No Longer Do I Call You Friend?

    As the shadows of Maundy Thursday lengthened, Jesus offered his disciples two blessings.  First, he gave them a new commandment:  "That you love one another as I have loved you . . .By this everyone will know that you are my disciples (John 13:34-35)."  And he bestowed upon them a new identity: Friend.  " 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 (John 15:15)."  These two blessings would not only survive the denial and desertion of Jesus by these same beloved followers; they would come to define the life of the new community born of Jesus' resurrection.

     The self-giving of agape love and the fidelity of friendship embody the gospel in the world today, and thus serve as powerful expressions of resistance to the gods of the prevailing order.   These have been very much on my mind while witnessing the  whirlwind enveloping Presidential candidate Barack Obama and his relationship to spiritual mentor and friend Reverend Jeremiah Wright.  I have prayed for them both, my reasons having nothing to do with electoral aspirations or the perceived future of America.  It strikes me that this is a particularly Lenten drama, where we witness the powers of the world at work, demanding blind allegiance, wielding mechanisms of labeling and scapegoating, asserting dominion over matters of faith, threatening a bottom line quite at odds with God's realm.  A confrontation of faith and idolatry, and so, one at vortex of our daily living.

    It was painful to watch Mr. Obama cower quickly before demands that he treat his friend as a leper threatening his ascendency.  The blog entry he released in response, "On My Faith and My Church" (http:// www.huffingtonpost.com/barack-obama/on-my-faith-and-my-church_b_91623.html) , had all of the characteristics--pardon me--of something uttered next to a charcoal fire in the courtyard of the high priest.  One longed for him to give as much, or more attention, to the gospel of Jesus Christ that he gives Reverend Wright recognition for preaching to him, "a gospel on which I base my life."  Perhaps some testimony to the true depth and texture of twenty years shared in the love that shapes us.  How about the integrity to challenge when others would shamelessly prooftext Reverend Wright's sermons, to confront the failure of those howling in protest to listen more deeply and carefully to a word preached from the context of communal pain and alienation, to embrace a common commitment (even in honest disagreement and anger) to discern a deeper, penetrating, eternal voice speaking to us through this experience?  Isn't September 11th part of a larger, tragic cycle of human violence and retribution (while indeed being inexcusable)?   Don't the scriptures indicate that the taking of innocent life comes under the judgment of God?  These days, while admittedly difficult and unwelcome, provide opportunity for the man from Illinois to publicly affirm the meaning of his baptism.   

    I am neither condemning nor dismissing Barack Obama. His dilemma is ours, albeit on greater public display.   In spite of my disappointment, I continue to like him, and feel compassion for him.  For me, this is a recognition scene.  I am challenged to identify not only Obama's kinship with Peter but my own. I am beckoned to make an honest appraisal of the titans of this world that demand my allegiance and the spiritual "pretzel logic" they insist I embrace. I must also be honest about the ways I accede to those demands.  The good news is that a far different kind of power has also asserted dominion over my life and yours; this I trust.  "There is a name I love to hear . . ."  The love given in order to flow through us, and the bonds of friendship that are divine gifts, are mine to claim this Lenten season. I have broken faith with friends more often than I want to acknowledge; these Lenten days both challenge and inspire me to turn around, to attend to and deepen my commitment to friendship, expecially during times of strain.   I have a Bob Raines quote written somewhere: "Satan taunts us to see whether we have the courage to live in our own skins."   Such are our wilderness journeys.  Jesus' accompaniment affirms, strengthens, inspires.      

    Barack Obama made a widely-heralded speech in Philadelphia yesterday, entitled "A More Perfect Union."  He is being recongized for speaking more honestly about the history of race relations and the challenges we continue to face than any other contemporary politician.  I have read the speech; at times the rhetoric is quite moving.  In the text, he offers a fuller portrait of his relationship with Jeremiah Wright.    To his credit, he says "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community" (http://blog.wsj.com.washwire/2008/03/18/text-of-obamas-speech-a-more-perfect-union/?mod=ggoglenews_wsj) .  But he also labels him "my former pastor" and speaks condescendingly about what Reverend Wright understands and doesn't.  A news report that I read was subtitled, "Democratic senator's speech meant to repair damage to his campaign."  My Easter hope is that it will be friendship and community that is repaired.  I am reminded that the Passion narrative, while often excruciating, promises the good news of new life.  And that on Maundy Thursday, even as Jesus looks at his disciples who will deny him (then and today), he looks at us with Easter eyes.

Scott Hutchinson

   

Comments

[christian louboutin]

Your blog is breathtaking. Most of the stuff on your page are my consent about. Thank you for sharing.

[night by elie wiesel]

Best article, lots of intersting things to digest. Very informative

[Gianni]

Bill Clinton avoided anwesring that question because he wants Hillary to be able to run again in 4 years. That can only happen if McCain wins this November. If Obama wins, Obama will be running for a second term in 4 years and that will leave Hillary out of the running until 2016.Bottom line is that Bill is surreptitiously against Obama.

[home insurance]

That might be, ken; but in this case, he looks to be attempting to appease his anti-war followers and war critics, without actually implementing any actual, meaningful change; not without leaving him an "out". I think Obama might be serious enough about his legacy, that he's trying to come to terms with the reality that what the Bush Administration was doing might not be so partisanly whacked out, after all.

[health plus insurance]

Yeah, who can dis his own grandmother? You just don't go there under any circumstances. It's like telling your wife she's fat. Is there a chance Obama never really expected to be the nominee and he is kiboshing himself, perhaps even unconsciously?Not sure what babbling the other anon is about, but I'd delete that one VP.