The Lord’s Chosen are chosen for joy, love and friendship

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year B

St. Gerard Majella Catholic Church

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

May 13, 2012

Today’s Gospel message flows from what Jesus said in last Sunday’s Gospel: “I am the vine and you are the branches.” The vine and the branches have a deep relationship of togetherness and love. The branches depend on the vine tree for life; and the vine relies on the branches to issue out its fruits. A tree usually bears fruits through its branches. Those who are called by the name of Jesus Christ, those who have faith in him, those who believe in, those who have surrendered to his lordship are the branches of the true vine. To them Jesus says: “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.” 

Sisters and brothers, we are not slaves, not even to our Lord and master. We are rather friends of Jesus. You know, slaves do not have to love their masters. In fact, slaves hardly love their masters. Slaves do not sit on the same table with their masters, eat and dine with them. The master does not die for his slaves. If anything, he would sacrifice the lives of his slaves just to keep his. Slaves live in squalor while their masters live in affluence and pleasure. We are friends of Jesus. He did not only tell us everything he heard from the Father, he even died for us. Like I said before, love does not have to exist between a master and his slaves; but between friends, there is love and intimacy. Between friends, there is a desire to please each other. Between friends, there is a yearning to make sacrifices for each other. Between friends, there is obedient love. Between a master and his slave, there is just blind obedience, obedience generated not by love but by fear. Jesus calls us friends because he does not want us to be scared of him but to love him. And let’s remember that he first loved us. In the beginning of the Gospel of today, he says, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.”  To highlight the fact that he was the first to love us, he said, “It was not you who chose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain (last)...” 

Yes, Jesus chose us first. He chose us because we need him and he needs us as well. We need him to survive. And guess what? We are chosen by the Lord for joy. No matter how hard the Christian way is, it is still the way of joy, happiness and peace. There is a great joy in serving the good God. There is joy in doing what is right, that is why St. Paul says in Galatians 6:9, “Do not be tired of doing what is god, for in due time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we do not give up.” A Christian is a person of joy, joy rooted in the Son of God who died to set us free. It is a joy generated by faith in a good and awesome God. A sad or gloomy Christian is a contradiction in terms. A Christian is a possessor and a spreader of good news. Good news is good news. It brings joy; it makes happy and causes delight. So, when a Christian is not joyful, then something is wrong. A sad and gloomy Christian is loudly saying one thing: I am not saved, and I do not have the joy of salvation. When King David indulged in adultery and repented, part of his prayers was “Restore to me the joy of your salvation; and uphold me with your Holy Spirit” (Psalm 51:12). One clear thing that salvation brings to a believer in Christ is joy. St. Paul knew this too well that’s why in his letter to the Philippians 4:4, he declares: “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice.” A Christian is a person of joy and delight because she understands that though a sinner but she is a redeemed sinner, and it is this realization that causes her  to be joyful. That makes her rejoice in the Lord at all times. 

We are also chosen by Jesus for love. In the Gospel of today, the Lord says, “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” We have been sent into the world to love one another and to love the other. Love is our Christian identity. Love is our habit. Love defines us and defines our relationship with Jesus. We were created in love and chosen for love. Love brings life in the society. It enthrones the reign of God in our society. It makes the whole creation new. Love can remove crimes, violence and reduce human suffering. It lightens both our burden and that of others. In today’s world of violence and hate, we are called once again to love just as Jesus loves us. There should be no discrimination in love. God is love and any person who loves is godly. “Sometimes we live as if we were chosen and sent into the world to compete with one another, or to dispute with one another, or to quarrel with one another.” But Jesus tells us today that we are chosen primarily for love. And we are to teach others, by our life of love how to love with no strings attached. Remember, no matter how much we love, we can never love like Jesus. In fact he says, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down his life for his friends.” But that’s what Jesus did. Jesus never gave a commandment that he himself did not keep. Whatever he has asked us to do, he has already done himself. 

Beloved in Christ, we are also chosen to be the friends of Jesus. Jesus says he is not going to call us slaves but friends. And he says we are his friends if we keep his commandments. So, what makes us the friends of Jesus is not just the verbal expression of “I am a friend of God” rather the keeping of his commandments. Since the one who created and owns us is not calling us slaves, no one should be called slaves either. We are all God’s children; we are all friends of Jesus. In Galatians 3:28, St. Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, for we are all one in Christ Jesus.” 

You know, being a slave of God was a title of honor. It was nothing to be ashamed of from the beginning. Moses, Joshua, David etc were known as slaves of God. Even St. Paul thought that being called a slave of God was a huge honor. Men and women of God in the past were proud to be called slaves of God. But Jesus tells us he has something greater to call us, “You are no longer slaves but friends.” With this, Jesus offers us the greatest intimacy with God. He chose us to be his friends. This means we no longer have to look at God from a distance. We are not like slaves who have no right to enter into the presence of their master. We are not spectators or a crowd of people who only look at men and women of authority from a distance. Jesus, our Lord and Brother has given us the permit to enter freely into the presence of the King of kings without any harassment from the secret service. “In him we live and move and have our being.” We are no longer strangers or aliens but intimate friends of God. Glory be to God!