FIRST READING 1 John 5:1-6         GOSPEL Reading      John 15:9-17

“Servant to Friend” by Bryan Corbin

May 6, 2018

Focus: In John, Jesus calls us His friends. How do we go from servant to friend? We make that step because Jesus shares with us what He is doing. What does He mean? Is there a step beyond that?

Have you ever felt like our students in the skit? Have you ever questioned where or what is God doing? I sure have. Even though the skit follows three fictitious high school students, the plot tells of something universally relatable. Furthermore, we wanted to leave out happily ever after or Hollywood endings. Sure, the students get some solid advice from their Youth Director, but they still go home that night and must face their giants of lament and hopelessness. By the following Tuesday, they may be so far down in the dark valley that they forget what it is like on the mountaintop. That is what life is like. When you’re at church on Sunday or a retreat like the youth enjoy at Zeteo, it is easy to see God. God’s presence is clear and obvious. It is ridiculously more challenging to see God in the valley. Jesus calls us His friends in our Gospel reading this morning. Friends are supposed to be there for you in times of strife and struggle. Where does our friend go in the midst of our hardships? Maybe, just like the skit, God is not the one turning His back. God is faithful and ever-present in our lives. Let us turn back to God now by further examining His word. The Gospel of John tells us that we are Jesus’ friend because He has made us aware of what He is doing. So, what is God doing? Even when we are in the valley. C.S. Lewis says it best in his book “Mere Christianity”. Lewis says “…when one person has got himself into a hole, the trouble of getting him out usually falls on a kind friend. Now what was the sort of ‘hole’ man had got himself into? He had tried to set up on his own, to behave as if he belonged to himself. In other words, fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realizing that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor…This process of surrender…is what Christians call repentance. Now repentance is no fun at all.” Boy is he right, repentance is no fun at all. Repentance is harder to do, the more you need it. The issue is that we need it so badly, that it is impossible for us to do it alone.  We need Jesus. Jesus urges and encourages us to surrender to God, to turn from our own ways in order to follow God’s ways, the way He did.  Repentance is the onramp to the pathway to God and God yearns for our love. Now love is complicated.  There are different types of love and different stages of love.  There are introductory stages, like getting to know the person and then, at some point, there is the puppy love stage. Eventually, one must determine if they truly love their significant other, or simply love the idea of having a significant other. In other words, does one love the idea of sharing their life with another, the idea of unconditional acceptance, the idea of marriage? Admittedly, I am at this stage with the most important relationship in my life…with God. Do I truly love God or do I simply love the idea of having a master physician to believe in, the idea of divine guidance, the idea of salvation? This is a question I must ponder and explore. I encourage you to do the same. Natalie Grant has a song called “More than Anything” that has a chorus may be helpful to us in this journey. The lyrics are this: “Help me want the Healer, More than the healing. Help me want the Savior, More than the saving. Help me want the Giver, More than the giving. Oh, help me want You Jesus, More than anything.” 

If we surrender ourselves to God the way Jesus did, and keep at it, we will not only learn to serve and obey God, but to love him with our whole being.  That’s what Jesus did – and that’s what you and I can do, too.  In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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