Episode Transcript  

One

Friendship makes a Person Brave

Friendship changes everything. Friendship makes love personal. Friendship draws us out of our selfishness. Friendship unlocks courage, the willingness to lay down one’s life for another. We don’t die for abstract ideas. We die for people, for friends.

The military tells soldiers they must be willing to die for their country and for freedom. But when the battle begins, a soldier does not fight for the abstract good of freedom or nation; he fights for the men next to him. He is willing to die for his brothers. If I am alone on a battlefield, I am not going to die for freedom’s sake. I’m going to run and hide and save my life. Put my best friend on that same battlefield, put my wife or my sons or daughters there, and I’ll surely fight and die to save them.

Abstract ideas don’t move us to sacrifice when it costs everything, unless they become personal. And they become personal through the people we love. Friendship makes a person brave! 

Two

Friendship makes a Person Good 

Courage must be personal, not abstract. Likewise, goodness must be personal, not abstract. At the Last Supper, Jesus said, “A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends… You are my friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15)

Wait a minute…that sounds pretty manipulative. That sounds like, “I’ll be your friend if you do what I say.” But that is not what Jesus means. He means: If you really know me, if you are my friend, then you will know I am Love in Person, and you will not want to reject love, you will not want to reject me. 

And that is what the Commandments are: The first three Commandments are about the love of God. The next seven Commandments are about the love of others. The Commandments are just about love. So to break a Commandment is to reject love. But love is a person, Jesus, so to break a Commandment is to reject Jesus. It’s personal.

Morality is not simply about keeping or breaking rules, any more than bravery is about protecting the abstract good of freedom. Morality is about friendship with Jesus. Once I know Jesus is love and goodness in Person, then I don’t want to reject Him by choosing and doing some unloving or bad thing.  

This is what sin is: God offers Himself. Sin says: I choose something instead of You. Sin does not damage God, but it rejects His love, it rejects Him. So Jesus reframes morality as friendship. It’s not, “If you want to be my friend, you have to keep my commandments.” It’s “If you know Me, Love in Person, you will not want to reject me.”

Morality is not rule-keeping. It is loyalty within friendship. That changes everything.

Three

Judas Chose Something Instead of Jesus

Judas Iscariot was not a true friend of Christ. When Judas came to the garden to betray Him, Jesus said, “Friend, why are you here?”

Jesus calls him friend. Jesus knows Judas; He sees the value of Judas and is willing to die for him.

You might say Judas knew Jesus; he lived with Him for three years. But he didn’t know him. By his greed, Judas made himself blind to the truth that Jesus was love and goodness in person, and so he sold Him for thirty pieces of silver. It could have been thirty or thirty billion. It doesn’t matter. It was greed, and greed is a rejection of love, a rejection of Jesus. Greed blinded him. And so he traded infinite goodness for something finite.

This is sin. Pride, vanity, envy, sloth, anger, greed, gluttony, lust, all the reasons we break the commandments, it’s all a rejection of God, who is love. 

Four

John Preferred Jesus

John the Apostle is called the beloved disciple because John knew Jesus, and he loved Him and Jesus loved John. And they were friends. Profound friends. He would not betray Jesus; he would not reject Him. 

John followed Him to the courtyard of Caiaphas. He stood by Him at the Cross. Why? Because when you see the truth about Jesus, you forget yourself. And you choose Him.

You cannot be brave for yourself. Self-preservation will always win out. You cannot be good for yourself. If I am the center, I will choose what benefits me when it costs something. But love moves me to choose what is good for my friend, even at my expense.

Likewise, you cannot be good for abstract rules; our selfish fears and desires will always win out. But friendship moves me to choose what is good for someone else, even at my expense.

You can only be brave and good for someone else, for a friend. For Jesus.

Five

Resolution

The difference between John and Judas is friendship, true friendship. So how do we develop the kind of friendship with Jesus so that we never want to reject Him by sin and we are willing to sacrifice our lives for Him?

Let me suggest three ways. First, friendship takes time, so spend time with Him. Talk with Him from the heart, get to know Him by reading His life, words, actions, and feelings in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Second, Jesus is love, and the Commandments are the reflection of God, who is love. So, we are going to do a short series on the Ten Commandments to understand them better and see the real practical connection between them and Jesus.

Third, Mary knows Jesus better than anyone else, so we are going to sit at her school in the Rosary every day and let her teach us to know and love Jesus better. 

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