Friends of God

Gospel: John 15: 9-17

All ancient religions were based on a relationship of servitude with the divinity.  God or the gods were seen as the master or patron, and human beings were seen as the slave or client.  God as all powerful creator bestows gifts upon the servants or clients who are utterly dependent upon God for all things.  None of this is incorrect, but it is not the relationship with God that Jesus has provided for us.

Instead, God takes on the position of a servant in the person of Jesus.  God does not allocate arbitrary gifts and laws as a whim to servant, but instead lavishes love upon his children.  Instead of cowering and approaching God out of fear and performing tasks to satisfy the arbitrary deity, we are now cooperators in the work of God on earth.  We now have ownership over this work.

And this work is not about establishing a kingdom of dominance over others. It is, instead, the same work of love and mercy that Jesus performed in the world: work of healing, feeding, liberating all those who are sick, hungry, and held in bondage by all sorts of forces.  Jesus invites us to be friends of God, not slaves - and so too must we approach all people in the spirit of friendship and not of dominance as we carry out the tasks of love and mercy in the world.