“I call you friends”. Jesus had just shown his disciples how he regards them. In John 10, he calls them “his own”, a phrase that means “those at the top of one’s value system.” Then, at the Last Supper, just before they began to dine, he washed the feet of his disciples giving them an example of the love that they are to show to one another. And now, he tells them that He regards them as his friends, no longer as slaves, that is those who simply obey his commands. He calls them friends because they have become privy to the words He has received from the Father. Later, He will call them His brothers. Within the context of the discourses in John 15:9-17, the Lord reveals to his disciples the way to remain in His love and therefore in His life: to obey His commandment. Thus Jesus leaves to his disciples the Torah of the Messiah. It is the Messianic teaching that according to Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 30:20) all nations will learn (Isaiah 42:4; Isaiah 2:1-4).
Relevant Articles
Guide for Reading
1. Read John 15:9-17 within the Vine-Branch imagery used at the beginning of the chapter. What ideas do these verses add to the preceding section (vv. 1-8)?
2. Divide vv. 9-17 into smaller sections and see how each of these sections relate with the previous verses (1-8). What are the basis of division you use for vv. 9-17?
3. In vv. 9-17, the relationship between Jesus and the Father is described as a relationship of love. Within this communion of love, the disciples are invited to take part. What specific command does Jesus give that this would be realized?
4. In vv. 9-17 is there a reference to Jesus’ death on the cross? If there is, what other passages in John do you recall about a “friendship” forged on the cross? Which other passages outside of the gospel of John do you remember?
Comparing the Readings
As in the previous Sunday, there is a close affinity between the second reading in the Gospel. In 1 John 4:7-10 , the Johanine author explains how the Christian community’s life of communion should spring from the reality of God’s love experienced in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. This is not surprising since, as we have explained, the author of 1 John is applying the Johanine tradition to the situation of his community. In the Johanine tradition, the cross is the ultimate revelation of Divine Love. “When you lift up the Son of Man, you will know that I Am” (8:28)
The first reading contains snap shots of Paul’s work in the nascent Church (Acts 18:9-18). In a previous Sunday, he was presented as a convert who quickly got in trouble with the Jews because of the doctrines he was proclaiming. We know what this doctrine is: Jesus is the Christ who died and rose again (Acts 17:3 and context). An echo of this belief resonates in 1 John, where the author insists that belief in Jesus the Christ and love for one another are the commandments the Christian community is to keep (1 John 3:23). And they are to keep the commandments as their response to the love manifested to them in the atoning death of Christ on the cross. [See the article here]
The gospel reading, as is already obvious, grounds the commandment of love in the death of Christ on the cross which should become a model of Christian love. Love is not a mushy feeling but a commitment by which one give’s one’s life for another. Paul would put in this way:
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:7-8)
Suggestions for the Lesson
The 4th and 5th Sundays of Easter showed us how the Lord regards us. He calls us “his own” (4th Sunday), regards us as the branches attached to the Vine that He is (5th Sunday). The Lord reveals us to ourselves the way He sees us. This Sunday, we are told how to respond to His election. The lesson for the 6th Sunday is the same that was given to us at our baptism. In the baptismal rite for infants — and most of us underwent this rite — the parents are exhorted to make the newly baptized learn how to love God and neighbor. Before the child even begins to learn the catechism — stuff about the Trinity, Mary and Joseph, Christmas and Holy Week, Communion and Confession, etcetera — parents are told to teach them how to live the two-fold commandment of love. It would be an excellent idea to bring this home to the congregation especially to those who have begun to think — under the influence of certain televised cults and sects — that knowledge of the Bible is the essence of our religion.
It would also be of great benefit to stress the point that the author of 1 John makes: that we love because God has loved us first and that God’s love has been made known through a concrete event: the cross of Christ. While Catholic theology insists on the work of Christ (ex opere operato), it does not thereby take away the existential response of the Christian. Salvation is the work of Christ but everyone is invited to appropriate it and to make it his/her own.
Finally, it should be insisted that by “commandments” is meant the torah of the Messiah — it is both word and event, the teaching and life of the Lord. We won’t be able to obey the Lord as he wants to be obeyed if we don’t remember Him. It is for this reason that the history of Catholic spiritual teaching always gives place to meditation and contemplation. PCP II refers to this as having constantly before our minds the gospel of the Lord, that is, the totality of the proclamation about the Lord. In practise this means the reading and contemplation of the Scriptures as an extension of and preparation for the Liturgy of the Word.
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