What does laying down you life look like?
When I taught HS, I did not have much time for TV. Except for late on Sunday nights. I would settle into one of the variants of Star Trek – Deep Space 9. That was as close as I got to regular TV. There was an episode where the Captain of Deep Space 9 was fighting the usual impossible battle against impossible odds side by side with a hero from the local underground by the name of Lee Nalis. At one point during a lull in the fighting, Captain Cisco was in a conversation with the rebel. Lee Nalis said: “I am willing to die for my people.” “All fine and good, but your people don’t need another dead hero. Are you willing to live for your people?” Are you willing to live for your people?
That question stayed with me, 20+ years since I stopped teaching High school. And it opens up for me an insight into today’s Gospel. It is easy to hear this passage in terms of heroic sacrifice – the one time act of tremendous devotion that moves one to do tremendous deeds – “No greater love has anyone than this – to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Sure, Lord, I’ll do that. I’ll lay down my life. I’ll do the one time heroic thing, the heroic sacrifice. That I can do. I can muster that courage, that self sacrifice. As long as it is quick and over with in a hurry. Sure, I’ll volunteer for that day of service. It is four hours, with food trucks at the end. The parish will look great. I’ll feel better about myself when I am done…
And then you keep reading in John: “Your fruit must remain…” Oh. It’s not for the short term. This is not about the one time act. This is not about a day here or there when I grit my teeth and endure the discomfort of a visit to a nursing home/homeless shelter/prison/_____ fill in the blank. This is about the day to day stuff. “Your fruit must endure…” The little moments when love picks at you – not as a tremendous welling up of sentiment and feeling – but as demand and obligation and commitment. Are you willing to live for your people?
- The moments when your child cries in the middle of the night and you took care of him last night, but you know that your spouse had a rough day, and now you have to choose – do I pretend I did not hear them or do I lay down my life and my sleep because I love my spouse?
- The moments when you’ve had a horrendous day and all you want to do is get it off your chest – and your friend calls with a problem that is bothering them – and you now have to choose to listen to them while putting your problem on the back burner… Are you willing to live for your people?
- The moment when you have set aside a bit of time in the day for quiet and prayer, and you are all set to settle in – when the doorbell rings or the son crashes home with an injury or the neighbor needs to borrow a tool and you have to unlock the shed to get it – and you are faced again with the choice to love your neighbor. Are you willing to live for your people?
- The 100th time you go downstairs to a sink full of dishes left there by your roommate who is gone for the weekend… Are you willing to live for your people?
- The 70th time you have gone over spelling words with your daughter/granddaughter…. Are you willing to live for your people?
Are you willing to live for your people? It looks easy to lay down one’s life in the short term. But when it is the long haul – there do we hear the invitation from our God – to “lay down our living for our friends.”
Two applications:
1) It (was) has been a wonderful day of service. The grounds look great. A lot of people have freezer meals and NICU bonnets and clean gutters and homemade bird houses and… All wonderful and good. But what will they eat next week? Who will clean out their gutters the next time. How will you serve this parish community NEXT week?
2) Reread this rich passage from John’s gospel. But with one change in text: “No greater love has anyone than this, to lay down one’s LIVING for one’s friends.” What does that do to your understanding of this ‘command’ of our Lord?
Jesus invites us to lay down our lives for our friends. He measured that gift upon the cross. For most of us, most of the time, that looks like the decision to live for them. Or, as my Deep Space 9 captain famously said: Are you willing to live for your people?