Friends of Christ

WORD 2day: Friday, 5th week in Easter time

May 20, 2022: Acts 15: 22-31; John 15: 12-17

While the readings on the one hand insist on making the burden easy for the new converts to faith, on the other hand we find lofty demands such as even giving one's life for one's neighbours! The point is clear... Our faith is not a matter of do's and don'ts; it is a matter of relationship and commitment.

Our faith defines our relationship with God, it infact redimensions our very identity - from mere creatures we are given the identity of God's beloved children, and moreover, friends of Christ! Our identity is defined in terms of relationships... not position, prestige or status, but our relationship with God, which affects all other relationships in our daily life.

Being called friends of Christ, it is natural that the demands are high. After all, did not Jesus insist that, "from the one to whom much is given, much will be demanded" (Lk 12:48)? But the demands are not merely to do something and to avoid something else, but the demand is about an entire lifestyle. It is to model our life after that of Christ.

The relationship with Christ, or the friendship with Jesus affects all other relationships of ours. The friends of our friend, should be our friends too! The love we have for the Lord compels us to be loving persons with every person around us: not just our "friends", but even with so-called strangers, people whom we just casually bump into, or specially with those who might have offended us. Even if we do not lay down our lives, are we not expected to lay down at least our ego, when it comes to our relationships?