Attributions

When we were growing up in school, there were certain ways we saw ourselves concerning the teacher and relating to the class. The labels that went with typical reputations were almost universal identities. They were not all positive and may not have been fair. There was: the teacher’s pet, the dunce, the whiz kid, the kid often in trouble, the popular one, and the class clown, to name a few.

My favorite elementary teacher was Miss Jay, third grade. I would say now of her she was a fun and free spirit. She made the class experience fun for the students. With a Spanish term, she dubbed me, “cola de vaca” The meaning of la cola de la vaca is “the tail of the cow.” The nickname was mostly for my tendency to be the last one to line up for activities. I might have been in my little world sometimes. (I think I am starting to outgrow it.) I never took it as a snub; it felt endearing. That was the context Miss Jay set for all the class. It was a light and loving environment: our third-grade class.

Applied to people, what could we say the following terms have in common: beloved, servant, friend, fruit bearer, dweller, joyous, chosen, obedient? There might be many answers, but I have one in mind. These descriptions apply to you if you are a follower of Christ. The fifteenth chapter of John is part of what is often called the farewell discourse of Jesus to his disciples. In the section which we will read in church on Sunday, we hear Jesus describing his disciples, defining their relation to him. Here Jesus broadens the descriptive reality of the faithful disciple. As a follower, you are not just one thing, you are many things. It is a long passage, but it is worth reading, deliberately:

Jesus said to his disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. 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 friends. 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. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”   (John 15:9-17)

You are beloved. The Father’s love for the Son has spilled over and pulled you into a relationship with Jesus. There is a love within the Godhead that is operative in your relationship to the Savior. You love and are loved by the Savior; it is a love you dwell in, remain in, abide in. From that love flows, naturally and surely, obedience to the command of Jesus: love one another.  The fruit of your abiding and obeying is that others find their way into this glorious connection. It brings deep and complete joy to all who remain in the current of this love. Those who remain, conform themselves to Christ’s indwelling love, and so, live in harmony with what Jesus wants. Such a one falls in line with those originally chosen and sent out to bear fruit. To Jesus, you are not servants only, but friends.

All of it, every part, centers on the love within God that takes hold and transforms you. This passage is like a hymn of your identity that flows from the heart of Jesus. It balances the difficulties and sacrifices that come with your identification with Christ. Who are you in Christ? It is said in many ways, but all of your factors of belonging to the Crucified and Risen One are quite deep and real. Nicknames in school may be superficial, arbitrary, and tell only a partial aspect of the student. But as a disciple of the One who calls you “Beloved,” you dwell in his love, joyously obedient to his commandments, bearing fruit. You find yourself to be both servant and friend of the Master. How does it feel to be so chosen?