WEBVTT 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:08.160 There's a line in today's first reading that's so simple, but if you understand it, it changes how you see the church forever. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:13.039 It says, it is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:19.760 Not just we decided, not just human agency, strategy, debate, and compromise. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:22.320 No, the Holy Spirit and us. 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:25.519 That's the mystery of the church. 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:36.799 Fully human, real arguments, real confusion, real personalities, and at the same time guided, sustained, corrected by the Holy Spirit. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:40.159 And look at the effects of that decision. 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:46.320 They send a letter, they clarify the truth, they remove unnecessary burdens, and what happens? 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:49.840 It says when the people read it, they were delighted. 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:51.200 Delighted. 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:58.240 That word matters because truth, when it is when it is really from God, does not crush the soul. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:00:59.359 It liberates. 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:04.480 These people had been disturbed, the text says. 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:21.359 And then the church speaks clearly, authoritively, and the result is not opposition. 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:24.079 It is this sigh of relief. 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:31.840 That's how you know the difference between a burden God never asked for and a command that actually comes from him. 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:37.519 Now, if we go to the gospel, Jesus brings it to a higher point. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:43.040 He says, This is my commandment, love one another as I have loved you. 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:49.040 And if we're honest, we hear that and we try to soften it immediately. 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:54.319 We turn it into be kind, be patient, be generally a good person. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:56.400 But that's not what he's saying. 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:01.519 He says, as I have loved you, or as I love you. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:08.159 So now you have to ask, how does he love? 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:15.680 Well, he says, No one has greater love than this to lay down one's life for one's friends. 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:17.599 That's the standard. 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:22.800 Not convenience, not preference, not when it feels right, sacrifice. 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:27.599 And this is where most of us quietly redraw the line. 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:31.039 We like the idea of love until it costs us something real. 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:40.800 Our time, our pride, our comfort, our plans, our need to be right, our wanting to control every relationship and every context. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:44.639 Jesus is not offering a vague emotional ideal. 00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:48.479 He's defining love in concrete, costly terms. 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:53.759 To love like him, to give yourself away. 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:56.719 And then he says something that should stop us. 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:01.840 I no longer call you slaves, I have called you friends. 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:04.319 That's incredible. 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:09.039 He gives a command, a demanding one, love like I love. 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:13.520 And in the same breath he elevates you, not slaves, friends. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:14.479 Why? 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:19.360 Well, because a slave obeys with understanding, without understanding. 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:23.680 A friend is brought into the heart of the one who commands. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:28.159 I have told you everything I have heard from my father, he says. 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:31.919 In other words, Jesus is not asking blind obedience. 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:39.680 He's inviting you into his own relationship with the Father, his own way of loving, his own way of giving himself. 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:42.960 This is not about following rules from a distance. 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:45.520 This is about sharing a life. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:49.759 But here's the tension we have to face honestly. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:54.400 That line does not sit comfortably in modern ears. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:54.879 Why? 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:57.199 Because we want intimacy without obedience. 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:02.080 We want closeness with God without the cost of actually living what he says. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:04.960 Jesus refuses to separate the two. 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:10.159 Friendship with him is not sentimental, it is a lived reality. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:15.120 And then almost quietly he reminds you of something that grounds everything. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:19.519 It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you. 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:27.360 Before you ever responded, before you ever tried, before you ever got anything right or wrong, he chose you. 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:29.839 And he chose you for a purpose. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:33.600 To go and bear fruit that remain that will remain, he says. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:39.839 Not temporary impact, not service level influence, something lasting. 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:43.839 So here's the question that we have today. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:46.639 What does your love actually cost you? 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:51.600 Not what you feel, not what you intend, what does it cost? 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:57.360 Because that is where you will find out if you're living the gospel or just admiring it. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:02.560 And if you're honest, most of us have room to grow. 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:13.519 But the imitation is real, not to be servants who keep ourselves at a distance, but to become friends who love the way he loves. 00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:23.199 And that kind of love, costly, concrete, self giving, is the only kind that actually lasts forever. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:24.319 Amen.