No Longer Slaves But Friends

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 10, 2015

To those who are called by the name of Jesus Christ, have faith in him, and have surrendered to his lordship 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” (John 15:15). 

Sisters and brothers, we are not slaves, not even to our Lord and Master. We are rather friends of Jesus. Slaves don’t have to love their masters. In fact, slaves hardly love their masters. Slaves do not sit, eat and dine at the same table with their masters. The master does not die for his slaves. If anything, he would sacrifice the lives of his slaves just to keep his. Jesus calls us friends, not slaves. He told us everything he heard from the Father and 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; there is a desire to please each other; there is a yearning to make sacrifices for each other. Between friends, there is obedient love and sacrificial love. But between a slave and his master, there is a mere blind obedience, obedience generated not by love but by fear. Jesus calls us friends because he does not want us to be afraid of him but to love him. He wants our obedience of his commandments to be generated by love and fidelity and not by fear. And let’s not forget that he was the first to love us. In the beginning of today’s Gospel, he says, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you” (John 15:9). To emphasize 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)...” (John 15:16).

An essential commandment given to us by Jesus in today’s Gospel is: “Love one another as I love you” (John15:12). Love is our Christian identity. It is our habit. Love defines us and demonstrates our relationship with Jesus. It brings life in the society. It enthrones the reign of God in our society. Love is capable of reducing crimes, violence and human suffering. 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 are in this world to compete with one another, or to dispute with one another, or to quarrel with one another. Today’s Gospel reminds us that we are called primarily to love one another as Jesus loves us. We are to love with no strings attached.

Beloved in Christ, since the owner of our lives did not call us slaves, no one should be called a slave or be treated as such. We are all God’s children; we are 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.”  Since Jesus almost made us equal to himself, why do we diminish the humanity of some people? Why do we look at others as inferior? Why do we treat others as second-class citizens? Why do we belittle people that Jesus himself has lifted up? Why do we humiliate certain persons that the Lord has exalted? Our society has some people who oftentimes say, write and do things that racially disrespect and dishonor certain races, and when they are confronted by it, they dismiss their critics with comments like: “I am not a racist.” Each of us should be careful not to dishonor those whom God has honored, not to disparage or undervalue those whom God values and cherishes, not to treat as a slave those whom God has called friends, not to dehumanize a person whose dignity Jesus has dignified and glorified. If Jesus did not call us slaves or treat us as slaves, why do we look at others or treat them as slaves? Mark this, anyone who dishonors a human person whom God has created in his image and likeness dishonors God too. And there are consequences for dishonoring God!

Now, being a slave of God was once a title of honor. Moses, Joshua, David etc. were known as slaves of God. 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. It 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” (Acts 17: 28). We are no longer strangers or aliens but intimate friends of God. 

Glory be to God!