John 15:12-17

Acts 15:22-31

Psalm 57:8-9, 10 and 12

John 15:12-17

Jesus said to his disciples:

“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 thank you for the awesome gift of being your child. I did nothing to deserve your divine friendship. You are so good and are so generous with your gifts!

Encountering the Word of God

1. Loving like Jesus: At first glance, the new commandment to love as Jesus did could seem like an impossible task. Who among us is ready to give their lives on behalf of their friends? Who among us is ready to undergo suffering or persecution even though we are innocent? Who among us is ready to suffer for the sake of someone else? On our own, these things seem impossible. But united to Christ and filled with the grace of the Spirit, all things are possible. Grace heals us and elevates us. The infused virtues enable us to act in supernatural and divine ways. When someone once saw Mother Teresa cleansing the wounds of a leper, they remarked that they wouldn’t do that for a million dollars. And Mother Teresa turned and said, “I wouldn’t do it for a million dollars, but I would do it for Christ.” In her simple words: “I see Jesus in every human being. I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This is sick Jesus. This one has leprosy or gangrene; I must wash him and tend to him. I serve because I love Jesus.”

2. From Slaves to Friends: The reference to slaves in the Gospel can be seen as a reference to the Deuteronomic Covenant. At the foot of Mt. Sinai, God offered a kinship covenant and invited Israel to become his firstborn sons (Exodus 4:22). Israel quickly broke the kinship covenant, and it needed to be renewed and reworked. After 40 years of rebellion in the desert, Moses mediated the Deuteronomic (Second-Law) covenant. This was modelled on a vassal-type covenant, “in which a mighty king asserts his sovereignty over a subject people, imposes an oath of loyalty upon them, and sets forth the blessings and curses that will follow when a vassal proves loyal or disloyal. … Deuteronomy places Israel, after years of rebellion in the wilderness (Deut 9:7), in a state of covenant vassalage. For the duration of its national life, Israel will be governed by the strict discipline of the Deuteronomic covenant under the watchful eye of the Lord” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Old and New Testament, 280-281). What Jesus announces and establishes at the Last Supper is the New Covenant. This New Covenant makes us brothers and friends of Jesus and adopted children of God: “I no longer call you slaves, … I have called you friends.”

3. From Slaves to Sons: As friends of Jesus, we share a quasi-familial life together, a communion comparable to kinship. In fact, in the ancient world, friendship was analogous to kinship. In the New Covenant, we are friends of Jesus (see John 15:13-15) and brothers of Jesus (see John 20:17). Since a friend was another “self,” it follows that a friend of Jesus the Son will be another “son” who shares in his filial life with the Father. This grant of friendship is a grant of a covenantal relation. By choosing his disciples and welcoming them as his friends, Jesus enlarges the house of the Father to welcome all peoples into the covenant of love (see DeMeo, “Covenant Fulfillment in the Gospel of John,” 134-135).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, help my faith flourish in works of love today. Show me your face so that I may see the Face of the Father. Move my heart to spend time with you and dwell with you so that I may bring others to encounter you.

Living the Word of God: Think of your best friend. Why are they your friend? What do you share in common? How often do you communicate? Now, think about your friendship with Jesus. What do you share in common? How can you be a better friend? How often and how should you communicate in prayer?