Wednesday's Word: Abide (20 August 2014)

             On the 20^th of August the Anglican Church of Canada remembers Bernard of Clairvaux, a monastic reformer, writer, preacher and ‘warrior for God’ whose preaching launched the Second Crusade.  Notwithstanding contemporary ambivalence towards the Crusades and their aftermath of distrust and animosity between Christians, Jews and Muslims, Bernard is worth remembering in the life of the Christian community.  Among his many writings is a lengthy commentary on the Song of Solomon, the only canonical biblical text which does not mention God at all.

            It is perhaps for this reason as well as Bernard’s letters regarding friendship that the gospel reading for this feast is John 15.7-11, a portion of Jesus’ ‘Farewell Discourse’ to his disciples.  Within this lengthy section of John’s gospel is the memorable verse where Jesus says to the disciples, “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 friend.  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).

           In John 15.7-11 an important phrase emerges:  “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.” (John 15.9)  ‘Abide’ (in Greek menō) is a strong verb; it means more than just ‘hang around’ or ‘stay for a well’; it means ‘to remain firm’ or ‘to be constant’.  And where are we to abide?  In ‘love’.  What kind of love?  Agapē (Greek for ‘self-giving love; love that counts others first’).

            What Jesus is asking us is no passive approach to love, but an active, searching love that gives of oneself in order to bring about true good for the object of our love.  To abide in Christ’s love is a life-long commitment to work for the common good of all God’s creation and to be an agent of God in the renewal of creation.

            In a world such as ours where conflicts rage and millions live in fear, abiding in Christ’s love will be a costly affair.  But it is the only game in town worth playing.