Text: Acts 10: 44-48; 1 John 5: 1-6; John 15: 9-17.
Let us bow our heads in prayer –
God of Wisdom. Let our eyes, ears and hearts be open to your truth, that we and others may be set free to receive Your love. Amen.
___________________________
Reading our Gospel passage today, the first impression you may get is the word “commandments”. That Jesus – and thus God – will only love us on the condition that we obey the commandments. That if we are bad boys and girls, and break the commandments, God will punish us by withdrawing love from us, like a controlling parent.
But if we think back through the whole Gospel story, and even if we read this short passage again, we realise that Jesus was interested in only one commandment – the commandment of love. Remember what He said elsewhere:
‘The scribe asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the first of all?”
Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this; you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12: 28)
So, when Jesus talks about obeying commandments, he’s not talking about following a lot of irksome rules and regulations, to earn the grudging approval of the great Schoolteacher in the Sky. No, He’s calling us to live out lives of love, and through doing this we discover God in all we do.
Because, if you read this short passage carefully, the key words are not ‘obey’ and ‘commandment’, but ‘friend’ and ‘joy’.
Let’s look at what it might entail being a friend of Jesus.
Jesus says: “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” This does not mean that we can only be His friend as a reward for doing as he does tell us to. Rather, it’s a fact of life. Jesus’ one and only ‘command’ is to love God completely, and to love those we come into contact with – to live a life of friendship. Jesus is saying that we discover the joys of friendship with God by living a life of love.
Let’s look at the nature of friendship. Mary, a troubled youngster, was having difficulty settling into her new school. The school counselor called her into the office for a chat. “Mary”, she said, “I want to be your friend. I will never tell your parents or your teachers anything we talk about, if you don’t want me to. I want you to know that you can trust me, and I’ll always be there if you need me.”
With tearful eyes, Mary looked up at the counselor: “Gee, Miss Edwards,” she said with emotion in her voice, “you’re just like my dog.” You don’t have to be terribly clever or articulate to be a good friend.
Jo said to me recently: “I watch you sometimes when you get back home after being out somewhere that’s been a bit tiring. When Oscar (that’s our dog) sees you he rushes out to greet you and jumps up at you and dances around you deleted “and” trying to coat you in saliva. But it makes you perk up and come back to life.”
If that’s what a dog can do to you, with its rather mindless devotion, imagine the power of human friendship to bring new life, new vitality and new hope to people who need it.
Human friendship can literally save lives. The group the Samaritans followed up a number of desperate people who rang their services who were on the point of suicide. One group only made one contact with the Samaritans. They were the group who were most likely to commit suicide at a later date. Another group was befriended by one of the Samaritan volunteers i.e. one of the volunteers would keep in touch with the person over a number of months, visiting them, phoning them, and just acting as a friend through their crisis. That was the group that was least likely to commit suicide.
There was a third group. A Samaritan volunteer wasn’t able to visit or keep in personal contact with members of this group, because of where they lived, or some other reason. However, someone from the Samaritans sent these people a letter every month or so. Even members of this group were less likely to commit suicide later. So even the slight friendship of a stranger writing the occasional letter has life-giving power. What then does the steady increase in youth suicide tell us about modern life?
I don’t think there is any other religion in the world that talks about divine friendship. Others worship, respect, stand in awe of, fear, beseech, adore, even love their God. But not to the level of friendship. I’m not saying this to put down other religions, as some of you will be aware I have a great respect for other world religions, I’m just pointing out a major difference.
Friendship suggests a mutual respect, even a mutual need. Friendship suggests that either party can be both supported by or hurt by the other.
This is unique to Christianity, the faith of the baby in the manger and the Christ on the Cross. Ours is a faith based on a vulnerable God, who risks all to not only love us, but to show us that love.
As I thought about this, it occurred to me that there is a positive side to the traditional emphasis on the image of God as a loving father. Often, understandably, people have reacted against the image of God as father, especially those who have never had a positive experience of a father.
Because, sadly, in our society there are many men who have been failures as parents.
An Australian psychologist was promoting a book ‘Manhood’ some years ago which I read. He wrote about the unsatisfactory relationship between most Australian men and their fathers, and of course we know the same is true here. Most men, in the past at least, have not known how to express their love for their children. Some have not even known how to feel love for their children.
And perhaps the same could be said of the God or gods of other religions. Like Kiwi fathers, they either have not known how to love their children, or have not been very good at expressing that love. Of course our impression of God is really a true reflection of how we ourselves feel inside.
But with the faith based on Jesus, the Christ born in a stable and dying on a cross, for the first time we experience God not as a strong but inadequate, inarticulate and remote heavenly father, but as a loving, close father.
To those fathers in the congregation who have perhaps not had the best relationship with their children remember it’s still not too late.
To talk of God as motherly, as a mother hen protecting her chicks under her wings, for example, is a wonderful metaphor of loving tenderness, and a very appropriate one to reflect on on Mother’s Day. But to talk of God as a loving father tells us not only about tenderness, but also about the unique ability or our God to show us that love, that friendship that only some, very special, fathers have learnt.
To confirm your suspicions of my unbalanced attitudes to dogs, I will end with a story about a member of the Auckland Warriors. As you may remember the Warriors were having a terrible season a few years back and were at the bottom then of the Super League. One of them found the pressure even affecting his family relationships; to the extent that he felt that the only one who was offering him any affection at home was his faithful dog.
“In tough times like these,” he said plaintively to his family, scratching the ear of his faithful pet, “a man needs more than just one friend.”
So his wife went out and bought him a second dog.
No comments:
Post a Comment