13 March 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malabar Rite · മലയാളം
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13
The story of the field at Hebron ends with a legal formula repeated twice: “So the field of Ephron in Machpelah… the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field… passed to Abraham as a possession.” Then, simply: “After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.” The first part of the promised land that Abraham owns is a tomb. Later Abraham himself will be laid there, and Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah. It looks like a sad ending, but it is an act of hope. To bury your dead in the land of promise is to say: God will keep his word, even beyond death. The Letter to the Hebrews says of the patriarchs: “they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.” Christian cemeteries carry the same faith; we call them places of sleep, because we await the resurrection of the body.
St Paul asks: “Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.” Abraham did not earn the promise; he received it and trusted it, even to the grave. Paul means that no one is made righteous by the observances of the Mosaic law, and the Church teaches that justification is God's free gift, received in faith and baptism, which then bears fruit in love; so no one can boast. And Paul adds at once: “Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes… since God is one,” and “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” The law is fulfilled in the commandment Jesus gives in the Gospel: “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.” He calls us friends, not servants, and he reminds us whose initiative it was: “You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.” St Augustine commented that Christ did not choose us because we were good; he chose us so that we might become good (in substance). Today we give thanks for four shepherds of our Church, Vincent Mar Paulos, Thomas Mar Antonios, Samuel Mar Irenios and Philipose Mar Stephanos, ordained bishops on this day in 2010: chosen and appointed to bear fruit that will last. Tomorrow, on Samio Sunday, the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
Theme: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.”
A tomb in the land of promise, a faith that excludes boasting, and the Friend who chose us to bear fruit that will last.
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;” Job 19:25
“But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:16
Apply: Pray the Creed slowly this week, dwelling on the resurrection of the body.
“Thus says the Lord: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth;” Jeremiah 9:23
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” Ephesians 2:8
Apply: Thank God tonight for one grace you did nothing to deserve.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5
“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
Apply: Pray daily this week for your bishop and do one hidden act of self-giving love.
Abraham buried his dead in hope; Christ has opened the tomb.
Chosen as friends, we are sent to love as he loved and to bear lasting fruit.
Take-home resolution: Live the last weeks of the Fast as Christ's chosen friends, humble in faith and generous in love.
Dear friends, today the field and the cave of Machpelah passed to Abraham, and Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah (Genesis 23:19). His first possession in the promised land was a grave. To bury his dead there was an act of hope.
Paul asks: then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law (Romans 3:27–28). Abraham received the promise as a gift; so do we. And yet faith does not overthrow the law: we uphold the law (Romans 3:31).
Jesus sums up the law: 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 (John 15:12–13). He calls us friends.
And he says: you did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last (John 15:16). Today we thank God for our four bishops ordained on this day in 2010, and we ask that each of us may bear fruit that lasts. Tomorrow the Lord opens the eyes of the blind; may he open ours. Amen.
Children, Jesus says: I call you my friends, and I chose you! Isn't that wonderful? Jesus loved us so much that he gave his life for us on the Cross. Today we pray for four of our bishops whom Jesus chose. This week, be a good friend to someone who is lonely.
Lord Jesus Christ, you laid down your life for your friends and called us friends, not servants. You chose us, not because we were good, but so that we might become good and bear fruit that will last. Exclude all boasting from our hearts, keep us in the faith of Abraham who buried his dead in hope, and bless our bishops Vincent Mar Paulos, Thomas Mar Antonios, Samuel Mar Irenios and Philipose Mar Stephanos, whom you chose and appointed for your people. Amen.
The long story of the cave ends quietly: the field passes to Abraham and Sarah is laid to rest. All he ever owned of the promised land is a grave, and he holds it in hope. The epistle (Romans 3:27–31) says that boasting is excluded, that we are justified by faith, and that this does not overthrow the law: “we uphold the law” (3:31). In the Gospel Jesus, about to lay down his life, calls his disciples friends. Abraham, whom Scripture calls God's friend, stands behind the whole week.
Setting.
These verses read like a deed of sale: the field, the cave, the trees, the boundaries, the witnesses. The care is on purpose. God promised this land to Abraham's offspring, yet St Stephen says God gave him none of it as a heritage, “not even a foot’s length” (Acts 7:5). This cave is the one piece of it that Abraham ever held. Abraham himself will be buried here (25:9–10), and Isaac, Rebekah, Leah and Jacob after him (49:29–32; 50:13). A great enclosure from the time of Herod still stands at the traditional site in Hebron, a place honoured by Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area” (23:17)
Even the trees are listed, which is the way contracts of that time could be written. In such plain detail the promise touches the ground for the first time.
“After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah” (23:19)
The two who left Mesopotamia and lived in tents now have an address, and it is a tomb. Her burial is an act of love and also of faith, since her grave lies in the land God promised.
“The field and the cave that is in it passed from the Hittites into Abraham’s possession as a burying place.” (23:20)
The first possession in the promised land is a place for the dead, kept in hope of the living God. Abraham “looked forward to the city that has foundations” (Hebrews 11:10).
How the Church reads it.
The Letter to the Hebrews says of the patriarchs, “they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (11:16). The Catechism says that the Christian meaning of death is revealed in the light of the Paschal mystery (CCC 1681), and that the bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity, in faith and hope of the resurrection (CCC 2300). The Christian word “cemetery” comes from a Greek word for a sleeping place. Abraham's cave is the first in a long line of graves dug in hope.
Setting.
We are at the table on the night before the Passion, in the long discourse of John 13–17. Jesus has just spoken of the vine and the branches (15:1–10). Now he says what the fruit is: love, and the love he means has the shape of the next day. The word “friends” rises against a dark background, for he speaks it as one going to die.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (15:13)
Jesus is about to do this. Paul adds that he did it for us while we were still enemies and sinners (Romans 5:8–10), so the word “friends” does not limit the gift. It tells what he has made of us.
“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” (15:15)
“I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” The Son opens to us what he hears from the Father, and that is the root of Christian prayer.
“You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last” (15:16)
In Jesus' time a student would choose a rabbi. Here the Master does the choosing. So the fruit is his gift, and it remains.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that Jesus makes charity the new commandment (CCC 1823), and that the New Law lets us pass from the condition of a servant to that of a friend of Christ (CCC 1972). St Thomas Aquinas, citing this verse, teaches that charity is friendship between the human person and God (in substance; Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 23, a. 1).
If we are no longer servants, do we still have to obey?
Yes. Jesus says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (15:14). Friendship does not cancel obedience. It changes its spirit: we obey one whom we love and whose plan we have been told, by the grace he gives. The saints still call themselves servants of the Lord, as Mary did.