My Friends
When I studied abroad in England for six months, I wanted to make friends. I know we usually avoid investing in someone when they've already got a plane ticket home. But to my surprise, James and Paul immediately welcomed me into their pre-existing friendship. They answered innumerable questions about the cultural differences, took me to their favorite places to eat, and we even went punting on a nice summer afternoon. What started as kindness to a stranger turned into friendships we still value today.
John 15:1-17
¹I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ²He removes every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes clean every branch that does bear fruit so it will bear more fruit. ³You are already clean because of the message I have spoken to you. ⁴Abide in me, and I in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it stays on the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch, and he withers. People gather such branches and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. ⁸My Father is glorified in this: that you bear much fruit as my disciples. ⁹Just as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰If you keep my commands, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and abide in his love. ¹¹I have spoken these things to you so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. ¹²This is my command: that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³No one has greater love than that someone lays down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. Instead, I have called you friends, because everything I heard from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶You did not choose me. I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, and so the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷I command you to love one another.
The day before Jesus voluntarily went to the cross to suffer and die for us, he sat in an upstairs room with his closest friends. Judas, who Jesus has loved for three years, has just taken the community's money bag on his way to betray him to the religious authorities. Soon, he'll give Jesus a kiss to mark him out to be arrested. Peter is his most devoted disciple, but he's about to fall asleep, and then swear that he doesn't know who Jesus is. They are still looking out for themselves. He looks into each of their eyes, and sees their fear and anxiety. As it starts to sink in that Jesus is leaving them, they are desperate and confused. Then, with tenderness, he reveals to them, "Just as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love." His love is not sentimental or merely verbal. "No one has greater love than that someone lays down his life for his friends." His love is defined by willing, total self-sacrifice. The first metaphor he presents is familiar to us but shocking to them. If he had come to America, he might say, "I am the bald eagle, and you are my eaglets. My Father is the falconer." He's taking the national symbol that represents Israel and applying it to himself, then including his disciples as intimately united to him. Though they will fail him, he is promising that they are already accepted, forgiven, and included in God's family. The invitation is to accept God's care for them so they can abide in his love. More shocking: Imagine a holy God, reigning from a heavenly throne of gold and gems, shining with a light so intense that it blinds anyone who looks directly at him. So for generations, his presence was restricted to the inner sanctum of the Holy of Holies at the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus explains that they are already in God's presence because they are with him. Further, he refuses to call them slaves. They are his friends. He is telling them who he is, what he is doing, and how he feels about them. These disciples expected that when a student wanted to follow a rabbi, they would go to the teacher and ask to follow him. But they know that Jesus found them and called them to follow. From the start of the relationship, through the crucifixion and the resurrection, and as he sends the Holy Spirit to abide within them, Jesus is the perfect Friend. He gives, and gives, and gives in love. I expected my British friends to show me the stiff upper lip, but their warmth and hospitality created lifelong friendships. Their kindness gave me a small picture of what it looks like when Jesus calls us his friends. We start to love others as he has loved us.
What does it tell us about Jesus that he calls his disciples "friends"?
Who has showed you what it means to be a good friend even when you didn't deserve it?
What makes it hard for you to receive God's friendship as a gift?
Before you rush to do something for God, take time to enjoy God as your Friend. Set an alarm to go off on your phone throughout the day. When it buzzes, pray a simple prayer: "God, thank you for making me your friend before I did anything for you."