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John15: 1-8

A 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 a
specific point of the journey, they had an
argument, and one friend
slapped 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 wrote
on 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

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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 do
where are they? Here we arethe true
friendsDont you think you all care for
one another, dont you think you will be

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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