One of the greatest blessings in life are good friends.
When we close our eyes and picture a good time, fond memory, or favourite pastime, most likely we are remembering moments with our friends.
Some of us are fortunate enough to have at least one “friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).
Now imagine Jesus, the Creator and Sustainer of life, turning to us and saying, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends . . . I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:13,15b).
Did you catch that? Jesus calls us friends!
It is easy to read this passage in John (or any passage in the Bible for that matter) and hear the impersonal voice of an audio book narrator. But go back and picture your best friend, who knows he or she only has a few more hours to live, leaning over to you and saying with trembling lips and soulful eyes, “You have been my friend…”
Wouldn’t you clutch your friend’s hand and say, “Thank you for being my best friend! I don’t know what I’m going to do without you!” Wouldn’t you weep if your friend’s death was to save your life?
Jesus could have saved us in a condescending swoop, like the way we release bugs outdoors instead of killing them. Or He could have saved us like a superhero in spandex, using his powers to do the maximum good for as many unknown faces as possible. He would still be worthy of worship.
But Jesus comes into the every day. He walks with us. He eats with us. He talks with us and cries with us. He knows us each by name.
Even His enemies saw that Jesus was not an esoteric snob or unapproachable celebrity with his posse of “cool guys”; they were annoyed that he was “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19). He treated them as His equals; He was “Immanuel” – one with us.
When Judas betrayed Him, Jesus still called him “friend” (Matthew 26:50). It was not said with sarcasm, but with sorrow as His heart was broken.
In those last few hours of HIs life, Jesus poured our His heart to His closest friends, the twelve disciples. He washed their feet and shared one last meal with them. He called them friends and prayed for them. After they had all fled and even denied knowing Him, after He had been abused and crucified, He prayed that they would be forgiven. Then He died for them – and us.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends…” (John 15:13).
Jesus extends His friendship to us – He says tenderly, earnestly, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, ad they with me” (Revelation 3:20).
By saying yes to opportunities to know Him better, we are venturing into the best friendship we could ever have. It may take several months or years, but we will come to know and love a God who longs to call us friends.
"But those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14
