and death he witnessed around him. On the other hand, all the disciples were fair-weather friends to Jesus, their master. They all ran away when he was arrested. He was mocked. His reputation was attacked. He was crucified. And yet, Jesus kept extending the hand of friendship to them and to the world. As a faithful friend he prays, “Father forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.” Even as he died for us, he paves the way for reconciliation and authentic friendship.
Jesus wants us to learn how he is a friend to us first. He wants us to learn how to be friends to each other. And he wants us to be friends to him. Are you growing in your love for Jesus? Are you growing in your like of Jesus? He wants us to learn about him and cultivate an affection for him just as we do one another. The more we learn and understand about Jesus, the more we will be in awe of him and the more we like him. That’s what we’re doing when we listen to his Word, receive him and commune with him at the Table, and enjoy true Christian fellowship in the body of Christ. This is what Jesus wants for you and me: for our joy to be full—for our love and friendships to be fulfilling.
No comments:
Post a Comment