“I Call You Friends”
2021년 5월 9일“I Call You Friends” (John 15:15)
< Sixth Sunday of Easter >
When I left Korea in 1985, I bid farewell to so many good friends who’d come to Kimpo Airport to see me off. As I passed through immigration, the young man at the customs booth looked at my passport and said, “You’ve lived in Korea a long time in Korea. “More than ten years,” I answered. “When are you returning?” he asked. “I don’t know,” I answered. “What about your friends?” he said. “Most of my friends are Korean, and I just said goodbye to them.” The customs agent saw there was no one in line so he closed his booth, came around, picked up my suitcase and walked me to the departure gate. “I’ll wait with you,” he said. “I’ll represent your friends.”
Koreans taught me many things about what it means to be a friend. We throw the word around in English, but a true friend in Korea is someone around the same age as your own. A friend can be counted on to tell you the truth. A friend is close to your heart and knows your secrets and sins and loves you anyway. A friend is always there for you. And, miracle of miracles, in today’s’ gospel Jesus calls US his friends. He knows our secrets. He knows our sins. But he never abandons us. He loves us anyway. He is always there for us. The question for us today is: are we loyal friends of Jesus? Are we there for him? Let’s start by being HERE for him.