friends of Jesus

Jesus said to his disciples:

"This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.

No one has greater love than this,

to lay down one's life for one's friends.

You are my friends if you do what I command you.

I no longer call you slaves,

because a slave does not know what his master is doing.

I have called you friends,

because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.

It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you

and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,

so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.

This I command you: love one another."

Jn 15:12-17

Have you ever really thought about what it means to be a friend of Jesus - that he himself called his disciples, and us, by extension - his friends?

It completely changes the dimension of our relationship with God. The parent-child, or ruler-subject type of relationship noted throughout the Old Testament is gone... God has called us his friends.

What do friends do?

They spend time together.
They take care of each other.
They make sacrifices for one another.
They share their thoughts, hopes, feelings, and dreams with each other, knowing they can trust each other.

Our God became man and came to earth to spend time with us - he healed the sick, and reached out to those most in need of his mercy - he was friends with "tax collectors and sinners."

He made the ultimate sacrifice of his life for us.

He shared the thoughts of God with us - his vision for humanity - his hope, offered to the world - that we might love one another as he has loved us... because he called us his friends. He trusted his disciples, and he trusts us, with the revelation of the very thoughts of God.

Our God doesn't just want us to be his subjects - he doesn't want us to cower in fear before him (not to say we shouldn't respect and stand in awe of him, because we should). Though we are, of course, his children, he wants us to be his friends - his coworkers in bringing the light of his word to the world.

He trusts us - he has entrusted us with a mission to the world: "to go and bear fruit that will remain."

That should make us stop. It should make us think.

And it should change our lives. Because being a friend of Jesus means we must sacrifice more than we think we can, and love more than we think we know how.

+Peace, and all good.