Friends

Ruth 1: 16-18; John 15: 9-17

FPC; 10-5-08

          Dr. Tony Campolo, in his book titled You Can Make a Difference, tells the
story of a Christian colleague with a PhD. in English Literature who quit
his job and became a mailman because he felt Christ was calling him to make that career change.  Not long after his friend began his new job, Tony went to the man's apartment to try to persuade him to change his mind. Here is how Tony describes that encounter:

          "I couldn't change his mind, so I came back with the old
Protestant work ethic thing. I said, ''Charlie, since you've decided to be a mailman, be the best mailman you can be.''

          "He looked at me with a silly grin and said, 'I'm a lousy mailman.''
          "I asked, 'what do you mean, you're a lousy mailman?’''

          "He answered, 'everybody else gets the mail delivered by one o'clock; I
never get back until about five thirty or six.''

          "'What takes so long?'' Campolo wanted to know.

          "He said, 'I visit! That's why it takes so long. You wouldn't believe how
many people on my route never got visited until I became the mailman. But
I've got this problem. I can't sleep at night.''

          Campolo asked, 'Why can't you sleep?''

          "He said, 'who can sleep after drinking twenty cups of coffee?''

          Tony Campolo says, "I began to get the image of this mailman on the job. He was no ordinary mailman. I could picture him going from door to door and at each home giving more than the mail. I could see him visiting solitary widows,
counseling troubled children, joking with lonely old men. I could see him
delivering the mail in a way that was extraordinary for the people on his
route. He's the only mailman I know that on his birthday the people on his
route get together, hire out a gym, and throw a party for him. They love
him because he expresses the love of Jesus everywhere he goes.”[i]

          In his own subtle way, Charlie is changing the world, touching people where they are, being a friend. 

        Perhaps Charlie had learned something about being a friend from some of the friendships mentioned in the bible: the friendship between David and Jonathan, the friendship shared by Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi, the friendship experienced between Elijah and his student, Elisha, between Mary and Elizabeth, the Apostle Paul and Barnabas. 

          In today’s gospel reading, Jesus is speaking to his disciples: “No longer do I call you servants...You are my friends.”  Jesus is telling his followers that their relationship to him has taken on a new dimension, one of deepened trust.  One of the marks of friendship, according to Jesus, is love, not fair-weather love and not self-serving love. He is talking about love that gives more than it receives; love that is willing to risk vulnerability.                       As many of you know Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play major league baseball.   In 1949, his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he had fast balls thrown at his head, runners spike him on the bases, and racial slurs hurled at him from the stands and the dugouts.

          At the beginning of one away game, the belittling, denigrating comments reached a maliciously high level.  To make matters worse, Robinson committed an error, for which the crowd vigorously taunted him.  In the midst of this, another Dodger, a Southern white named Pee Wee Reese, called timeout. He walked from his position at shortstop toward Robinson at second base, put his arm around Robinson's shoulder, and stood there with him for what seemed like a long time. The gesture spoke more eloquently than words: This man is my friend.[ii]

          Love is the main ingredient in the friendship Jesus has with us and in the friendship we are to have with one another. It is the kind of love that risks vulnerability; it is the kind of love that is patient and kind, love that denies self and seeks the well-being of others.    

          One night, in the upper room, Jesus gathered with his best friends to share one final intimate moment.  It was the last meal they would have together.  

Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it.

          He then raised the chalice.

          One by one, the disciples, these friends served one another.    

          Jesus, the one who names us his friends has given us the gift of this meal so that we may remember the sacrifice of love he has given.  As we join in communion, we are strengthened to love one another as friends. 

          Praise be to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.