The snow continues to fall. It lies on the backs of the sheep. Danny, our barn cat, is in trouble again. He has been confined to the house because of an injury which I will tell you of, in my next post. He is not happy as he goes from door to door to window to door, sniffing the drafts and scratching and meowing, continually plotting an escape each time the door opens. Because he thinks he is ready to go out, he is planning a hunting trip that he hopes will take him out into the winter landscape. It is cold, windy, and the snow is deep; Danny will stay inside today.
We read in John 15:11-17:
"I have spoken these things to you that my joy might be in you, and that your joy might be complete. This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends because I have made known to you, everything that I heard from my Father. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and I have appointed you to go out and bear fruit, of such a kind that it will remain. I have done so that the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. These are my orders to you, that you love one another."
What did Jesus say? He calls me His friend? There have been many times in my life when my heart has ached for someone to call me friend. Loneliness is a part of every human life. "It is part of our common humanity. It draws us together." It draws us to God. But the world shuns such neediness, so we hide it under the illusion of "this beautiful world." We find ourselves excluding and ignoring the angry, hurt, wounded, weak, handicapped, and those who have failed, because of our own poverty of spirit. We are consumed by our own lives, our own plans.
Today many young and old people are waiting for someone to lead them out of despair into hope If they only knew the hope that is in Jesus Christ and by His spirit, He is already at work in them. His spirit will move in people and places we could not hope to imagine. And so it is today as it was in Bethsaida, Jesus attracts people to Him and as He does, the plan of God is unfolding and unfolding. It flows from the Father to the Son, into the hearts and minds of those whom Jesus has called. Although it was John who guided these first two disciples to Him, it is the Father who draws the hearts of these young thirsty men. Later Jesus will say, "I have revealed your name to those whom you took from this world to give to me. These were yours and you gave them to me." (John 17:6) When you already belong to someone, things will move according to their plan. As these two disciples began to follow Jesus, He turned to ask, "What are you looking for?" These were the first words of Jesus in the gospel of John. "What are you looking for?"
With those words, little by little, they will enter into a relationship with Him. It will proceed according to a plan. "Rabbi, teacher, where do you live?" Jesus responded, "Come and see." And they stayed with Him. Then Andrew goes to find Simon, his brother; then Philip comes; then Nathanael. And by the end of the fourth day, Jesus will have gathered around him six disciples who in time will take His message to the four corners of the earth. He did not call them to give them the plan of salvation, a set of rules, an ideology; He called them to be His friends, his partners. He shared His vision. He opened His heart to them. His friendship was the heart of His message to them. There is a vitality and a driving force to these first few days in the ministry of Jesus that is thrilling to read. As it was for the disciples, it remains a new journey, that once we know Jesus, "will take us not away from the world but into it." The heart of His message is about friendship, community, humility, washing each others feet.
The experience of discovering love in order to love is learned slowly over a life time. For me it has been a long journey. For those of us who have little to share... for a while, we will share our weaknesses. And when we have absolutely nothing, we will share our trust.
You might ask as Nicodemis did, "How can this happen?" Jesus is not simply an example to follow which leaves us frustrated and defeated as with many New Year's resolutions. No, He is more than that. He is a Saviour. It is God in us that does things. He wants to live life through us as He is the vine and we are the branches. We will walk together with the same vision. He will abide in us.
Years ago, I had the opportunity to work in a small cottage hospital in Burgeo, on the south coast of Newfoundland. One evening as I was tending to our small group of patients, I felt a small tug on my dress. I looked up to see a painfully thin woman who had come into the hospital from an island down the coast. Her life of toil and hardship was etched onto her face in many lines and creases. From her mouth sang the words, "Will ye bide with I tonight." One of the nurses who came from this area, called over her shoulder as she was passing out of the door, "She wants to know if you will sleep with her tonight, to keep her warm?" Now...over twenty years later, I still see her beautiful face in my mind as I see others from over the years that have cried out in their own way, "Will ye bide with I tonight?" It grieves me greatly that I did not always see their beauty, their needs.
We are simply humans "enfolded in weakness and in hope, called to change our world, a heart at a time."(Jean Vanier) This is the mysterious tranformation that results in joy each day, to know and fulfill the Father's will in us, our calling...to keep each other warm... close to our hearts. This is our rising sun.
May His shalom be with you and go forth from you. Pam
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