2

John15: 1-8A pastor and an organist at a church were not getting along. Actually, they had never gotten along. The choir at that church was very quick at picking up hymns and anthems without practicing them, so the organist usually picked a hymn on the spot after hearing the sermon topic.One day the pastor preached a sermon on commitment. Just to annoy him, the organist quickly chose and led the next hymn: "I Will Not Be Moved"

Next week the pastor preached on gossip. The organist's hymn pick: "I Love to Tell the Story."

And then the good pastor next preached on the importance of tithing. The organist chose: "Jesus Paid it All"

By now the pastor was getting discouraged. So next week he talked about how he was thinking of leaving the parish. Our friend the organist chose: "O Why not Tonight?"

So the pastor did resign. In his final sermon he spoke of how Jesus had led him to that church, and now Jesus had led him away.The organist's choice: "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"But on a serious note! What a friend we have in Jesus!Jesus is giving us yet another image to understand the relationship between God, Jesus and ourselves. He says God is the vine grower, Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. Jesus beautifully says, Abide in me as I abide in you. And he says, you know why, you will wither away if you dont hang in with me, I will take care of you, I will make you bear fruit, abide in me. When I reflected on this text, it felt like Jesus saying to each one of us, extending his hand and saying, Will you be my friend! Hang in with me, stay with me, can we be everlasting friends? Abide in me as I abide in you. What more do we need?Do you think making friends is easy? Not quitefriendship happens among two people not because they are blood related, not because they have obligations, not because they have expectations to fulfill, but only because they can relate with each other more closely than even family members and blood relations.

The only way it is possible to bear that fruit is, as Jesus would say it to abide in him. What a comfort!!! He wants to be a true friend to us. Unfortunately, we have diluted friendship into something easy, people come and gono its not like thatthe people whom we like to hang out with, the people who share and bear our secrets, the people who protect us, the people who are there with you even though they dont have to...Jesus extends friendship with us promising to us that he is willing to stay connected with us forever, if we are also willing to abide in him.

Any relationship that is based on friendship tends to last long term. For instance, a parent who says My kid is like a friend to me tells me that they have a better understanding of each other. They use that imagery to elevate their relationship as if friendship is the ultimate standard for any relationship. Similarlyif siblings say we are like friends, that means they are close to each other. Again elevating friendship is a better relational concept. The life partners who stayed long together many times affirm that the basis of their relationship is friendship.

Unfortunately, more and more it is getting harder to find such long lasting love because we have a different foundation in our relationship than that friendship, that keeps understanding alive.

These days it is difficult to find true friends, who will walk an extra mile for us, to be there giving their shoulder to cry on. More and more people feel burdened to share in the issues of other people. True friends are not those who show up when you have a party, but who show up when you are in trouble, who stand by you to lift you up and check on you when you are down in your life, a true friend is the one who forgives you easily even if something goes wrong.A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. In aspecific point of the journey, they had an argument, and one friendslapped the other one in the face.

The one, who got slapped, was hurt, but without anything to say, he wrote in the sand:TODAY, MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE".They kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who got slapped and hurt started drowning, and the other friend saved him.

When he recovered from the fright, he wroteon a stone:

"TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE"The friend who saved and slapped his best friend, asked him, "Why, after I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now you write on a stone?"

The other friend, smiling, replied: "When a friend hurts us, we should write it down in the sand, where the winds of forgiveness get in charge of erasing it away, and when something great happens, we should engrave it in the stone of the memory of the heart, where no wind can erase it."

If only we can practice that, the world would be a different place. We often remember the bad things that are done to us and forget the good things that are done for us.

Jesus projects a different kind of friendship than what we see in our daily lives. However, dont we see true friends, we dowhere are they? Here we arethe true friendsDont you think you all care for one another, dont you think you will be there when someone is in need yesthats it

Well, I cant say we dont find true friends any morewe do find them

Jesus is asking us Will you be my friend?! Will you stay with mewill you abide in me, as I abide in you? Are you willing to do that? Whats your response? What does it take to be a true friend to Jesus? What does it take to be a friend to anybody for that matter? Jesus does not want us to be friends on a social network, he does not want us to be the friends who can show up for a visit. No, he wants us to remain in touch, to remain to be friends, to learn about each other, to be there through thick and thin. In the busy world we have no time for friendship. Thats why we have taken an alternative in social network friendships. Is that all there is?When someone is in need of bread, not because he or she cant afford it, but because there is such a situation that they cant make it or go and buy it, we cant buy bread from the internet caf and send it through Facebook or through e-mail. One has to make an effort to either make the bread or buy bread and then go give it to the friend in need. We still need to abide by each other. Jesus is reminding each of us to receive such friendship, and extend such friendship.

Jesus is sending us with a beautiful promise.If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

Whatever you wish will be done for you, but on one condition, If you abide in me, and my words abide in you.

If we are true friends there are several things that we cannot ask, because we care for our friend. As a true friend we tend to give much more than ask.What is our wish today? Jesus says it will be done for you. Let us first ask ourselves if we abide in Jesus, and then think Whats our wish? Well, we all can celebrate our birthday today. Make a wish, before we blow that candleis it to bear fruit! Is it to glorify our God?May God bless these words. Amen.