Verse of the Day for May 23

Jesus says this the night before he dies, in a room full of men who will run away within hours. Henceforth I call you not servants. He calls them friends.

The difference he names is information. A servant is told what to do. A friend is told why. all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. They were brought inside the purpose, not just handed tasks.

Then he turns their assumption around. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. They thought they had decided to follow him. In fact he had picked them first, on the shore and at the tax booth.

That changes the middle of the work, the long stretch when the thrill of beginning is gone and the end is not yet in sight. You are not there because you volunteered and must now prove yourself. You are there because you were chosen, and the aim is fruit that should remain.

And the command at the centre of it is plain. love one another. In the middle of a long project with tired colleagues, when tempers fray around the photocopier, that may be the fruit that lasts longest.

You were chosen before you chose.

The fruit that remains is often love shown in the middle of tired work.