May 13 — Sixth Sunday of Easter
John 15:9-17
Can one person order another person to love him? If someone told you and me to love each other, would we do it? Could we do it?
We can’t love just because we’re told! Love has to grow. We need time to be sure what we feel is love.
You’ve probably figured out Jesus means something other than the romantic love, or even affection, we first think of. Jesus talks about two aspects of love.
He talks about agapé. And he speaks of friendship, rooted in philia. We translate it to “brotherly love.” But it’s much more than a vague sense of obligation toward everyone else. There’s nothing vague about agapé or philia. They’re both about passion, serious commitment. A very clear path in life.
Agapé is a direction of the will toward another. It doesn’t grow out of feelings, but begins with a choice. Not an easy choice. But, once chosen, it determines other choices.
Agapé is love because. It doesn’t spring up out of who we are or what we can do. Jesus calls us to a love that comes from his love for us. It comes from who he is and how he loves.
Jesus doesn’t say, “Like one another, then try to love one another.” He doesn’t say, “Figure out who is worthy of your love, then do your best.”
Jesus commands a high standard. The most extreme love we can imagine. But it’s a love we have already seen in action. Agapé love is possible because we know Jesus. And how he loves.
When he calls us his friends we know his kind of friendship is possible. Because we know Jesus and how he loves.
Can love be commanded, then? If it can, he can command it. And his commandments aren’t burdensome. On those rare occasions when Jesus lays down a law, he provides an example to follow. And the Spirit to help us follow it.
This commandment is a little like taking a child to an ice cream parlour and laying down rules on the way in. “You will choose whatever flavour you want! You will have two scoops! You will make as big a mess as you can! You will enjoy it!”
Adults are much more likely to forget to do what’s right. We need to be told. Over and over again. “Love one another, as I have loved you.”
Jesus calls us friends, not servants. The Greek word can also mean “slave.” We’d rather be friends than slaves. But a real friend has a power to command. You take her word seriously. You want to do what she asks. You may even move heaven and earth for the sake of that friendship.
A true friend will always tell you the whole truth. Jesus says, “I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.”
Our friend tells us why he commands us to love: “so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”
Joy. Not something we associate with commandments. We don’t think obedience is a joyful response. Duty is a burden!
Have we forgotten the childhood joy of playing with friends? The joy of imagining, creating something. A world in the back yard. A city of building blocks. A house in a snow bank. Jesus says we’ll find that simple, deep joy when we do as he says. And does.
Does our life together as church model agapé and philia for all to see?
Does our shared work resemble the joyful play of God’s children, Jesus’ friends? Or do we look like slaves to duty, grimly grinding away till our time runs out?
