Far, Far Better

Sharing and sacrificing for a great friendship

John 15:12-17

Jesus said to his disciples: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. This I command you: love one another.”

          There are always two signs of a great friendship: (1) you share intimately with each other, and (2) you sacrifice eagerly for each other. Sharing and sacrifice. Friends share their time, they share their hopes and fears, they share their lunch, and if they get married, they even share their bodies with each other. Friends also sacrifice for each other. A man will work two jobs to buy his best friend a diamond ring. A woman goes through pregnancy to have a baby. Now, who gets the better end of that deal??

          One of my favorite love stories is Charles Dickens’ classic called “A Tale of Two Cities.” Have you read it? You should. It’s about a selfish drunken lawyer named Sydney Carton, who falls in love with a beautiful young lady named Lucie Manette. The only problem is Lucie marries someone else, a fellow named Charles Darnay. Toward the end of the story, Charles is in Paris, standing in line to be executed by the guillotine, but Sydney exchanges places with him and saves his life. You see, Sydney eagerly sacrificed his life to save the husband of the woman he loved. His final lines are unforgettable. He says, “It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done. It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” Great friends share and sacrifice, that’s what makes them “far, far better.”

          In the gospel today, we see Jesus also desires to have a great friendship with his apostles by sharing and sacrificing for them. First Jesus shares intimately with them, saying, “I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.” Jesus shared his time, his hopes and fears, and even his lunch of loaves and fish with his friends. And in the Eucharist, Jesus even shares his body with us. Secondly, Jesus sacrifices for them, saying, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Like Sydney Carton, Jesus takes our place in paying the price for our sin on the Cross. Scott Hahn often says: “Jesus paid a debt he didn’t owe, because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.” You see, sharing and sacrificing always make friendships “far, far better.”

          Today, I want you to test your friendship with Jesus. We all say that we are Jesus’ friends, but do we see the two signs of a great friendship with him? Do we share our lives with our Lord: in personal prayer, in making it to Mass, in confessing our sins, in volunteering in church, and in listening to what he shares with us? Jesus wants to tell us everything he has heard from his Father. And do we sacrifice for Jesus? When was the last time you did something hard for Jesus: something that hurt you but that helped someone else? We don’t have to take someone’s place on the guillotine, but then again, maybe someday we will. Could you lay down your life for another person: how about for the husband of the woman you love?

          “It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done. It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever know.”

          Praised be Jesus Christ!