6 Easter Year B
May 6, 2018
I was scrolling through facebook earlier this week on a morning that I was avoiding doing other things… some days, that’s what facebook is best for; work avoidance...anyway, I started reading a truly beautiful story about a family that was expecting their second child. They went in for a routine ultrasound, right at around 19-20 weeks. It was an ultrasound where they would be finding out the gender of their baby and get to see it’s face and measure it for due date possibilities. It’s a very special day in the life of a family. On that day, however, the couple found out that their precious child had a birth defect where the child’s spine would had not and would not close at the top; when that happens, significant portions of the brain do not develop, and the child, if it lives until it’s born, will die soon after birth. Of course, this family was devastated to hear this news...There is no hope for a family who receives this diagnosis for their child. The couple took a few days to decide what they wanted to do; there aren’t many options; one is to continue to carry the pregnancy, and the other is to end it. The parents then did something that I think is really amazing. They asked, if their baby, who was a daughter, would be eligible to be an organ donor if she were carried to term. The hospital had not had this situation before and it took a few days to figure it all out, but, indeed, their daughter, whom they named Eva, could indeed be an organ donor. This family was living new policies for infant organ donation as Eva’s birth approached. Make no mistake; these parents did not have any false notions that their daughter would live if they carried her to term; they were well aware that if she lived even a few minutes, it would be a miracle… they wanted to try and bring something good and life giving out the death of their daughter. A week or so before she was due to be born, the worst possible thing happened; Eva died before her birth, which meant her organs could no longer be donated. Her parents were devastated again. Eva was born by induction, and her parents were able to hold her and say their goodbyes. Then their doctor came in and said that the foundation that deals with organ donations said that Evan could still have her eyes donated. And so, her parents agreed. And so, while it wasn’t at all the scenario they imagined at all, there was still something beautiful and life giving that happened as a result of this family’s sacrifice… someone, perhaps even a child, would have the gift of sight and would see with Eva’s eyes.
It is both a sad and beautiful story. What struck me about the story, was that even in the midst of intense grief, these parents were able to think about the needs of others. And, I daresay, that it was at great personal cost. First, carrying a baby that was terminal that could die before it was born, put the mother at physical risk. And then, there was the 17 or so weeks of being pregnant with a child that had no possibility of living. How does a parent respond to all of the questions as mom starts to look pregnant? How do you say, there isn’t going to be a baby nursery, or any of the incredibly happy things that most of associate with having a new baby?
“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.”
One of the reasons I love John’s gospel, is because of all of the talk of love, and of relationship between the Father, Jesus and us. These words are just as true for us today as they were for the original disciples. Jesus levels the field by calling his disciples friends; and because of the love Jesus has for us, we too are his friends. As any of us know, the language Jesus uses if overflowing with meaning; friendship for Jesus is not something that is defined by casual relationship; rather is is defined by deep love that sacrifices one’s own comfort for another. Jesus’ sacrifice for his friends was of course the ultimate laying down of life; it cost him everything, and his death brought life to his friends. I think when most of us read this passage from John’s gospel we, or maybe I, might pass it over a bit because surely, Jesus isn’t calling me to make that kind of sacrifice for another. Well friends, it could happen. We might very well find ourselves in a position where we might be asked to die for another. But there are plenty of lesser, but incredibly important ways that we might lay our lives down for another; we might find ourselves in places where we might be asked to do things that are incredibly difficult and painful in order that a friend might be brought to wholeness. And while friends whom we know and care about are incredibly important in our lives, when we realize that all of those who have been created by God are our friends in a kingdom kind of way, laying our lives down for another becomes even more difficult and perhaps even more necessary. The reason that the story about Eva and her parents was so beautiful to me was because these parents wanted to turn their tragedy into something life giving to people that they didn’t even know. Knowing what would be facing them over those weeks, their sacrifice and their gift was a gift beyond price; and that’s what it means to lay our lives down for another. Sometimes I think we get a little bit too comfortable with being a Christian, but we have to remember that we are not called to a life of comfort; we are called to a life of service to everyone around us, but especially to those we don’t know, who live on or near the margins of society, even if their is personal cost to us; it is only in laying down our lives, that we might save our lives, and abide fully with Jesus.
What kind of sacrifices is Jesus asking of us today? Will we respond with our lives, and without fear?
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