I Have Called You Friends!

Sunday, May 5, 2024

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48; 1 Jn 4:7-10; Jn 15:9-17

The sixth Sunday of Easter invites us to think of love through friendship. 

St. Maximilian Golbe, known as the saint of Auschwitz, took the place of a man when it was routine in the concentration camp to punish ten prisoners with death for the escape of one prisoner. When Franciszek, whose place Kolbe took, cried out in agony over the fate of his wife and children, Kolbe stepped in and said, ‘I am a Catholic priest from Poland; I would like to take his place because he has a wife and children.’ The switch was permitted, and St. Kolbe was put to death with a lethal injection. Looking at St. Kolbe, one of the SS commanders remarked, ‘A strange priest!’

When Jesus says, ‘I have called you friends’ in today’s Gospel, we are reminded of St. Kolbe’s sacrifice for his fellow inmate. 

Jesus’ choice of ‘friendship’ to signify love over any other relational term is very fascinating. Jesus thinks of friends over families when it comes to life-giving sacrifice. 

It takes only a common taste for people to make acquaintances. It takes a common idea for people to become partners. However, to be friends, something more profound is needed because friendship is about affirming the life of the one/s with whom we are friends. 

By invoking friendship, Jesus makes his sacrifice more powerful. Jesus did not die for strangers but for those whom he called his friends, and as he says, ‘there is greater love than this.’ 

The other two readings complement the Gospel vision. In the first reading, we find the gift of the Holy Spirit being poured out on Gentiles as well. God’s love spreads out without entertaining any partiality. Everyone baptized in the name of Jesus Christ considers everyone else as friends in the Lord. As Peter proclaims, our righteousness leads to such Divine Friendship. 

The second reading offers a summary of what Jesus says in the Gospel. It is love that qualifies us as God’s people. Because love is a godly virtue, we are invited to embrace it as our Christian identity. 

The sixth Sunday of Easter invites us to share God’s love in our acts of friendship. 

Friends of Jesus: Love understood through friendship is a spiritual revolution that Jesus demonstrated in his life and sacrifice. Everyone around us should be able to witness the friend we have in Jesus. The life-giving friendship of Jesus should be translated into a life-affirming friendship in our own setting. 

Friendship as Equality: Friendship can transcend any barrier. That is why there is no place for partiality in friendship. The God who called us understands us to be His friends, so that in all faithfulness to that friendship, we are invited to replicate the same in our own lives. In God’s name, we are to promote fairness, equality, and love.

Friendship as Sacrifice: We cannot understand a friendship apart from sacrifice. God’s friendship with humanity was possible through the generous sacrifice of His only Son for the sake of humanity. When Christ’s sacrifice was a symbol of his friendship with us, we are invited to reflect on the distinct quality that can define our own friendship.

Let us give out the love exemplified in God’s friendship with us!

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar