Friendship is a beautiful thing. People who have true friends are greatly blessed. A good friend is hard to find, and maintaining the friendship over the years is even harder. But even meaningful friendship is not completely satisfying to the human heart. As good as friendship is, we know deep inside that we want more. Yet, what more can we hope for in a relationship? Romantic love is great, but love with friendship is even better. What we long for, though we may not realize it or be able to articulate it, is a transcendent relationship with God. God is eternal, and we are temporal. God is infinite, and we are finite. God is holy, and we are sinful. What kind of a really meaningful relationship can we have with God? The only way is through Jesus, the God-man. Jesus, as a truly human person and the divine being, is the only one with whom we can have the friendship we deeply desire.
Jesus spoke about this friendship in the Gospel of John. It was the night before he would be crucified. He was spending the last night with his disciples. After the Passover meal, which Jesus transformed into the Lord’s Supper, he began to disclose many important things to his closest friends. These were critical things that they would desperately need, not only for the days ahead but for the rest of their lives. At some point that night, Jesus made this statement to his disciples:
“Greater love has no one than this, that he should lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for all I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:13-15)
Greater Love
Jesus discloses to his disciples the greatest kind of human love, which is laying down one’s life for another. This is not a spontaneous act one does before they have time to think but an intentional act of self-sacrifice. This level of love is not a common occurrence. Sometimes, soldiers experience it with their buddies in battle. Most parents, if it came to it, would be willing to lay down their lives for their children. But Jesus, as the lamb of God, is going to lay down his life in an unimaginably horrible way for his friends, who are only friends because Jesus first loved them and sacrificed himself for them. This kind of love is completely unheard of. It is not something humans do, even in their most noble moments. This is the beauty of the love of Jesus that when we truly grasp it, we are inescapably drawn to it.
Friends of Jesus
The amazing love Jesus has for people is expressed in the intimate relationship he has with believers as their deepest and closest friend. Jesus is the best friend a person could ever have. He understands us and will never leave us stranded or abandoned. His love for his people literally knows no bounds. But there is a condition to his friendship that Jesus clearly states: “You are my friends, if you do what I command you.” Friendship with Jesus is predicated on trust. But this is a deeper trust than with human friendship. Human friendship requires trust, but friendship with Jesus requires a deeper quality of trust. We trust him as our Lord and Savior. We surrender our lives to him by faith in deeper and deeper ways. The struggle for obedience and the purifying grace of Jesus is at the heart of what it means to follow him. No one perfectly trusts and obeys Jesus. Abiding in his love draws us towards greater trust and obedience.
Divine Revelation
As friends of Jesus abiding in his love, he makes known to us his plan, his kingdom agenda. We are privy to his counsel. He reveals to us what he has done, what he is doing, and what he will do. In the wider context of John 14-17, we see that he does this by the Holy Spirit. All this relates to abiding in Jesus and praying for what we need for the mission on which he sends us (John 15:7). We know the truth from Jesus because the world is filled with so many lies. Jesus said that the devil is the father of lies and that lies are his native tongue (John 8:44). Jesus, as our deepest and closest friend, leads us into the truth and a life of living the truth. Because we know that Jesus loves us, we can live with faith and hope. Our friend is with us. He promised that he will never leave us or forsake us. This rock-solid hope brings joy and peace that is unimaginable. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope,” (Romans 15:13). What a friend we have in Jesus!