Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Acts 15:22-31; John 15:12–17
There is something astonishing in today’s Gospel.
Jesus says:
“I no longer call you slaves, but friends.”
A slave hears the order, but not the heart.
A slave receives commands, but is not told the mystery.
A slave stands outside the door.
A friend is brought inside.
A friend is trusted. A friend is told what is hidden. A friend is allowed to know what the master is doing.
This is what Jesus does with His disciples.
He does not only command them.
He opens His heart to them.
He tells them what He has heard from the Father.
He shares with them the plan of God.
He lets them see the work of salvation.
That is why He no longer calls them slaves, but friends.
And yet, even to be called the servant of God is already something beautiful.
Mary calls herself the servant of the Lord.
Paul calls himself the servant of Christ.
To belong wholly to God, to place one’s life in His hands, to be ready for His will— this is already great.
But that is just the beginning.
Jesus goes further:
Not only servants.
Friends.
Abraham too was called the friend of God.
God did not hide from him what He was about to do.
He shared with him His purpose.
So too with the disciples.
Jesus does not hide the Father’s design from them.
He shares with them not the fall of a city, but the salvation of the world.
He gives them not only a task, but a share in His own knowing.
Not only work. Intimacy.
Not only obedience. Confidence.
Not only service. Friendship.
And this friendship does not end when they fail Him.
This is perhaps the most beautiful part.
They ran away. They left Him alone. Peter denied Him.
And yet the risen Lord says:
“Go to my brothers.”
Not my deserters. Not my failures. Not those who abandoned me.
My brothers.
What mercy is this?
He does not return to shame them.
He returns to gather them again.
He does not lower them to the place of servants.
He raises them again into closeness.
Friendship itself is carried even further.
And this new way of living begins to appear in the Church.
In Acts, the Church in Jerusalem writes to the Church in Antioch.
And what do we hear?
Respect. Care. Brotherhood.
Jewish Christians do not speak down to Gentile Christians.
They do not crush them with their authority.
They speak to them as those who share the same grace.
This too is the fruit of Christ’s friendship.
Those who have been treated as friends by the Lord must learn to treat others the same way.
Friends share truth. Friends share burdens. Friends speak with reverence. Friends make room for one another.
And there is still more.
Saint Peter says that even the angels long to look into these mysteries.
What the angels desire to behold, the Church has received.
We have been brought near. We have been told the mystery. We have been entrusted with the heart of God.
No longer slaves.
But friends.
And by grace, even brothers and sisters.
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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