EASTER VI [B]: Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48; I Jn 4:7-10; Jn 15: 9-17

One of the greatest gifts in life is friendship. The Book of Sirach in the Old Testament declares, ‘A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: whoever has found one has found a treasure. For many married people, their best friend is their spouse. All of us, hopefully, whether married or not, have a faithful friend, someone who loves us as we are, who listens to us when we need someone to share with, who stands by us in good times and in dark times. It is difficult to get through life without the love of a friend.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus says to his disciples, ‘I call you friends.’ What Jesus says to them, he says to each one of us. He says that he reveals his friendship for us in two ways. Friends trust one another enough to share what is deepest in their hearts. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus says ‘I have made known to you, everything I have learned from my Father’. What was deepest in Jesus’ heart was his relationship with God, his Father, and he has shared that relationship with us. In the words of the second reading, he has revealed God to be Love. He hasn’t simply spoken to us about God’s love but has given expression to God’s unconditional love in his whole way of life and, especially, in his death. When we speak of God’s love as unconditional, we must understand that His love is not something that can be bought. It is not given to us as a quid pro quo, a reward for good behavior, or payment for some devotion or sacrifice which we have made to earn that love. St John asserts that God loved us while we were still sinners. His love for us is not dependent on us being righteous or worthy. No sacrifice or price we are willing to pay would be sufficient to purchase it. It is not fully true to say that God’s love makes no demands on us. In fact, a great deal is demanded of us. And here we have it in both the second reading and the gospel that God’s love challenges us to a new way of life that makes certain demands of us.

Firstly, we are required to obey and keep His commandments. His commandments are an expression of His will and our refusal to obey those commandments is rebellion against His will. To claim that we love God and yet oppose His will would be a lie.

Secondly, predominant among God’s commandments is the commandment to love others: “Love one another, as I have loved you.” This is the benchmark by which all love is to be measured. We do not just love those who have been good to us, who have treated us well, whom we are indebted to. Love extends even to those who have done nothing to deserve it, those outside our circle of friends and family, and even those whom we consider enemies. Of course, we are not commanded to “like”, as “liking” or “not liking” someone is purely subjective. True love is never subjective. To love, instead, is to intend the well-being of the other person. And this is something that can be accomplished and measured objectively. This is why St John can argue that “Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love.”


Jesus also says that he has befriended us in a complete way, ‘so that his own joy may be in us and our joy be complete’. The gift of true friendship is a blessing that always brings us joy. A faithful friend is one of the great joys of life. Jesus himself knew the joy of God his Father’s friendship. By befriending us, he wants us to share in his joy. By loving us as God loves him, he wants us to know a joy that nothing in this world can give us, a joy that is complete. We can seek happiness in all kinds of places, but true joy, a joy that is deeply rooted and lasting, is found when we open ourselves up to the gift of the Lord’s faithful friendship. We will only fully experience the joy Jesus speaks about in eternal life when we will be fully opened up to God’s love, but here and now Jesus wants us to begin to experience this joy by receiving the gift of his friendship.

 

The primary way we remain in Jesus’ loving friendship is by allowing his faithful love to flow through us and embrace the lives of others. We are to love one another as he loves us, to find ways of befriending one another as he has befriended us. Jesus poured out on us the love he received from God his Father, and we are to pour out on others the love we receive from Jesus. When this happens, then our joy will be complete. May the risen Lord who commanded his disciples to love one another as he had loved them give us the grace to love others as he loves us without counting the cost.