I Have Called You Friends May 11

Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter

‘It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities, namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage. If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right. Acts 15:82-29

“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:12-13

Piety

Let us pray: God, help us to accept your commandments and do right what is right every day. Help us to be as loyal and dependable to you as you are to us. Give us the willingness to open our hearts to you in confidence and in prayer everyday so that you also will call us your friends. Amen.

Study

Jesus takes a serious step today and advances his relationship with His disciples to more intimate ground. The nature of the relationship is changed from teacher-to-student and master-to-servant. Today, Jesus calls the disciples “friends.”

The notes to the New American Bible explain the significance of this. In the Old Testament, Moses (Deut 34:5), Joshua (Joshua 24:29), and David (Psalm 89:21) were called “servants” or “slaves of Yahweh”; only Abraham (Isaiah 41:8; 2 Chron 20:7; cf James 2:23) was called a “friend of God.”

There is a paper published by the Christian Churches of God on Why was Abraham a Friend of God? that sheds some interesting perspective on today’s readings and has helped me to understand these readings and jump to thoughts of my own.

How could God be a friend with a man? How could the omnipotent Creator endear himself to a man made from dust? Genesis 26:3-5 gives us that answer.

Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I will give all these lands, in fulfillment of the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and give them all these lands, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing – this because Abraham obeyed me, keeping my mandate (my commandments, my ordinances, and my instructions)."

Abraham agreed to God’s laws and therefore was able to become God’s friend. It was not a chance encounter. It took an active choice by Abraham. God presented the laws to Abraham and Abraham agreed.

That same agreement is now a facet of Christ’s relationship with His disciples. The parallel is the acceptance of the commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Therefore, Jesus can proclaim, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

God seeks an agreement on our part to do what is right. He gets that when we accept the sacraments and when we participate in the sacrifice of the Mass. God doesn’t want an appointment. He doesn’t want to pencil us in for Friday at 3 or Sunday at 9. God wants an everyday friendship. The kind of friendship when you can call anytime, night or day, and just talk. Even if you have been apart for years, God welcomes our call like he did the return of the lost son in the Parable of the Two Sons.

Friendship also requires loyalty and dependability. Jesus laid down his life for all of us. He asks us to dedicate our lives to him regardless of the consequences. Maybe we will not have to lay down our life…everyone is not called to martyrdom. However, we can agree to dedicate our life to walking this path with our friend, our God.

Finally, friendship brings along one more quality…the ability to confide in each other. Jesus did that when he said, “I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.” So we should do the same and tell the Lord everything. Formally, we can do that through the sacrament of reconciliation. But also, we can do that talking and sharing everyday by having a group reunion with God…some would probably just call that prayer.

The paper on Abraham concludes with these thoughts:

The relationship Abraham enjoyed with God was a remarkable one by human standards – but tremendously encouraging for us. God is not a partial God. He is not a respecter of persons. God doesn’t involve Himself in cliques or narrow, exclusive groups of people that only a few can enter. Rather, He extends the hand of friendship to all of those in His family. If we follow the example of our spiritual forefather Abraham by being in agreement with God, displaying loyalty and dependability towards God, and freely confiding in Him in all matters, then we too will be called the friends of God.

Action

How do you exhibit your friendship with God today?

God is not some political candidate who wants us to wear His button or put His bumper sticker on our car. What are you doing today or this week with your family, your church or your friends that shows the world you are a dependable friend of God?