Jesus, Our Friend

Devotional Reflection, Thursday, April 11, 2024

The week of the second Sunday of Easter

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:

12‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.

You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 959)

AM Psalm 18:1-20; PM Psalm 18:21-50

Exod. 16:10-22; 1 Pet. 2:11-25; John 15:12-27

David’s Reflections

Edwin Hoskyns reflected on verse 13 of today’s reading in these words: "Voluntary death is the supreme expression of love, and Jesus died for his friends."*  In this text, John presents Jesus as dying for his friends.  That statement reveals two rather striking aspects of Jesus’ self awareness and life.

First, verse 13 frames Jesus’ entire relationship with his followers under the rubric of friendship.  These people spent at least two, perhaps three years together, walking everywhere they went, eating together, serving together, and sharing the accommodations of each other’s homes and the homes of friends.  In today’s Gospel, can you hear an echo of that experience in this saying?  Those who had been with Jesus and shared those moments had known Jesus as friend.

Imagine walking together for several days and sharing table at meal times on a trip from Galilee in the north to Jerusalem, comparable to walking from Montgomery, Alabama to Mobile.  What must have transpired among them in terms of bonding and friendship?

For the fourth Gospel Evangelist and his community, the ongoing experience of Jesus’ Spirit was reminiscent of the remembered experience of the historical Jesus.  The risen Christ would be present in their walking together, their laughter, their shared tables, their service, and their dark moments.  He would be the unseen friend, enriching and sharing in their friendships.   (See John 14, 16.)

Friends stretch themselves for one another;  they voluntarily give themselves out of love and devotion.  Here, I find that second hint of Jesus’ self awareness.  He believed that his death would spare the rest of the group from a similar fate, at least immediately.  He also believed that his innocent suffering would provide transformation and deliverance from the spiritual enemies of his friends.  He saw himself voluntarily dying for them.  We do not know at what point Jesus came to that awareness nor how.  We can guess that he reflected on Isaiah 53 and became aware somewhere toward the end of his public ministry.  That awareness found expression in his words over bread and cup on the night before he died  (This is my body;  this is my blood of the new covenant).

As the Jesuit poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins said of Jesus, "Their ransom, their rescue, and first, fast, last friend.” + Irish poet and mystic John O’Donohue put it this way. "In friendship with him, we enter the tender beauty and affection of the Trinity. In the embrace of this eternal friendship, we dare to be free.” He quotes this Celtic Benediction.

“:The Sacred Three

My fortress be

Encircling me

Come and be round

My hearth an my home.” #

Can we frame our actions as Christians as expressions of loyal love for Jesus and our other friends in the community?  Performing acts of mercy, witnessing to those without faith, leading worship, teaching, organizing, implementing ministries and programs, practicing spiritual disciplines, nurturing relationships—why do we do these things?  If Jesus is our friend and if those with us in community are our friends, we do these things for the same reason we stretch ourselves for any friend.  We do them because love makes the doing a joy.  We give ourselves for our friends and for those who might become our friends.

*The Fourth Gospel, ed. Frances N. Davey (London: Faber and Faber, 1947), p. 477.

+Gerard Manley Hopkins, cited by Frederick Buechner, Speak What We Feel:  (Not What We Ought to Say):  Reflections on Literature and Faith, (New York:  HarperCollins, 2001), p. 22.

@ John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom (New York: Harper, 1977), p. 15.

Collect of the Day, Second Sunday of Easter

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 224)

A Collect for Protection

O God, the life of all who live, the light of the faithful, the strength of those who labor, and the repose of the dead: We thank you for the blessings of the day that is past, and humbly ask for your protection through the coming night. Bring us in safety to the morning hours; through him who died and rose again for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  (BCP, 124)

A GAELIC PRAYER

As the rain hides the stars,

As the Autumn mist hides the hills,

As the clouds veil the blue of the sky,

So the dark happenings of my lot

Hide the shining of thy face from me.

Yet, if I may hold thy hand in the darkness,

It is enough.

Since I know, that though I may stumble in my going

Thou dost not fall.

(Theme prayer for the congregation of the Saxon Church of Escomb, England

Church constructed in 670-690 CE and still the site of worship for the parish.  The visitor's handbook attributes some of the architectural features to Irish Celtic influence.  Source: The Saxon Church: Escomb: A Guide for Pilgrims.  The Saxon Church.  Escomb, Durham County, England.)

In the Order of Worship for Evening

Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, creator of the changes of day and night, giving rest to the weary, renewing the strength of those who are spent, bestowing upon us occasions of song in the evening. As you have protected us in the day that is past, so be with us in the coming night; keep us from every sin, every evil, and every fear; for you are our light and salvation, and the strength of

our life. To you be glory for endless ages. Amen.  (BCP, 113)

A Collect for Mission

Merciful God, creator of all the peoples of the earth and lover of souls: Have compassion on all who do not know you as you are revealed in your Son Jesus Christ; let your Gospel be preached with grace and power to those who have not heard it; turn the hearts of those who resist it; and bring home to your fold those who have gone astray; that there may be one flock under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. (BCP, 280)

Daily Office Gospel, John 15:12-27

12‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

18 ’If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. 19If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you, “Servants are not greater than their master.” If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 21But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25It was to fulfill the word that is written in their law, “They hated me without a cause.”

Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer