Easter 5                                Grosvenor Chapel                                                         2 May 2010 

The Rev'd Dayton Dewey                       

Our gospel readings during the Easter Season have a particular appeal to me. John portrays a truth about Jesus. And the truth is that in his last hours Jesus came to see his disciples in a new way. He gives them the commandment to love one another, and he says, "You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father."

Sometime in my youth I heard a song called, "You've Got a Friend."

When you're down and troubled,
And you need some loving care.
And nothing, nothing is going right.
Close your eyes and think of me.
And soon I will be there
To brighten up even your darkest night.

That's the spirit of the Maundy Thursday Revolution, begun by Jesus "on the night before he died for us". When Jesus bent over to wash his disciples' feet, he started a personal and social revolution that would conquer the mighty Roman Empire. It's a revolution that we carry on every Sunday when we break bread together in the Eucharist.

Those first disciples had planned to follow Jesus to the top of the heap and sit upon thrones in his kingdom. Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, the man on top got down on the bottom and began to wash the feet of his followers --incredible! What's this all about? It was unlike anything they could have imagined. The man they thought would be king was kneeling at their feet!

It would be awhile before they would discover the answer. The next day their leader was gone, and they were dispersed. Their illusions shattered and their hopes dashed, they needed some light for their darkness. That's when it happened -- Jesus, the one who had called them friends, was there to brighten up this darkest of nights. And over the centuries, many of us have had the same experience -- in the midst of the darkest night, we discover a needed friend.

The image of friendship with God may seem rather commonplace to some, but for many it comes as a stunning realization. We may have an image of God as judge which is turned on its ear when we see that the judge is our friend. "It's not what you know, but who you know," and Christians can really know somebody.

How much more then should we celebrate the Resurrection, the crowning glory of the Cross? No contest was more difficult. No struggle required more courage, endurance and character. It is hard to imagine that any one of us would ever be equal to the challenge. And we have the privilege, indeed some would say the duty, to introduce Jesus to people we know, and say, "Hey this Jesus is my friend!" It might be embarrassing to say it that way because having Jesus as a friend is a matter for gratitude not pride, and that is easy to forget.

Perhaps, it's because we've come to take this relationship for granted, perhaps our relationship is superficial, but here are some of the things that can happen when we open ourselves to a real friendship with Jesus.

First, Friends want the same things. I'm not talking about superficial things like sharing tastes in food or music. I'm not even talking about sharing common values like honesty, kindness, generosity and openness. Real friends must share themselves in such a way that the well-being of the one depends on the fulfilment of the deepest longings of the other. Scott Peck, in The Road Less Travelled, called this spiritual nurturing the highest form of love. Friendship with Jesus means that our own happiness is bound up with the fulfilment of Jesus' deepest desires. And Jesus' deepest desire, the thing for which he gave everything was the reconciliation of every human being to himself and to one another.

Second, friends speak their minds to each other openly, fully, and without fear. Real friends cannot withhold their true feelings, thoughts, desires, and expectations from each other and still maintain the strength and truthfulness of their relationship. That means we do not need to worry about the suitability of our prayer. It is folly not to tell Jesus about our feelings, to try to pretend that we don't have feelings we have. Share your deepest desires even when you think you will disappoint your friend. Jesus can take it. That's what the Cross was all about.

Third, friends hold each other accountable. Some people think that a loving God cannot be a judging God, but real friends expect a lot of each other. What your friend does matters to you. We expect our friends to be faithful to the friendship. It is important that we spend time developing our friendship with Jesus. We cannot just assume that Jesus will go the extra mile and take care of our relationship, Jesus is not co-dependent. He never takes on more than his share of the friendship. We have responsibility for our share.

Finally, friends need each other. There can be no friendship where one person is powerless and vulnerable while the other holds all the power, has no needs, and is invulnerable to hurt from the other. In Jesus, God chose to cast his lot with us, so what we do matters to him. Jesus needed his disciples to carry on his work, and he needs us today. Of course, he'll carry on without us, but the loss of a friendship is painful to Jesus as much as it is to each one of us. If we want to have genuine friendship with Jesus, we must be open to spending as much time asking what we can do for him, as we do telling him what he can do for us.

The invitation to friendship with Jesus is a challenging one. Jesus became like us, that we might become like him. Jesus has called us his friends. As Jesus' friends, we are called to be like him, we are called to listen and respond to him.

Amen.