Sixth Easter - Confirmatio Sunday
John 15:9-17
T.V. and the movies would have you believe that life is drama. Screen writers would have you think that our days are made up of one constant, powerful, intense moment after another. In movies we hear the music swell, eyes lock on soggy eyes, voices laden with emotion reveal deep truths. In TV we are bombarded with intimate scenes where heart meets heart, soul meets soul. Life changing , intimate moments where passion and intensity is conveyed, where everything in the heart is poured out to be shared and some how communication takes place on another level a spiritual level, where words are only tools for something far deeper.
Maybe for some of you life is like that--but I'll bet for most of us life just isn't that way at all. There are some few moments where heart meets heart--there truly are--but at least for me they are far fewer than TV would have you believe and less poetic than the movies would portray. Sometimes the most important things are conveyed in the most mundane ways.
The scene we encounter in our gospel today was one of those moments-an intense spontaneous, life-changing heart to heart event, but it all takes place in after dinner conversation. Jesus is leaving his disciples. Jesus knows, though the disciples may not have entirely internalized it, that his work is ended and that theirs will need to begin. Jesus has important things to tell them before the forces of the world will pull them apart and their relationship will never be the same again. This scene is intense--it is eye to eye, heart to heart, soul to soul intimacy. Not like TV or the movies would portray it perhaps but in this moment Jesus is communicating the most essential truths that he has to offer his disciples, desperately hoping that in these last moments together they will finally understand -not just the words but that which goes deeper into the very nature of relationship.
And so today we are privy to those same truths. How particularly appropriate that it is confirmation Sunday today--that at our 10:45 service nine young people will accept their role as disciples by affirming their faith in Christ. Jesus has a message for them and for us and frankly I feel as if I should just get out of the way and let Jesus speak.
First of all, Jesus has powerful affirmations for us. Jesus says "I love you, I chose you, You are my friends." "I love you" we understand. We've been hearing this since our first lessons in Sunday School. "Jesus loves me this I know" and maybe the repetition of it has made it seem glib. Jesus loves me--so what. But then Jesus says "I chose you". Recall Jesus encounter with Peter and Andrew at the lakefront and James and John out in their boat catching fish, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of people." Note, Matthew at his tax collectors booth when jesus chooses him with the simple request, "Follow me"...
I chose you, you did not choose me. When we read these stories it always seems we are looking for the reason that Jesus picked these particular people. What did these folks do to attract his attention? Were they smarter, better looking, physically buff, more erudite? No clues, apparently they're just like us and Jesus chose them.
And more than that Jesus says "you are my friends". A lot can be said about what makes a friend but in the final analysis friendship must be based on mutual respect. Jesus has been the one in charge, he is the rabbi, the healer, the leader and now he says "you are not servants, you are friends. I think about that wonderful book Tuesdays with Morrie . Morrie is Mitch's mentor yet in their Tuesdays together as Morrie is dying they become friends.
But friendship comes with its own claims. You know as well as I, that if you want to maintain a friendship you have to give something to the relationship, you have to invest yourself. When a friend wants to spend time with you not everything and everybody can come before that desire. When a friend wants you to do something you can't constantly beg off with supposedly more important things to do. When your friend has need you can't turn your back because it's inconvenient. Jesus calls his disciples friends and then lays claim to them with these words , "Abide in my love", "Do what I command, love one another" and 'Bear fruit that will last."
"Abide in my love." Abide is such an archaic little word. Who uses that anymore. But somehow it is exactly the right word here. It means to stay, remain, rest or stand fast without wavering. Jesus wants us to remember constantly that we are loved and valued. Perhaps we are tempted at some point or another to think you're not worth much, that no one in the world cares about us, that our lives have no meaning or purpose. To that Jesus would say, "Not one sparrow falls from a tree without your father in heaven knowing, are you not of more value than they?"
Abide in my love and love one another.
Finally Jesus challenges us to "go and bear much fruit, fruit that will last." The world judges success in many different ways. Sometimes success is measured academically--who has the best grades, sometimes materially; who has the most stuff, sometimes fiscally, the biggest bank account, sometimes in terms of power, who has authority over the most people. Jesus isn't about how the world sees things, not at all. Jesus cares that we do only one thing and that is to love one another. Jesus wants each of us to understand that just as I am a beloved child of God so is every other person on the face of this earth. Jesus challenges us to respect and care about one another--to love one another. Indeed Jesus not only challenges us to love but commands it. The product of that love is the fruit that will last. All the other things; grades and money and possessions and power--those are all things that are here today gone tomorrow--the fruit of love lasts forever.
I wonder how the disciples heard these words. Were they kind of embarrassed at the intensity of the moment, diverting their eyes, getting invested in the progress of an ant crawling across the table, giggling a little trying to lighten the moment, squirming and feeling conspicuous. They were just ordinary people so I suspect they were. It wasn't a scripted encounter, the score was silent, the costuming haphazard. Latter on though, did this scene replay through their heads? Did the words echo in their ears and did a lump form in their throats that just wouldn't go away?
I know where the confirmands are at today. I know they're a little bit nervous wondering if they'll remember what they are supposed to say and if they will kneel at the right time.
I know that this moment doesn't have the drama of a movie or TV scene...
But Jesus has a message for them and for us today... Can you hear it?
Amen