1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word on this 6th Sunday of Easter is taken from John 15:9-17. It’s entitled, “Friends of God,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Jesus will suffer, die, and rise again for you. By this love, you are forgiven. By this love, you are made His friends: Friends of God. This past Holy Week of 2021, a non-believer needed a favor. He wanted his Christian friend to go with him to Home Depot and load up materials to build a deck. His Christian friend was more than willing to help. They just needed to find a time that worked for the two of them. After all, it was Holy Week. As they were trying to find a good time, it came up that the Christian friend was going to church on Thursday and Friday. “Why are you doing that?” the non-believer asked. “I thought you went to church on Sunday?” It seemed strange to him that his Christian friend would go to church more than once a week.
3. This conversation was a familiar one. The Christian and the non-Christian have had it about one thing or another for years. It usually begins with the question “why?” “Why are you doing that?” “Why are you reading the Bible? Haven’t you read it all by now?” “Why are you going to church during the week? Don’t you get enough on Sunday?” “Why are you talking about religion? Don’t you know that people are free to believe what they want to believe?” For all the times the non-Christian has asked his Christian friend that question, and for all the answers his Christian friend had given, the Christian friend had never once responded to his question of “Why?” by saying, “Because Jesus is my friend.” Usually, the Christian launches into some explanation about what it means to be a Christian and try to teach his non-Christian friend what we as Christians believe. But, maybe the Christian has forgotten to talk about something even more important. He has not shared with his non-Christian friend that, “Jesus is his friend.”
4. Why do we as Christians not think in those terms? Even writing it out seems strange. I’m comfortable and confident talking about Jesus as my Savior, my Redeemer, my Lord, my King, my Shepherd, my Resurrection, and my Life, but “My friend?” It just seems odd. But, in our reading today, Jesus calls us to meditate on that word.
5. Jesus is with His disciples on the night when He was betrayed. He is conversing with them, preparing them for His death. They will watch as the events that are about to unfold turn ugly, their dreams of peace are shattered, and their Passover celebration is marked by death. But, in the midst of this, Jesus tells them what is really happening. He speaks to them of the greatest love, a love that saves.
6. In this conversation, our Lord reminds His disciples that He has called them, chosen them, taught them, appointed them, commanded them, promised things to them, but most importantly, He has loved them. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “Friends.” There, you have it. Jesus calls His disciples friends. Φίλοι. Beloved. Of all the things He said and did, this is the greatest mystery. Jesus will suffer, die, and rise again for them. By this love, they are forgiven. By this love, they are made His friends: Friends of God.
7. Jesus then helps them meditate on what this means by contrasting the life of a friend with the life of a servant. “No longer do I call you servants,” Jesus says, “for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father, I have made known to you” (John 15:15). Jesus distinguishes between servants and friends. A servant does not know the mind of his master. He simply follows orders. If his master says, “Go,” he goes. If his master says, “Come,” he comes. If his master says, “Stay,” he stays. The servant is obedient and does what he is told. He does not question. He does not reason. He just does.
8. But, a friend, is different. A friend knows more than a servant and, therefore, a friend does things differently. Although the outward action may be the same, the friend does it because he is beloved. He knows the heart of the one he is serving and his service flows from such love.
9. So, that causes us to ask the question what was love to our Savior Jesus Christ? How would he define love? The love of a friend. Jesus wouldn’t define love with words, but with actions: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). “Having loved his own who were in the world, [Jesus] loved them to the end. . . . Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet” (Jn 13:1, 5). “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:10). For Jesus, love meant nothing apart from deeds. Jesus didn’t just speak love, he did love. Love for Jesus was sacrifice. Jesus sacrificed his time, energy, personal comfort, and the sacrifice of his very life all for you to forgive you your sins and give you the promise of eternal life. To restore your broken relationship with God
10. Jesus gave all of this love to us very unlovable, sinful human beings. Jesus didn’t choose us to love because we loved him first. No, the disciples weren’t too good at that. Oh, they talked a good game. The night of our text, Peter and all the disciples were sure they’d make any sacrifice for Jesus, even die with him. Well, you know how that turned out. The disciples were good with love that was words, but when it came time to put their lives on the line, even their words bailed out: “I don’t know the man.” Peter said as he denied Jesus as His Lord and Master. No, Jesus didn’t choose to love the disciples because they chose to love him. He’s quite emphatic: “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16).
11. But Jesus did choose you—you who were no more lovable and reliable than Peter. You who bail when it’s time to tell your friends, right out loud, right there when he’s being mocked, “I love Jesus.” We weren’t lovable, but Jesus says, “I love you—your sins are forgiven.” Jesus says, “I love you—here is some fish and bread when He feeds the 5,000.” Jesus says, “I love you—I lay down my life for you, my friend.”
12. The ways of Christianity are strange to our world. Living as a Christian can raise questions. How do we respond? So often, we respond to questions about Christianity as if we were servants and not friends. That is, we do things because we are told to do them or we simply say, “That’s just the way it is.” What would our conversations sound like if we were to say we do things because we are friends of Jesus?
13. Praying before a meal, reading Scripture, attending church, speaking of faith... these are all activities which flow from being a friend of Jesus. Jesus chose to make us friends. He suffered and died and rose for you. We do not know all God is doing. His ways are beyond our understanding. But we do know one thing about Jesus, He died and rose to make us friends. Since Jesus has risen from the dead, His love never ends. He is always at work, extending His grace, so those who do not know Him, those who have questions about Him, those who are enemies of Him might be forgiven and become friends.
14. As our world slowly changes, as the values and ways of life stray so far from our Christian calling, people will have questions. “Why do you do that?” One answer is that this is what the Church teaches. We are told to do these things and we obey. That is one way to answer, and, in some sense, it is right. But I wonder if it goes far enough.
15. Another answer, an answer Jesus gives us, is that He is our friend. “Why do you do that?” the world asks, and our answer is, “Because I am a friend of Jesus.” Beginning there, we start at the heart: The heart of our relationship with Jesus and the heart of what Jesus desires for all people. To Love as Jesus Loved Means That We Serve as Jesus Served. We love by sacrifice. We love not by words but by deeds. We love by laying down our lives for others. Not necessarily literally, but as we give of our time, our comforts, and our treasures, we are laying down our lives in love for others. We want to practice a love that doesn’t desire but gives. We love not to get something but to do something. Maybe we shouldn’t say, “I love you.” Maybe we should say, “What can I do for you?” Love without sacrifice is nothing.
16. It’s Mother’s Day weekend and we thank God for our Mothers. Here’s an illustration of the sacrificial love that Christ gives to us. There was a daughter of a princess who was deathly ill with diphtheria. The mother was forbidden to kiss the child because of the almost certain danger of contracting the disease. In one of the many moments of pain for the child, the mother was so distressed that she took her daughter in her arms and soothed her into quietness. The daughter looked into the eyes of her mother and said, “Mama, kiss me.” This was too much for the mother’s heart. She took her child, pressed her against her body and kissed her. It was a kiss of death. Love is sacrifice without counting the cost.
17. Jesus says we are: Friends of God. So, whom do we love? Anyone for whom we sacrifice is someone we love, starting with our spouses, children, and friends. We can love people whom we don’t even know. How many people give money for the relief of those caught in natural disasters? That is sacrificial love. We love the unloving. We love those who do not love us. We love as we do deeds in the name of Jesus Christ. We do because Jesus loved us first. Amen. The peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.
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