The Gift of Friendship

Luke 19:1-10 and John 15:5-17

31 October 2010

Last Tuesday for our two seniors’ services, the theme was “The Gift of Friendship” as it is today. I brought a tote-bag full of homeless stuffed animals. We handed the animals out to those present at the beginning of the program as a symbol of friendship. By the end of the day, most of those stuffed animals – big and small – had found new homes.

All of us desire relationships outside of ourselves – even if it’s just a stuffed animal.

So it is with God – but of course, on a much grander scale, beyond our ability to comprehend. God desires a relationship with each one of us, whoever we are. So it’s no wonder then that Jesus walking along the road senses that Zacchaeus is up in that sycamore tree.

Surprisingly, it is Jesus who calls out Zacchaeus’s name and breaches social etiquette by inviting himself to this stranger’s house: “I must stay at your house today” (v. 5). “Must” is the Greek verb dei, which expresses divine necessity.

In the Mediterranean world, it is considered an honour to be the host. In Lebanon today, a host greets a guest by saying…… “you honour us.” Jesus must honour Zacchaeus by being his guest. In turn, Zacchaeus welcomes Jesus and experiences joy. He cooperates with the divine “must” or will by making restitution, symbolizing his repentance. (from Seasons of the Spirit lectionary resource for Oct. 31, 2010)

The encounter with Jesus is transformational for Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus is seeking Jesus and God is seeking Zacchaeus. The lost has found his home again in God.

We know our own lost moments of being disconnected from God. Rejoicing happens for ourselves and God when we come home again to God.

God is determined to have a relationship with each and everyone of us. So that in turn, we might be in relationship with one another. That’s true for Zacchaeus. His choosing to return home to God means also coming into relationship with those he’s previously hurt by making amends. Earlier, by taking from his neighbours, he was choosing to NOT be in relationship.

If we are created by a good and gracious God, we are also connected to each person and everything that God has created. To follow Jesus means to value the goodness in one another. And we know, we have been blessed and enriched by the God-given goodness of one another.

That’s what friendship is about.

Author and Theological Wendy Wright says our Spiritual Life is facilitated, encouraged and shaped by people we journey with. It is not a private journey of faith but rather it happens in community (from “A Conversation with Wendy Wright,” Alive Now, Jan.-Feb., 1999, pp. 10-15)

Our journey as Christians is one of awakening love. Friendship is a form of love. And friendships help us grow in our capacity to love.

Friendships are mutual relationships. They are reciprocal. Sometimes one is giving, another time another is giving. Sometimes both are giving at the same time. A relationship between a parent and a child is not a friendship. Yes both love each other, but it is not a relationship between peers.

Christian friendships have at their core a shared love for God. It doesn’t mean that the friends are always talking about their faith. But simply that both know they have a love for God that draws us together. The relationship itself can be one that encourages and deepens their love for God.

One of the blessings of Christian friendship is that it can seem that God has sent us to each other. Together, we challenge, sustain and support one another.

There are challenges to friendships in our culture today. People move frequently. “Good friendships, like any kind of relationship are richer the longer you live with them.” Our busyness gets in the way also. “We’re all so efficient and motivated to produce that friends get left out. We also have a very difficult time feeling as though it’s OK to be drawn to people and love people. We’re afraid of deep love.” (Wright)

“We really do think of ourselves as autonomous individuals….but hyper individualism robs us of the sense that we are interconnected.” (Wright)

It is important that we celebrate our relationships with one another and value them.. Here’s where the church comes in. We hold up an alternative model to the rest of society. We value our connection with God and with on another.

Jesus expresses in John’s Gospel his great love for the disciples of which we are. “This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer because the servant does not know what the master is doing but I have called you friends because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” (John 15:12-15)

Jesus says, ‘I have passed on to you everything that I know about how to be good, faithful friends to one another. Go and bear fruit. Pass on this abundance of love to one another.’

It’s our privilege to go about life bearing witness to God’s abundance, delighting in the relationships that we were given in the past and that are being offered to us today.