May 17, 2009 - The 6th Sunday of Easter

THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
YEAR B
MAY 17, 2009

Acts 10:44-48
Psalm 98
1 John 5:1-6
John 15:9-17


The Collect

O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The First Lesson
Acts 10:44-48

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

The Psalm
Psalm 98 Page 727 BCP
Cantate Domino

1
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done marvelous things.

2
With his right hand and his holy arm
has he won for himself the victory.

3
The LORD has made known his victory;
his righteousness has he openly shown in the sight of the nations.

4
He remembers his mercy and faithfulness to
the house of Israel,
and all the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

5
Shout with joy to the LORD, all you lands;
lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing.

6
Sing to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and the voice of song.

7
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
shout with joy before the King, the LORD.

8
Let the sea make a noise and all that is in it,
the lands and those who dwell therein.

9
Let the rivers clap their hands,
and let the hills ring out with joy before the LORD,
when he comes to judge the earth.

10
In righteousness shall he judge the world
and the peoples with equity.

1 John 5:1-6

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

The Gospel: John 15:9-17

Jesus said to his disciples, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I 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 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. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another."


EXEGESIS:

CONTEXT:

This is near the end of Jesus' life. Jesus' lengthy discourse began in chapter 14 and will run through chapter 16. Chapter 17 is Jesus' prayer for his disciples, and chapter 18 starts with his arrest and betrayal.

Verses 1-8 set the stage for verses 9-17. Those earlier verses introduced the idea of abiding in Jesus ("Abide in me," v. 4), and the later verses continue that imagery ("Abide in my love," v. 9). They also introduce the idea that "everything begins with the Father" (Ridderbos, 519). This is reflected in the earlier portion with Jesus' statement, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower" (v. 1). It is repeated in the second section by Jesus' statement, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you" (v. 9).


VERSES 9-11: ABIDE IN MY LOVE

9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.


In verses 1-8 Jesus told us that the Father is the vinegrower, Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. In those verses Jesus said, "Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me" (v. 4). Now he continues, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love" (v. 9). The message throughout is of interrelationships among Father, Son, and disciples.

This Gospel, from the beginning, has emphasized the unity of Father and Son:

• "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being" (1:1-3).

• Jesus has already said, "The Father and I are one" (10:30).

• In his high priestly prayer, shortly before his death, he will pray that the disciples "may be one, as we are one" (17:11, 22).

Now the emphasis is on love. Love begins with the Father and flows through the Son to the disciples (v. 9). It is contingent on obedience –– "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love" (v. 10). Jesus provides us with a model of obedience. He has come to do the will of the one who sent him (4:34; 6:38; 8:29). He keeps the Father's word (8:55). He does the Father's will so that the world might know that he loves the Father (14:31). The Father loves Jesus because he lays down his life in obedience to the Father's command (10:17-18).

Borchert speaks of the circle of love. "The Father loves the Son (cf. 3:35; 17:23, and the Son obediently loves the Father (cf. 10:17; 14:31); the Son loves his followers, and they are to love and obey him (cf. 13:34; 14:15, 23); loving and obeying the Son means being loved by the Father (cf. 14:21, 23; 17:23); being loved by the Son also implies loving one another (cf. 13:34; 15:12, 17); God not only loves the disciples but loves the world and gave his Son for its people (cf. 3:16); but many in the world love darkness and do not do the will of God (cf. 3:19; 14:24). In his first epistle John carries the theme of love further and insists that the disciple must not love in words only but in actual deeds of love (cf. I John 3:18) and that hating one's brother is actually an indication of not loving God (cf. 3:15) because love is the sign of knowing God (cf. 4:7)" (Borchert, 146).

Now Jesus asks us to obey the Father as he obeys the Father. "To be a disciple abiding in the love of Jesus means to 'do' something, and that 'doing' is determined by the commandments of Jesus" (Moloney, 421). The reward of faithful obedience is relationship –– abiding in the Son who abides in the Father.

The image that comes to mind is that of nested dolls –– the kind that pull apart to reveal a smaller doll inside –– and inside of that doll there is a still smaller doll. Jesus invites us to obey so that we might abide in him as he abides in the Father. If we abide in Jesus and Jesus abides in the Father, it follows that we also abide in the Father. The little disciple nestles into the larger Jesus, who then nestles into the great Father. This series of relationships is made complete as we keep Jesus' commandments.

Howard-Brook notes that 15:10 is the third time in a short time (see also 14:15 and 14:23) that Jesus enjoins our obedience. We respond, "'Enough of this already –– we get the message!' But alas, the problem is that we do not get the message, for if people kept the commandment to love one another, what a different world we would live in!" (Howard-Brook, 335). Even the church, the body of Christ, often fails at this point. Our focus is too often on programs, dogma, or buildings. Sometimes we field programs and build buildings instead of loving God and each other.

Jesus then says, "I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete" (v. 11). Jesus is not calling us to dreary, lock-step obedience but to joy. "The joy of Jesus is the joy that arises from the sense of a finished work. It is creative joy, like the joy of the artist. It produces a sense of unexhausted power for fresh creation" (Strachan, quoted in Morris, 598). It is not the hollow joy of luxurious surroundings and sated appetites –– joy that dissipates as soon as things change. It is, instead, the joy of the disciplined life, like the joy of the athlete who rejoices after conquering a difficult challenge to win the race. That athlete might have blistered feet or strained muscles, but those matter little while experiencing the joy of victory.


VERSES 12-13: THIS IS MY COMMANDMENT

12"This is my commandment, that you love (Greek: agapate) one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.


"This is my commandment, that you love (agapate) one another as I have loved you" (v. 12). This is a restatement of Jesus' "new commandment" in 13:34.

In verse 12, the "commandments" of verse 10 are narrowed down to one –– loving one another as Jesus has loved us. This Gospel does not emphasize moral teaching in the way that Matthew does. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) includes many specific teachings that are missing here. Part of the reason is that John is a different person with a different style and emphasis. However, it is also true that Jesus' love-commandment pulls together all the law and the prophets. The person who loves needs no commandment not to steal or kill, because the person who loves will not do those things. Reflecting on this principle, Augustine said, "Love, and do what thou wilt."

The agape (pronounced a-GAH-pay) love that Jesus commands "does not primarily represent a feeling, nor is it a synonym for 'like.' To love is to be for another person and to act for another, even at cost to oneself. The supreme act of love is the giving of one's life for the other (v. 13)" (Craddock, 265).

This understanding of love is quite different from that of our culture –– a culture that too often understands love as the satisfaction of one's own needs rather than as satisfying the needs of the other. The person who says, "I love you," may mean only "I want you" and may even resort to manipulation to possess you. How different that is from the person who stands ready to sacrifice in behalf of the other person –– even to quietly walk away if that best meets the other person's needs. To understand the love of which Jesus speaks, it helps to understand how we have debased the word love in our common usage.

"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends" (v. 13).
"Friendship was very important in the Greco-Roman world. It was commonly recognized that the supreme duty of friendship may involve self-sacrifice for one's friend even to the point of death" (Kostenberger, 458).

At this point, the disciples do not understand that Jesus will soon die for his friends. After the resurrection, they will finally understand the significance of these words. Jesus' love will require him to go to the cross for his friends. His commandment to love each other as he has loved us (v. 12) also requires serious sacrifice. The love of which Jesus speaks is more than a feeling –– it is love in action –– love that pays the price.

1 John 3:16 makes this explicit: "We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us––and we ought to lay down our lives for one another." Note the similar emphasis of 1 John 3:16 and John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." Godly coincidence!

Earlier, Thomas said to the other disciples, "Let us go also (to Jerusalem), that we may die with him" (11:16), but it was clear that Thomas had no enthusiasm for sacrifice. Peter said, "Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you" (13:37), but when the time came, Peter denied Jesus. Talk is cheap! Love is costly!


VERSES 14-15: NOT SERVANTS, BUT FRIENDS

14You are my friends (Greek: philoi) 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 are my friends (philoi) if you do what I command you" (v. 14). What Jesus has commanded is that his disciples "love one another as I have loved you" (v. 12). The Greeks have three words for love:

• Agape, a love characterized by concern for the welfare of the other person.

• Philos, companionate love (Philadelphia, which means the city of brotherly love, is derived from philos, which means love and adelphos, which means brother).

• Eros, romantic or sexual love.

"The Fourth Gospel uses…agapao and phileo interchangeably (cf…. 13:2 and 20:2; 5:20 and 10:17), so when Jesus speaks of friends here, he is really saying 'those who are loved' (cf. the description of Lazarus at 11:3, 11). The English word 'friend' does not fully convey the presence of love that undergirds the Johannine notion of friendship…. A comparison of 14:15 and 21 with 15:14 suggests that to be Jesus' friend and to love Jesus are synonymous, because both are defined as keeping Jesus' commandments" (O'Day, 758).

Jesus says, "I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing" (v. 15a). Earlier, he called them disciples (8:31; 13:35; 15:8), and that is the word that this Gospel usually uses for them –– but Jesus also implied that they are his servants. He said, "Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also" (12:26) and "The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him" (13:16).

There is no shame attached to being God's servant. The people identified in the Bible as God's servants include Moses (Deuteronomy 34:5), Joshua (Joshua 24:29), David (Psalm 89:20), Paul (Titus 1:1), and James (James 1:1). Jesus acted as servant to the disciples at the foot-washing (John 13:13-16).

But now Jesus refers to the disciples as friends, saying, "but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father" (v. 15b). A friend enjoys a deeper relationship with the other than a servant –– or even a disciple. A master gives servants orders, but a friend communicates with friends, sharing knowledge and involving them at a deeper level. "The mark of difference between a servant and a friend is precisely the confidence which is extended to the latter" (Beasley-Murray, 274-275). "As with perfect friendships from time immemorial all secrets are shared, both from above and below" (Sloyan, 190). In the prologue to this Gospel (1:1-18), John refers to Jesus as the Word. A word is a means of communication. Christ came to earth in human form to reveal God and God's mind clearly to us. As God in flesh, he made it possible for us to see what God is really like. He "made known to (us) everything that (he had) heard from (his) Father" (v. 15b). This kind of openness is characteristic of friends.

This friendship is contingent on the obedience of the disciples –– "You are my friends if you do what I command you" (v. 14). Jesus and the disciples have not become equals, and their friendship is not a democracy. "Jesus' absolute right to command is in no way diminished, but he takes pains to inform his friends of his motives, plans, purposes…. In times past God's covenant people were not informed of God's saving plan in the full measure now accorded Jesus' disciples…. The Paraclete…(will) complete the revelation bound up with the person and work of Christ (14:26; 16:12-15)" (Carson, 523).

Jesus' words here gain even more significance in the light of then-contemporary usage. In Roman courts, the phrase "friends of the Emperor" designated the emperor's closest advisers. "At all times they had access to the king; they had even the right to come to his bedchamber at the beginning of the day. He talked to them before he talked to his generals, his rulers, and his statesmen" (Barclay, 208).


VERSES 16-17: GO AND BEAR FRUIT

16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed (Greek: etheka –– from tithemi –– set aside) 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.


"You did not choose me, but I chose you" (v. 16a). Rabbis mentor students preparing for the rabbinate, and prospective students seek rabbis to become their mentors. The greater the rabbi, the more students seek his assistance. Jesus, however, tells his disciples that he has chosen them.

It is a great honor to apprentice under a great rabbi, so we would assume that Jesus has chosen the brightest and best –– but we would be wrong. These disciples hardly qualify as quick to learn. Instead the Gospels present them to us as slow –– a bit thick-headed –– weak of faith –– sometimes denying –– sometimes doubting. A few, such as Peter, James, and John, will become prominent, but even they often veer off course. Most will remain obscure. One will betray Jesus.

We wonder what Jesus was thinking when he chose this very ordinary group of disciples. And yet, the growth of the first-century church shows that Jesus chose well –– or that he empowered well. These disciples will do great things, not because they are great, but because the one who empowers them is great.

There is an important lesson here. God chooses whom God chooses. God empowers whom God empowers. A quick glance around the typical congregation shows that God has not chosen the brightest and the best. Most Godly work is done by ordinary people distinguished by only one characteristic –– they have given God their heart. That should encourage us. It should also make us hesitant to judge any person's potential. The star athlete and the valedictorian might be too full of self to be much heavenly good. The person who seems to have the least to offer might be the person that God chooses to transform the world. God chooses whom God chooses.

"And I appointed (etheka –– from tithemi –– set aside) you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last" (v. 16b). It is this verb, tithemi, that Jesus used in verse 13 to speak of laying down his life. Paul will use this verb in Acts 13:47 to speak of God setting Barnabas and himself aside to be a light to the Gentiles. Paul will use this verb again in 1Timothy 1:12 to express his thankfulness to Christ for appointing Paul to Christ's service. Tithemi brings to mind an ordination where a person is set apart for a particular ministry. The purpose of such appointment is not to honor the person being ordained, although there may be honor associated with it. The purpose is mission –– getting the job done –– bearing fruit. "It is absolutely crucial...to realize that election is not about privilege but purpose" (Borchert, 150).

Jesus says that he appointed these disciples "to go and bear fruit" (v. 16b). Jesus does not specify the fruit, but disciples are appointed to bear the fruit with which God endows them. I am reminded of Dale Bruner, a renowned Presbyterian teacher and scholar. When he was younger, friends told him that he had to be evangelistic –– to buttonhole people –– to tell them about Jesus. He tried, but failed mightily. He then spent a decade as a missionary in the Philippines, producing little fruit. Finally he found his calling. It was not on the street corner or in the pulpit, but in the classroom –– in the library. Bruner loves libraries, and produces beautiful fruit for Christ there. He has written a great commentary on Matthew, and is now working on the Gospel of John. Great scholarship! Great fruit! God calls other disciples to produce other kinds of fruit.

If we are to produce fruit for Christ, it is important that we seek his will for our lives –– to let him direct our appointment. The humblest Sunday school teacher, serving whole-heartedly in a Christ-given appointment, can render as important a service as any pastor or bishop. Christ often uses very humble people to change the world.

"fruit that will last" (v. 16b). Some people are called to produce reports that will be good for a few weeks –– others to build cars that will last for a few years –– still others to build houses that will last for a few decades. Christ appoints disciples to bear fruit that will last for centuries –– for eternity –– forever.

"so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name" (v. 16c). Earlier Jesus said, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" (v. 7). The person who abides in Christ –– who becomes one with the Son as the Son is one with the Father –– becomes so attuned to the will of God that God will give that person whatever he or she asks in Christ's name. So it is with the person who serves whole-heartedly in the appointment to which Christ has appointed him or her (v. 16).

"I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another" (v. 17). This is almost a restatement of verse 12, but with an interesting twist. In verse 12 Jesus commands us to love, but verse 17 he says that these commands enable us to love one another. How is that so?

There is a synergy here –– intertwined elements that feed each other. The Father loves the Son, and the Son loves us and invites us to abide in his love (v. 1). As we keep his commandments, we abide in his love (v. 2), and we experience a complete kind of joy (v. 3). This joy fills our hearts, driving out poisonous feelings that would otherwise make it difficult to love our neighbor. Knowing that this neighbor is a child of our Father and is therefore our brother or sister also helps us to love. Thus God's love, Jesus' love, our love, our abiding in Christ, and our keeping of the commandments change us in ways that enable us to love those imperfect souls with whom we rub elbows every day –– to love them warts and all –– and that is a miracle!


THOUGHT PROVOKERS: (Top of page)

I went out to find a friend,
But could not find one there;
I went out to be a friend,
And friends were everywhere!

Author unknown

* * * * * * * * * *

No Cross, No Crown.

William Penn

* * * * * * * * * *

To a world stricken with moral enervation
Christianity offered its spectacle of an inspired self-sacrifice;
to those who refused themselves nothing,
it showed one who refused himself everything.

Matthew Arnold

* * * * * * * * * *

The great use of a life
is to spend it for something that outlasts it.

William James

* * * * * * * * * *

He who bears another,
is borne by another.

Pope St. Gregory the Great

* * * * * * * * * *


BIBLIOGRAPHY:

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Borchert, Gerald L., New American Commentary: John 12-21, Vol. 25B (Nashville: Broadman Press, 2002)

Brown, Raymond, The Anchor Bible: The Gospel According to John XIII-XXI (Garden City: Doubleday, 1970)

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Howard-Brook, Wes, Becoming the Children of God: John's Gospel and Radical Discipleship (New York: Maryknoll, 1994).

Kostenberger, Andreas J., Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: John (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004)

Lincoln, Andrew T., Black's New Testament Commentary: The Gospel According to John (London: Continuum, 2005)

Moloney, Francis J., Sacra Pagina: The Gospel of John (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1998)

Morris, Leon, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995).

O'Day, Gail R., The New Interpreter's Bible, Volume IX (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995)

Palmer, Earl F., The Book That John Wrote (Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, 1975)

Ridderbos, Herman (translated by John Vriend), The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997)

Sloyan, Gerald, "John," Interpretation (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1988)

Smith, D. Moody, Jr., Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: John (Nashville: Abingdon, 1999)

Williamson, Lamar, Jr., Preaching the Gospel of John: Proclaiming the Living Word (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004)

Wright, Tom (N.T.), John for Everyone: Part 2, Chapters 11-21 (London: SPCK and Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002, 2004)

Richard Niell Donovan: SermonWriter.com