John 15:9-17

Acts 1:15-17, 20-26

Psalm 113:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

John 15:9-17

Jesus said to his disciples:

“As the Father loves me, so I also love you.

Remain in my love.

If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,

just as I have kept my Father’s commandments

and remain in his love.

“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you

and your joy might be complete.

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.

You are my friends if you do what I command you.

I no longer call you slaves,

because a slave does not know what his master is doing.

I have called you friends,

because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.

It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you

and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,

so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.

This I command you:  love one another.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I struggle at times to choose your will over my own. I know your commandments lead to life and eternal joy. And yet I do the evil I do not want to and avoid doing the good that I should. Guide me always to choose to love you.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Covenantal Friendship with God: On the night of the Last Supper, Jesus exhorts his disciples to be faithful and abide in divine love, the love of the Father, the love of the Son, and the love of the Holy Spirit. Jesus offers friendship with God to his disciples. He makes sure that they know that their relationship with God is not that between a slave and a master. Jesus’ disciples are Jesus’ friends. They share in Jesus’ life. “Their friendship consists in sharing a common life, namely, in Jesus’ filial life that he lays down in love for his own (see John 15:13). Furthermore, Jesus shares everything that he has heard from the Father with them (John 15:15; see also John 15:16); the Father’s life is also commonly possessed. Thus, their friendship finds its ultimate referent in the Father. As friends, therefore, they share a quasi-familial life together, a communion comparable to kinship. The meaning of their status as ‘friends’ and their status as ‘brothers’ (see John 20:17) is similar. This is an illustration of how, in the ancient world, friendship was analogous to kinship relations” (DeMeo, “Covenant Fulfillment in the Gospel of John,” 134-135). A friend is another “self” and so a friend of Jesus the Son is another son who shares in his filial life with the Father. (DeMeo, “Covenant Fulfillment in the Gospel of John,” 135).

2. Judas’ Betrayal and Matthias’ Fidelity: During the ten days between Jesus’ Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Spirit, Peter addressed the one hundred and twenty members of the early Christian community. The number is important: “Later Jewish tradition considered ten men a minyan, or quorum, for communal prayer. The 120 members of the Christian community at prayer symbolize a quorum of all twelve tribes of a restored Israel” (Kurz, Acts of the Apostles, 41). Following Peter’s exhortation, Matthias was chosen by the community and by lot to replace Judas, since he was a witness to all Jesus’ earthly events, from his baptism in the Jordan to his resurrection from the dead. After encountering the risen Jesus during the days leading up to his Ascension, Matthias was chosen to take up the office (episkope) left vacant by Judas. Matthias was faithful to Jesus to the end, almost compensating for Judas’ betrayal. Pope Benedict reflected on the election of Matthias and offered a lesson for us in the Church today: “While there is no lack of unworthy and traitorous Christians in the Church, it is up to each of us to counterbalance the evil done by them with our clear witness to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior” (Benedict XVI, October 18, 2006).

3. Who was Matthias? Matthias was probably one of the followers of John the Baptist and also one of the seventy disciples (Luke 10:1-20). The seventy were given the power to heal and cast out demons in Jesus’ name. He was sent out to the towns and villages of Israel during Jesus’ public ministry and sent out again to all nations to preach the Gospel at Jesus' Ascension. He will receive the Holy Spirit with Mary and the other Apostles and spend his life in the service of the Gospel. Today’s Gospel invites us to see Matthias the Apostle as a friend of Jesus because he fulfilled what Jesus commanded. The first step in following Jesus was not taken by Matthias. Jesus says that he first chose them and appointed them to bear fruit. Matthias’ decision to follow Jesus, like our decision, is a response to God’s grace and call. God takes the first step, having chosen us in his Son before the foundation of the world to be holy (Ephesians 1:4). Matthias was chosen by God for apostolic ministry. He responded generously to that call and was faithful to Jesus to the end. He was a friend of Jesus and remained in the Father’s love. Throughout his life, he bore fruit for the Kingdom. He loved others, ultimately giving his life for them. And now, he intercedes for us in heaven before the throne of God and the Lamb. 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you call me your friend today and have brought me into intimate friendship with the Father. I do not deserve to enjoy this friendship and communion. It is your gift and I wholeheartedly welcome it. I want to be a true friend of God and bring others into this awesome circle of friends.

Living the Word of God: Am I more like Judas or Mattias in my life? How have I betrayed Jesus by my sins and how have I been faithful to him?