Easter VI

Easter VI (John 15:9-17) “You are my friends.”

God the Father created all of us and each of us to be the forever friends of God the Son.

You are not an accident. You are not a result of the random interaction of matter, energy, time and space. You are very specifically designed for a very specific meaning and purpose.

However you got here, the very fact that you are here demonstrates the great universal unconditional and creative love of the Father.

Jesus came into a world governed by fear and defined by power. The religions of the time reacted to fear with structures of rigid uncompromising inflexible law. Or, they encouraged a self-indulgent superstition. The philosophies of the time taught cynicism, arrogance and disdain for the unenlightened masses.

Jesus rescues us, saves us, from the extremes of law and license, pride and despair.

In a world defined by what the state and the temples taught people to fear, Jesus reveals that the very basis for our existence is universal unconditional love.

Jesus’s solution to fear is friendship. He offers all of us and each of us a forever friendship within the triune community of love which forms the One God.

That is why Jesus never taught that people should over throw the political structures of the state or the religious structures of the temple. Jesus came to transform minds and hearts and wills. He came to form our very souls as the living temples of God the Holy Spirit on earth. He came to give new meaning and purpose to the political and religious structures we create.

The key words in this new way of living are: abide, joy, choice and love.

Jesus invites us into a personal relationship with the personal God. Jesus offers to fill us with divine life in the here and now as we choose to live and move and have our being in him. This is the meaning of the word “abide.” The friendship Jesus offers is not temporary or casual. It is foundational to our design.

As we choose to enter into the personal relationship Jesus offers Jesus helps us to understand that he is the very pattern of our souls. Our lives work so much better as we enter into the relationship and then follow the pattern of the relationship. This is why Jesus comments that we cultivate the friendship by following the pattern of the friendship.

That pattern is expressed in the summary of the commandments. Jesus quotes Moses when he summarizes the commandments in the three fold law of love: worship, compassion, personal transformation.

It is as we choose to walk in the way of divine love in the three fold path of love that we experience the fruit of love. That fruit is Joy.

We are blessed in our English language that Joy can be used as an acronym for the three fold path of love. JOY means; Jesus, others, you.

We place Jesus first in our lives when we hear and receive the pattern of worship. The pattern of worship is to meet Jesus at the altar of sacrifice on the seventh day.

We honor others as we seek to meet their real and present needs as God reveals them to us. Jesus teaches very clearly and unambiguously that poverty is an abomination. There are two forms of poverty in the world: spiritual and material.

We meet the spiritual poverty of the world through evangelism. We meet the material poverty of the world by direct action.

Direct action has two aspects. The first is providing what is lacking to those in need. Here at St. Luke’s we have a food pantry and a clothing collection bin to meet the need for food and clothing. The second aspect of direct action is our influence on the institutions of our society to follow divine principles in our laws and in our programs. Whatever political party you belong to, whatever social organization you participate in, Jesus wants you to embody the values of divine compassion in your words and deeds.

Finally, there is you. You are part of the three fold equation of love. Our Heavenly Father created us to grow and transform in our friendship with the Son. We transform by reading the Bible, studying the Bible and memorizing the Bible. We transform through prayer- an ongoing conversation with God. We transform by pondering (meditating on) the life of Jesus, Mary and the saints. We transform most effectively and thoroughly through worship. For, worship is the highest form of love a human being can experience.

Perfect love casts our fear, transforms fear and sets us free to enjoy the abundant life God designed for us. The friendship Jesus offers so fills us with the joy of salvation that we meet the duality of life courageously, creatively and patiently.

The requisite condition for any friendship is time, attention and communication.

Our Heavenly Father sent the Son into the world to be fully present to us. Our Heavenly Father sends the Holy Spirit into the world to help us be fully present to the Son. This is the new way of divine love that manifests in our lives as the joy of salvation.